Neuropathologist teams up with former NFL player to write provocative book questioning the extent and cause of CTE among football players

Dr. Peter Cummings

In an Op-Ed piece published today on Yahoo! Sports, neuropathologist Peter Cummings and former NFL player Merril Hoge discuss their skepticism about the science behind the connection between chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and football. 

Cummings and Hoge just released a book entitled “Brainwashed: The Bad Science Behind CTE and the Plot to Destroy Football” (Amplify, Oct. 23, 2018), describing their take on the conclusions that have been drawn regarding the connection between football and CTE. "We believe that when people know what we know, they’ll start asking tougher, smarter questions, and the 'football causes CTE' connection will be revealed as the pseudoscience that it is," the authors write.

Merril Hoge

The authors later state: "The researchers, especially [Boston University], were all too willing to ride the wave of attention provided by the press without ever copping to the severe weaknesses in their work. As a result, the public is convinced that football causes CTE — and that anyone who says otherwise is a 'denier' — based on work that would not have passed muster in a graduate-level research design course."

We will be on the lookout for reaction to the provocative statements made by Cummings and Hoge. Stay tuned...