Book Review: "Mind and Matter" By John Urschel

Writing a memoir prior to turning thirty is quite the feat but then so too is connecting math and football.

I think in this case he took on way too much but tried his best to make others see his method to his madness.

Now I say madness for a number of reason the most important being life and limb over personal and or professional gain and monetary wealth.

When the evidence shows concussions are causing deaths involving CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy and other debilitating symptoms than we need to examine the reasoning behind it all.

While PSU has always prided itself upon athletics and academics it's not the only thing PSU is known for and those who think Joe PA is a legend strictly because of football is truly missing the point.

Football is not nor should be a death sentence for so many young men and in some cases young ladies.

I will put it this way in plain language. My entire family has a history with football both in grade school and collegiate levels.

They also now are suffering in debilitating pain including my youngest brother who just had a knee transplant at 41yrs old this after having major surgery on his shoulder and back.

I would attribute every bit of this to his years playing collegiate ball with Brown University (yes that Ivy League) and his younger years in high school.

Folks all that bumpin and grindin plays a major role upon the body and don't let em' kid ya!

While I was hoping Mr. Urschel laid it out on the line and noted the tremendous pain and heartache that goes with the years of playing he kept it under raps and didn't sway towards not playing football the American tradition.

While I appreciated his intellect in Math and solving life's problems with math his inability to see the danger of the game and not truly warrant caution is not acceptable.

My uncle was as close to pro ball as one could get. Today he can barely walk and oh yes he still has that big old blocker build weighing in at close to 4-500 lbs if I had to take a guess with a frame that is under 6 ft.

So what I will note is while it's great to write about not staying fixated on just the love of the game and sticking up for others during the fallout of Sandusky Scandal it's not to say that we can ignore the progress made in understanding CTE and the effects constant concussions and body blows have upon the body in general.

I hope someday we don't skip over this important chapter to discuss math and football because in my opinion the entirety begins and ends with the medical issues that need to be addressed.

It seemed to be when the body failed it was simply a result of wear and tear but we should seriously address this further.

Math isn't my sharpest subject nor math puzzles as my fav topic but I'm sure to some it's quite valuable and intriguing.

While I have no doubt he accomplished plenty in his life I feel without admitting the dangers he has done a great disservice to the younger crowd.