# 49ers' Chris Borland retiring at 24 - say what? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 17, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/49ers-chris-borland-retiring-at-24-say-what/715242 "2015-03-17T23:13:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/49ers-chris-borland-retiring-at-24-say-what/715242/81 "2015-03-23T15:25:34Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Show me even one case of a player with that documented brain wasting disease that played a short career. There isn’t one that I’m aware of. [Here is a case of an 18-year-old](http://www.bu.edu/cte/our-research/case-studies/18-year-old/) football player with no documented history of concussion, with deposits of tau protein in the brain. Tau normally is a cushion between neurons but becomes a scavenger/free-radical following repetitive head trauma, even repetitive sub-concussive blows. [Here is a great article on CTE](http://www.surgicalneurologyint.com/article.asp?issn=2152-7806;year=2012;volume=3;issue=1;spage=19;epage=19;aulast=Blaylock), although it is quite technical… In short, there is no amount of damage that is good for a brain, diagnosed concussions or not… ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2015, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/49ers-chris-borland-retiring-at-24-say-what/715242/82 "2015-07-12T07:47:33Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > :rolleyes: Can’t say I blame him for not wanting to end up like [Darryl Talley.](http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bills-nfl/broke-and-broken-20141126) I have been informed by the SDMB that my conduct on this thread is unacceptable, and therefore I wish to comment not further on the subject, regards russian heel [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/49ers-chris-borland-retiring-at-24-say-what/715242.md?page=4)