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Ed Zurga / AP file
Kansas City Chiefs inside linebacker Jovan Belcher, shown in a September game, two months before the 25-year-old killed his girlfriend and committed suicide.
Four months after the NFL sought to curb domestic violence in its ranks by launching a crisis hotline, a bolstered mental-health program and fresh encouragement for troubled players to seek help, that fortified safety net could not prevent the murder-suicide Saturday involving Jovan Belcher. The Kansas City Chiefs linebacker, 25, shot his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins, 22, at their home, then drove to Arrowhead Stadium and killed himself in front of two coaches and the team's general manager.
After the high-profile suicide of retired NFL superstar Junior Seau, 43, last May — two years after Seau drove his car off a cliff following his assault on a girlfriend — NFL commissioner Roger Goodell installed the 24-hour hotline for players and a reinforced mental-health initiative on July 26. That same week, following a spate of NFL-related domestic attacks — at least six other family violence cases in the NFL have been reported since 2010 — Goodell met with the player’s union to discuss possible solutions.
Yet even as the league was taking steps to help mentally troubled players and their families, the Kansas City Chiefs were aware of Belcher's problems, Kansas City police spokeswoman Sgt. Marisa Barnes told NBC News.
And Police Sgt. Richard Sharp told the Kansas City Star that team officials "were bending over backwards" to help the couple.
The Belcher murder-suicide is the type of nightmarish incident the league has been working harder to prevent, said Robert Gulliver, the NFL’s executive vice president of human resources/chief diversity officer.
“One of the biggest things that we are trying to do here (in the NFL) is to change the culture, where people realize that it’s OK to seek out help for mental health issues,” Gulliver told NBC News. “We were very deliberate in ... making the point that mental health is part of total wellness, that it’s OK to seek out help for mental health issues because that’s part of your overall well-being."
In addition to help from the team's counselors, Belcher and his girlfriend Perkins, who was mother of his 3-month-old daughter and shared his home, would have had access to the hotline and the league's mental health program.
At the end of July, the NFL emailed information on its new crisis line and on the league's available mental-health help to the home of every NFL player, Aiello said, adding: "The information is sent with the idea that the player's wife also sees it. If a player's girlfriend sees it, it would be the same thing."
What's more, all 32 NFL teams employ a player development director to help encourage use of the programs, Aiello said.
In addition, the NFL Players Association — the labor union for players — staffs its own 24-hour, toll-free hotline for players to use "if they need any support whatsoever," said George Atallah, NFLPA spokesman. "If a player has an alcohol-addiction problem (for example), he calls in and we route that call to a facility near them, and (facility members) then come pick him up and give him the assistance he needs. That goes for any depression issues and mental health issues." The NFLPA also offers counseling services to players, and it employs a group of retired players "to get a pulse of what’s going on in the locker rooms, handle situations confidentially, and provide support when necessary."
As part of what the NFL calls its “new comprehensive health program” — formally dubbed NFL Total Wellness — Goodell and the league worked with former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher last summer to strengthen its mental health tools and assistance. The new program encourages players and their families to seek support for behavioral issues, provides health and safety information and offers confidential, free advice via telephone and the Internet. That aid is available to all players and “all members of the NFL family” who find themselves “in times of need,” the NFL says. The same experts who operate the "NFL Life Line" run a similar emergency system for members of the U.S. military.
However, even with best intentions, the NFL remains essentially an elite club in which players have long been trained to hide physical pain — if not injuries — to keep their jobs. That environment could keep players from truly opening up about possible symptoms of depression, anxiety or other mental-health woes.
Gulliver declined to say how many players have phoned the hotline and tapped into the league’s enhanced mental-health program via the web since its launch.
"We don’t publicize the actual usage or percentage numbers," Gulliver said.
The Kansas City Chiefs managed a win against the Carolina Panthers, their first in nearly two months, following the suicide of lineman Jovan Belcher, who fatally shot his girlfriend before killing himself. NBC's Erica Hill reports.
As the program has become more widely known by players, however, Satcher said: "The usage of it is increasing."
