WAUKESHA — Brett Favre said in an exclusive interview with TMJ4 News on Monday that he has no idea how many concussions he's had, but at an appearance at Waukesha Sportscards, the Gunslinger and Packers legend admits the concerns of long-term health are real.
TMJ4's Lance Allan: "Physically you're in great shape. Mentally you're with it. We don't know at this point, the research doesn't show that you have CTE until you're gone."
"Right," Brett says.
Allan: "Is part of your fear that you may have CTE and you don't know it?"
"Absolutely," Favre says. "And I'll give you a good example. I was approached by a doctor, who wanted to do studies on living players to determine if they had elevated levels of TAL protein. And I said what is TAL protein? He said well every human has it. Elevated levels are a sign of head trauma. And he said what we know now, because we've tested, I don't know how many deceased players. And every one had elevated levels of TAL protein, which all the ones that he tested, either committed suicide, died suddenly. Mike Webster, Dave Duerson, Junior Seau. People like that. And I said, if I do the study, and you determine I have TAL protein elevated levels, is there a cure for it? And he said no, we're just really trying to see if there's a correlation between the two. And I said, well I'd rather not do it. I'd rather not know."
Brett also made an unscheduled pit stop, taking some hacks in the batting cages at Swing Time in Waukesha, and met with fans shocked he was there.
