Jul 6th 2008 10:24AM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Chiefs, NFL Media Watch, Kansas CitFormer Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman and Fox TV announcer Bill Maas gave two lengthy interviews to the Kansas City Star in which he discussed the drug and legal problems that ended his broadcasting career, and the most interesting revelation is that concussions suffered playing football have left him permanently brain damaged:
The frontal lobe of his brain is damaged. Doctors say it’s a direct result of his NFL career and has caused him depression, minor speech problems and extreme loss of short-term memory.
It’s one of the conditions that drove him online, buying hydrocodone and other painkillers from pharmacies he knew probably weren’t legitimate. He says his drug use began when his broadcasting career went downhill; a source says it was the other way around.
Maas doesn’t come across like a guy who wants to blame the NFL for his personal problems, but he does sound like a guy who wants to get back into the game he loves.Continue Reading