Gulliver wouldn't comment whether Belcher, his family, friends or any Chiefs players called the crisis line ahead of the murder- suicide, or tried to contact the league’s new mental health services professionals about Belcher.
“That, too, is information that we do not publicize. There are lots of privacy laws that we make sure we uphold. The program is actually administered by the third-party provider so it’s not information that comes into the NFL office. We wanted this to be independent and completely confidential for the members for the NFL family," Gulliver said.
He added: "Our hearts really hurt for the tragedy that has played out in Kansas City. And we absolutely want to make sure that we provide resources so that people realize there is another way that they can get the help that they need."
Seau’s suicide last May served as the ultimate spark for the new hotline and the league's extra mental-health measures.
“It really did prompt us to step back and say: What more could we be providing for our players and for the NFL family?” Gulliver said.
But even with a beefed-up program available to players and their spouses, it's difficult to predict this kind of tragedy, Satcher said, adding: "I don’t know that anybody could."
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention lists warning signs that someone may be considering suicide due to depression:
- Relentlessly low mood; pessimism; hopelessness; desperation; anxiety or inner tension
- Withdrawal; sleep problems
- Increased alcohol and/or other drug use
- Recent impulsiveness and taking unnecessary risks; threatening suicide or expressing a strong wish to die
- Making a plan; giving away prized possessions
- Sudden or impulsive purchase of a firearm; obtaining other means of killing oneself such as poisons or medications
- Unexpected rage or anger.
Anyone can call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255.
During the planning meetings for the NFL’s revamped mental-health platform, Satcher said he and league leaders discussed the hot-button issue of chronic concussions sustained by NFL players — and the behavioral instability those injuries are known to carry.
“The brain is a delicate organ and, therefore, head-to-head contact can no longer be viewed as acceptable. The hits start early - in junior high and high school," said Satcher, head of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta.
Satcher called the NFL's around-the-clock telephone “lifeline” and the other added mental-health backstops “a major advance” for the league.
Since 2010, these high-profile domestic violence cases have involved NFL players:
- Chad Johnson was released by the Miami Dolphins during the team’s 2012 training camp after the receiver was arrested in early August for allegedly striking his wife in the head.
- Erik Walden, a Green Bay Packers linebacker, was jailed during Thanksgiving 2011, originally charged with a felony after he allegedly assaulted his girlfriend. Later, he received a deferred judgement and agreed to do community service work.
- Dez Bryant, a receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, was arrested in July after allegedly shoving his mother. He was charged with a misdemeanor.
- Seau, a linebacker who spent most of his career with the San Diego Chargers, allegedly assaulted his girlfriend in 2010, two years before he shot himself to death.
- Chris Cook, a cornerback for the Minnesota Vikings, was arrested in October 2011 for domestic violence after he allegedly choked his girlfriend. He was acquitted at trial.
- Brandon Marshall, a wide receiver for the Chicago Bears, has a history of domestic crimes dating back to 2004. In March, he was accused by a 24-year-old woman of punching her in the eye. Marshall’s attorney said Marshall’s wife was the woman injured and that Marshall was a victim in the assault.
The National Suicide Prevention Hotline number is 1-800-273-8255.
Related:
- Details in Belcher murder-suicide emerge as families grieve
- Contact sports leave pattern of brain injuries, study finds
More health news from NBCNews.com:
- Brain changes explain why the elderly fall for scams
- Flu season could be a bad one, health officials say
The day after Kansas City Chiefs' linebacker Jovan Belcher fatally shot his girlfriend and then killed himself, fans mourned a tragedy. NBC's Than Truong reports.
Leave a Comment:
S*$t happens. Time to move on with life.
And of course, there's no mention of the collapse of the family, absentee fathers and having children out of wedlock.
The article states that the NFL is trying to change the culture. I agree, but not the way the NFL sees it. Where are the role models of yesterday? Today you have young players with high salaries & fame who have no knowledge of responsibility. Murder, dog fighting, drugs & the list goes on. There are only a handfull of players that I actually respect in the league. The rest are thugs from the street. The NFL, National Felon League.
The story's are all about some AH who killed himself.....WHAT ABOUT THE WOMEN HE KILED...
