Years ago at a high school soccer practice I was watching with a mom whose daughter happened to head a ball only feet from where we were standing.

“Another point off the SAT scores,” the mother quipped, referring to the blow to the head that her daughter had just absorbed.

I took it as a joke, or a half-joke. I know nothing about soccer, or the long-range effects of heading balls.

But football is something else. A study commissioned by the National Football League shows that former pro players suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia at a rate far greater than the general population.

You can learn more here.