There have been way too many deaths among athletes because of heart conditions. Simple physicals that are performed in high school are too much on the surface. I played football in high school, 97-99, and now I learned a few months ago I have an enlarged heart muscle (naturally comes from lifting and excercise according to the doctors), and a symptom called SVT, supraventricular tachycardia. This I think is what's happening to athletes, especially in football where the physical aspect of the game is in such high demand, and players sometimes unknowingly go overboard. As their careers go on, their heart gets enlarged even more and they get no treatment for it. Sometimes no symptoms occur until it's too late, fortunately for me I did have symptoms. I hope these physicals become more in depth, sad to see this happen to athletes. Your thoughts?

Totally agree. I mean everyone's should be an in-depth physical, but especially if I'm an owner and I'm paying you millions of dollars, I want to make sure you're body is going to be in top shape and there's nothing wrong.

I agree with this as well. take as much time as you need to figure out what(if any) potential conditions an athlete may have.

What other athletes has this happened to? Maybe not resulting in death, but maybe a missed condition during physicals? The one that I most recently remember is the former Gonzaga center Turiaf (sp?) Ended up having a heart problem...wasn't there another basketball player from New York that had the same problem? Eddie Curry maybe?

Physicals would help. Not sure why the onus is on ownership though. Players make thousands-millions of dollars, they should be smart, safe and just go get the thorough physical.

Benny The Jet wrote: What other athletes has this happened to? Maybe not resulting in death, but maybe a missed condition during physicals? The one that I most recently remember is the former Gonzaga center Turiaf (sp?) Ended up having a heart problem...wasn't there another basketball player from New York that had the same problem? Eddie Curry maybe?

yeah i mean, of all the professional sports, all the collegiate, and olympic sports, how often does this happen?

Read these articles if you think it's not becoming a big problem.

http://www.viennareview.net/story/01453-athletes-dying-young

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17971296

I wasn't stating that I don't think it happens much...just curious if anyone knew of any other athletes this has happened to.

I hear Rosie O'Donnell has volunteered to give physicals to the WNBA players and US Women's Softball.

Seriously though, a complete cardiac workup with diagnostic studies should be required for professional athletes. If I am an owner, I want to make sure I discover my potential future liabilities (in the form of a lawsuit) before I make a decision to draft a player.