JMJ- She wouldn't generate enough ad revenue to warrant writing an article.
They would generate more than enough ad revenue in magazines. The perfect article for Cosmo, People, Vanity Fair and US.
"S*$t happens. Time to move on with life." ... So True!
.. But .. A lot of "@!$%# Happens" for underlying reasons and in pro football, one of the underlying reasons in the past has been the demand for top performance of players at any cost! The use of performance enhancing drugs ( and by that I am including any substance that enables players to take the field after being hurt) with a wink and a nod, should be made a criminal offense with heavy penalties, for not only players ... but doctors,coaches, owners and anyone else that allows to occur. Violence is encouraged in football, a already violent game by making it a war .. not a sport. The beginning of this can be traced back to making players separate into offense & defense, a action that encourages a more violent game ...
It will be interesting to see what a autopsy in this case reveals .... what drugs were in this mans body? ..
All indications are he was not a violent man .. there to date is no evidence that I have seen that shows he was abusive in any way ... one has to wait for all the facts to come out. BUT all the signs I have seen is a person that was seriously depressed ... and went unnoticed ....
Why & how?
Perhaps this will be a wake up call for all, to take a serious look at football and turn it in a direction that will lead it away from the attitudes prevalent in the Roman theater 2000 years ago ...
Lions & Gladiators 10 .. Christians 0 ....
these men are not and should not be assuming the role of gladiators whose purpose is to destroy, kill their opponents, for the pleasure of the spectators ...
Lastly ... I don't own a gun ... but I recognize that guns are only a tool, of humans ... a tool that is used to kill ... a tool that is recognized constitutionally as the right to bear arms . I perceive that as a important right .. and will only support its removal from society when all of the horrible weapons that governments hold internationally, are disposed of... there is no indication that our own government is trustworthy regardless of the party in power, and yet there is this steady propaganda, to remove " Guns" from the people ......
BUL@!$%#! .. The government has all the firepower now to attempt to control the world ... and they want the individual to give up his last bastion of defense?
Lastly ...for a sports commentator to take this opportunity after the death of two people to promote his views on gun control at half time is deplorable & despicable ... he deserves to be spit upon by every American that sees him publicly ..
My heart goes out to the families of both victims, in this case ... Yes BOTH victims, The young man that was the victim of a horrible illness, depression, and the woman who loved him and bore his child, who died by his hand.
Enough already. Stories of losers are around every day.
Next.
I still can't believe, even a few days later, that MSNBC allowed Bob Costas to lecture America on gun control during halftime. Evidence #1,045,975 that the MSM is left and that their agenda has no boundary. This idea that guns had anything to do this scum of a human being able to kill is girlfriend is completely illogical. He could have used a knife. Do we need to outlaw knives? Damn, he could have used his bare hands considering his strength. Bob Costas lives in his Manhattan liberal bubble and has no connection to the real world and sane thinking. I call on Bob Costas to be fired!
SHAME ON YOU BOB COSTAS AND SHAME ON YOU MSNBC!!!
Costas had every right to say what he did and I'm glad he said it (that doesn't necessarily mean I agree with all of it either).
Besides, nobody held a gun to your head to listen to his commentary (no pun intended). If you don't agree with it, change the channel or turn the TV off.
One more thing: Costas made his comments on NBC, not MSNBC.
@Tom...why does Costas have a right to give his political opinion during halftime of a football game? Can you expand on that? Do you also want to outlaw knives? and baseball bats? and bare hands?
I know its NBC Sports not MSNBC you dumbf**k! Just because MSNBC has a right to change its name again doesn't mean that I can't still call it MSNBC. If you don't wanna read my post then turn off your monitor.
Oh and BTW, this type of thing would NEVER happen on Fox Sports during a football game they broadcast. They would never allow a conservative commentator from their Fox News Channel side to advocate for gun rights over regular TV. And this is the difference between the left and the right. The left feels it has the right to inject its agenda into every aspect of life. WELL I SAY FOOK YOU!!! You are not going to brainwash me and my family!
