Three High School Football Players Die in One Week

http://www.nbcnews.com/watch/nightly-news/three-high-school-football-players-die-in-one-week-337152579904

Long Island school official calls one of the deaths, of Tom Cutinella,  a "freak" accident.  Was it, though, given that studies have shown that a high school football player sustains 650-1,000 blows to the head in a season--either direct hits to the head or hit to the body that transfers energy to the head? Purdue University--Study suggests concussions caused by a series of hits

Studies comparing functional MRI of high school football players brains before and after a season show altered brain function--even in players who were not diagnosed with a concussion.  And normal brain function can take months to return to normal.  Even in players not diagnosed with concussions.

Repetitive head blows in football, season after season, are suspected in the causing a dementia-like condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).  Boston University scientists have been performing autopsies of the brains of deceased football players and recently announced that, of the 79 brains they examined, 76 showed signs of CTE.  link

And CTE has been found in the brains of young men who only played college football (read the tragic story of Owen Thomas at U. Penn link) and even in the brain of a high school-aged boy. 

Could repetitive head blows also be causing the "freak" deaths in youth and high school football?  And what are the repetitive hits doing to the brains of boys who don't die? 

The NFL and mommy bloggers who enable it claim that football can be made safe by: (1) teaching "safer" Heads Up tackling; (2) teaching concussion awareness; and (3) installing helmet sensors that ID "big" hits.

If these interventions get Moms to continue to allow their sons to play youth and high school football, it protects the 32 NFL owners' $10 billion per year business plan.  But do they keep sons safe from repetitive head blows?

Some say Roger Goodell and the 32 NFL owners showed their cynicism about domestic violence in their handling of Ray Rice and other players involved with hitting their wives or other partners. 

Were Goodell's and the NFL owners' shameful actions on domestic violence just "freaks" or does the same cynicism underlie their "safer" football efforts?