Veeco,
MSNBC doesn't broadcast sports outside of the Olympics and never has. So there was no name change on the TV channel you were watching. You can call it whatever you want. Just accept that it is wrong.
...yeah because there are never any guns or shootings in NYC. They wouldn't know anything about gun violence would they? That is the dumbest assumption I have ever seen on newsvine! Congrats on that.
And I guarantee NY is more connected to the rest of the world than whatever red-neck, tea-bagger trailer park you come from.... oh, what's that? You don't think it's fair for me to assume you live in a trailer just because you made some stereotypical, cliche rant against a New Yorker? Well you get what you give, my friend.
You are right about one thing though: Fox would never make a political statement at halftime. That's only because they can barely get competent pundits on their actual news channel. What makes you think they have any extra brain power to spare for their sports commentators? They wouldn't do it mostly because guys like Terry and Howie could never hold a candle to Bob when it comes to intelligent thought. So don't fool yourself into thinking it's about ethics, because it's not like that's ever stopped Fox before.
Nets have holes in them. Screens have holes in them. Something will always get through.
DA>>HAHA. The only thing the NFL safety net catches is..MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Absolutely!
This is what happens when you give big paychecks to ignorant people. It is time that professional supports require a college degree of subsistence to prove that the athlete is civilized and mature. Tattooed drug users with rap sheets don't belong in sports.
Well said.
Can we start treating them as Gladiators? Basically glorified prisoners! If they are not in the "Coliseum" then they belong in guarded barracks.
How about having the government provide our sports for free and use criminals as the players. Then we wouldn't need all the stupid rule changes. And players couldn't be ridiculed for their off-field actions.
You would be killing a whole flock of birds with just one stone.
As long as NFL and football appeal to the American Male Ego these events will continue. The NFL is BIG BIG Money which appeals to the Very Primitive American Male Mind; Look at how many American Men voted for the republicanCrimeCartelsoldiers Romney and Ryan. NFL means Brutal 'playing" and Many Many injuries, BUT like the ancient Romans at the coliseum, American men LOVE this bloodsport.
Sure do, PhantomBeast, I'm guilty as h e l l!
PhantomBeast - What should we make of this? I suppose your going to convince us that Democrats don't like sports?
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/614683/thumbs/o-OBAMATHROWSFOOTBALL-570.jpg?5
Belcher's contract was $2million. He was going to play mayby 4 years. He was going to have to live and spend money during those years also so after he finished playing he was going have maybe $6million. The common wisdom is that unless you have at least $10million you are not going to be able to have a self perpetuating lifestyle like rich people. It was probably found out that his girlfriend obligated large sums of his money which pushed him over the edge. Remember that 78% of NFL players file bankruptcy within 2 yeas of them ending their football careers.
@ Slimyone ... Most peoples lifestyles depend on income. Some are frugal and save even when they make good money and some spend what they make and live paycheck to paycheck. Football players make a lot of money and should save and invest wisely but sadly just like the rest of us they tend to spend what they make on their "lifestyle". Sad to say buy the majority of people would file bankruptcy within 2 years of losing their jobs.
Really....just about every college player I saw on TV last weekend had tattoos.
Yup, many college players have tattoos. Most of them could not get into the college they attended if they submitted applications based on academic credentials. College athletes should be required to meet academic standards above the least common denominator. They must study while they play a sport. If pro football wants to establish a minor league for stupid people, let them. Don't spend a taxpayer dollar on student athletes who basically couldn't pass a 8th grade math test. The NFL is a mess because the players are fundamentally STUPID! They don't know how to tackle and they don't know how to think!
Most of these players have no life skills or real education. They get a pass because of their athletic skills and get tutored to meet any minimal academic standards. Everyone looks the other way at their abysmal behaviour. Until they are held accountable for their actions off the field instead of lauded for their prowess on the field expect tragedies to still happen.
rober, Most student Athletes are given scholarships that are paid for by the University's athletic fund.
Tattoos are acceptable to the sports industry culture and increasingly acceptable to American culture at large. Hence, their presence or absence on athletes is irrelevant.
The minor league is a fair idea since I agree that many "student-athletes" do not belong in college but feel that it is mandatory to pursue their career of choice.
@McGee-9to5 You are correct when you say that tattoos are acceptable in American culture but it is relevant. It is a sign of not having proper home training.
@ rober34 .. you do not know what you are talking about! You assume theses football players are all dumb. I have first hand experience and I know for a fact that these boys are required to get good grades and DO GET GOOD GRADES because they work at it and study just like everyone else. They are not all given a free ride.
There are thousands of student athletes and professional athletes that do not have a criminal record and never get a criminal record. This and the other tragic incidents represent a small minority of players. Past players were no less dirty, it was just much less publicized. Hell Ben Rothlisburger has managed to walk away scott free from three (3) rapes with the exact same MO. I didn't here anyone yelling about what a thug he was.
One of the meanest professional players to ever live was Ty Cobb. He beat his wives, was accused of sharpening his cleats to kick players guarding the base and allegedly beat a man to death.
Cobb himself wrote shortly before his death, "In legend I am a sadistic, slashing, swashbuckling despot who waged war in the guise of sport."
No one ever had a problem with him or Babe Ruth for that matter.
Bottom line, the real problem with most of the posters on this comment is that they hate to see a black man making this type of money. there. I said it.
Sorry Corina I have a friend who tutors athletes in football at a major university and she says most of them cannot read at a grade school level. I am not saying all but a majority of these guys are given a pass because they play well. They are treated like celebrities and everyone makes excuses for their bad behaviour. My husband's job requires him to work directly with players on the professional baseball and football teams in our area. A lot of the footballers are less than desirable characters in their personal lives.
It is always up to the individual. Whether the person has the will, the courage to admit they need help and that they are willing to accept help. Having access to help and care is good but until the individual is able to open their own eyes and reach for it it does not good.
I have depression that runs on a cycle. I first had it when I was in college. I didn't even recognize it for what it was. I thought it was a combination of growing pains, trying to figure out what to do with my life, being away from friends and family, etc. I got through it, it went away. Then 12 years later. married with one child and another on the way the depression came back. This time it wasn't just about me. I had others that depended on me. I knew it was time to seek help.
We will never know all the things that Belcher was going through. We won't know everything that happened that led him to his actions that day. But I don't think that the gun is the issue. When a person is desperate, when they are feeling lost, when they feel they no longer have control over their situation a person constantly is rolling scenes of their death and destruction in their mind. At least I was. I never acted on any of them but I came up with some amazing ways to end my life. And luckily they only involved me and not the ones I loved.
Belcher would have found a way regardless of the gun.
The biggest thing I discovered was the need of support from people like me. People that had depression, knew what I was going through, that could understand. You can have all the caring people in the world around you, wanting to help but if they don't truly understand their help is limited.
Well said. I suffer from bipolar disorder type II, and sometimes the most difficult part is trying to explain to people that you're not "just having a bad day." Everyone has a bad day. And then there's true depression...
Since when was it the responsibility of an employer to provide a safety net for an employee?
since the employer has as part of the job requirement of their employees to be as mean and rough and angry and nasty and strong as possible.
what an absurd comment!
The NFL is not the employer, the individual team owner is.
to:Luke-SouthernCalifornia- Good Employers Take Care of their Employees like in the Sane Countries, Germany, austria, Luxemberg and so on. the reason America is in the state it is in?? MEEEEE- MEEEE FIRST!!!!!Making the workplace for so many American men a working hell. And this NFL bloodsport brings out their anger and frustrations You people have...Did YOU Say SOUTHERN Califarcia???...America's NumberOne Mental Hospital......God Luck Inmate.
Many "regular" companies give you free access to a mental health hotline as part of their medical benefits package.
Since America does not have single-payer healthcare, the burden of providing those benefits traditionally falls upon the employer.
@ Steve. What is so absurd? I have a son in the NFL & I have learned that there is more to it than we, the public, see. We see a bunch of big guys who get paid to run into each other when in reality those guys work hard for 8+ hours a day. My son doesn't say "I'm going to practice" he says "I am going to work". Its his job and he treats it as such. His coaches & the NFL are his boss. @ Rob I don't like your comment that they are required to be mean, angry & nasty, those that are like that are that way because that's the kind of people that they are. My son is kind, nice, honest & an awesome husband & father and also has a college degree. He is that way because that is the type of person that he is, the NFL doesn't make these men angry and mean. They are that way because that is the type of person that they have chosen to be. My eyes were opened, these NFL players work and train HARD. Football is #1 in their lives and that means family is #2 and its a huge stress on many people. My son knew Belcher personally, played and practiced with him, he was shocked, said he never would have guessed he would do something like this. The NFL is a high stress job but not because they make the players mean. I agree that alot of these guys are thrown into a situation that they are not ready for. They are young men coming straight from college, given a lot of money and thrown into a world they never knew existed and are not really given any instruction on how to deal with it. Football is their job, and the NFL needs to have programs and such to help these men cope with the stresses that come with it. There are thousands of football players and there are some who are mean and nasty but the majority of these men are good, honest hard workers who are doing their job. We, the fans, can't complain, without us they wouldn't have a job at all.
Corina....I agree with your comments 100%; very well written and to the point. I was stating that Luke's comment was absurd. As you say, their jobs become #1 in their lives (as is the case with any hard working individual). We spend more waking hours at work than we do with our families, so why shouldn't our employers be there for us in the form of a safety net? They are our extended family and it's a wonderful concept! I'm on your side!
...Aside from whatever family background a player comes from... From the time that he is in high school he is told that he is "special" that many of the rules "don't really" apply to him. In some cases they give him a pass on grading... in other cases it is a pass on bad behavior... This only gets worse in college.
...By the time the player gets to the pros he has had access to "recreational" drugs if he wants them... if not, theree is always the pressure going way back to use steroids... which do nothing for one's sanity and world view...
...There is also the "friends" of the player... Some are decent... others may well be leeches who survive by telling the player just how "special" he is. Meanwhile, society more often than not forgives (or ignores) much, so long as the player performs.
...Even without steroids, pro football by its nature can't avoid being a "macho" environment (I was a Marine, I know what that is like...) The player may well decide that "help lines" are for "weenies"... A lifetime of being "special" clouds the fact that the player is human...
...Many players avoid the pitfalls and somehow manage to keep their perspective... But some have only been conditioned to properly function on the field... It will take more than a "help line" to help those who don't understand that their amazing talent guarantees them nothing outside of football...
I disagree with you JFO! My sons weren't told they were "special" and allowed to "misbehave" because they were good at football. They worked hard in the classroom and on the field to get where they are today. They knew that in order to do what they loved, they needed to have good grades. With 1 son in NFL and another playing college ball now, I know first hand how hard they have worked to get where they are. Their college coach is tough and doesn't allow any bad behavior from his players. In fact several of the "star" players were kicked off the team and lost their scholarships for bad behavior, so no it isn't worse in college. My sons are honest, kind hard working young men who use the gym to get "macho", not steroids. Don't lump all footballs players into the same group. I happen to know many wonderful men who also play for the NFL. They aren't "special" because they can play football. They are special because they have worked hard and have chosen to be that way.
The NFL talks as if one of their players would only have a wife or a girlfriend.
These people need to wake the f up.
No net can catch everyone. We cabnot know what the safety nets prevent, we only know what they did not prevent.
Some of these guys can barely move when they get out of bed in the morning,taking medications,just to get their day going.Sometimes the pressure's to perform with a broken body are just to much for these young guys.Add a little alcohol and a failing relationship into the mix and sometimes it all goes up in smoke.Let's hope now,that some of these player's can get the help they need and realize that their not alone in the feeling's and thought's.
The last time I checked playing in the NFL was not mandatory.
Stop idolizing people who have babies out of wedlock.
Sadly, such irresponsible behavior is becoming the norm in some cultures. It is a disgrace that baby-mama and baby-daddy have become everyday words.
Calvin Murphy, of the NBA, is the champion baby-daddy; 14 children by 9 women.
Stop demonizing them.
Stop idolizing sports players.
According to one of your own posts Joe Scatoneyou don't attempt to visit your own children in an attempt to get out of paying child support. How are you any different than the people you are condemning?
The link to Joe's comment, but I'm pretty sure he was either being sarcastic or trolling. Kinda like what he's doing now...
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/02/15621207-toddlers-mystery-death-reignites-investigation-of-two-other-deaths?commentId=72327207#c72327207
Steroid abuse is why these players can't control their rage. Doping controls for the NFL are entirely too weak.
The reason the rules are so weak is because of the Player's Association fighting testing. The players want their juice.
No safety net was going to stop this. Whatever happened that morning to set this off, was going to happen as soon as Belcher was unable to come back to reality. Counseling, hotlines, gun control, or even a 24 hour NFL appointed chaperone wouldn't have stopped this. Something snapped in Belcher's mind that morning and nothing brought him out of it until it was to late.
pressure, pressure, pressure. sad
Mental Health is a very dignified term, but when it comes to dumb, you can't fix dumb.
Here's a question, Do head shots such as those taken by football players, servicemen in explosions, children in abusive situations either increase anger levels or reduce the brains ability to deal with anger management problems.
Why all the stories about a murderer? How about his victim?
Or how about this guy was just a homicidal nut-bag? Just because he was an NFL player you all feel sorry for him because he had a mental illness and MURDERED someone? And if this were some gangbanger on the street? Or how about a white guy facing foreclosure who decides it's best to off his family? The public reaction to this has been pathetic. The guy killed someone and left a 3 month old baby orphaned - who cares what he did for a living. Good riddance to him - only wish he had eaten that gun before he pointed it at the girlfriend
sad very sad all around
Funny. I read that the Chiefs had provided counseling and other help, on three seperate websites. ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and NFL.com. All say that Belcher and his girlfriend got help.
Now, NBC, that paragon of reporting whatever its told to report, says Belcher slipped through the safety net, with no help at all.
Based on NBC's track record of being completely biased, I will disregard NBC's claims in this article. I will instead read this as another "big business is bad" attempt, with the NFL being in NBC's crosshairs this time. Until NBC can provide proof that the claim by the Chiefs that they knew of Belcher's issues and had provided counseling help are false, then this is another failed attempt by NBC to actually look like a source of unbiased news.
Tom, The Chiefs organizaiton is different from the NFL. You need to learn that fact before discounting what NBC has reported.
The tragedy is that he murdered a woman. That he took his own life afterward was a savings to the US taxpayers.
NFL Safety Net:- Be a man - Get out there - Play until you have brain damage - and make us some GD BIG *SS MONEY!!
Awesome caring safety net. What a bunch of B.S.
There are tragedies in every sport. Pro-Athletes of all big money sports are always under a lot of pressure to perform...many just snap! No one should be surprised at this kind of tragedy...
truth hurts-any sport? name any such tragedy in tennis. tennis is more strenuous-some matches last 5 hours and often in grueling heat. tennis requires fine motor skills and eye hand reflects/ strategy beyond any football play. name any tennis pro guilty of murder / rape / drive by shooting / dog fighting. football is a brute sport and attracts brutish people.
Was the gun, used in this double murder, registered? Was the stress within this relationship noted by team management or fellow players? Did Ms. Perkins ask for crisis support due to a strained relationship with Belcher? Who on the team and within team management knew that Belcher possessed a firearm?
what puzzles me is why parents encourage their sons to participate in this ''sport''. just about every nfl game has a play showing a disgruntled player kicking a downed player / hitting with helmut and so on. most are never even flagged. the players know they have a good chance of not being caught so they risk it. given the known risks of brain damage why would any responsible parents support this as a sport for their sons? two high school players in texas suffered heat exposure during summer practice with heat over 100 degrees. one died and the other suffered severe organ damage. in one of the cases the coaches had no emergency plan and did not call emt for 20 minutes. i am repulsed by the spitting--i have never seen a tennis player spit. parents should encourage sports that exemplify civility and true sportsmanship. even high school football leaves players with life long injuries to brain and joint injuries. i blame the nfl for signing these players---what other sport has this many ''bad actors''?