In the wake of Andre Waters' suicide, Ted Johnson's depression plus early-onset Alzheimer's and new league-wide measures announced one month ago, the NFL will gather together administrators, medical committee members, team doctors and trainers along with invited lecturers for a summit in Chicago Tuesday on the controversial subject of concussions.

	Cases in point A sampling of pro athletes forced to retire because of concussions. Mike Matheny, MLB catcher "This is not a shoulder, a knee or an elbow. We're talking about the brain." Steve Young, NFL quarterback Had fourth concussion early in 1999. Retired several months later. Troy Aikman NFL quarterback Ten concussions in 12 seasons. Retired while he was still in his prime. Chris Miller, NFL quarterback Thought that if he retired for three years, his head would clear. It didn't. Keith Primeau, NHL center Found no amount of offseason conditioning can restore brain function. Al Toon, NFL receiver Eight concussions in nine years and retired at midseason in 1992. Ted Johnson, NFL linebacker At 35, is suffering from depression and early Alzheimer's. Merril Hoge, NFL running back Two concussions in a six-week period ended his career in 1994 at 29. Wayne Chrebet, NFL receiver "It's not a fight I can win right now." Had at least seven concussions by 2006. Adam Deadmarsh, NHL winger "My body is telling me it's not going to happen" after trying to come back. Mike Richter, NHL goalie What was said to be a "minor concussion" proved to be much worse.

The controversy remains: Is the NFL coming into this with an open or closed mind?

Because such conferences have been held time and again the past decade or so.

"First of all, it's not the first one they've had; I've participated in two prior meetings," said Dr. Mark Lovell, the director of the UPMC Center for Sports Medicine Concussion Program and a member of the NFL's two leading concussion committees. (Actually, he has participated in at least four since 1995, but more on that later.) He added: "Obviously, the topic is of central interest to the league. We have a new commissioner [Roger Goodell] who seems extremely aggressive in dealing with a number of issues. Not that [predecessor Paul] Tagliabue wasn't. Certainly, the issue of concussions has been in the news a lot."

And Pittsburgh often plays a role in that news.

Last November came the suicide of Waters, a longtime Eagles safety known for his thudding hits. Waters' brain tissue was sent to former Allegheny County pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu, who in January, similar to his earlier forensic studies on the late Steelers Mike Webster and Terry Long, found concussed brains showing signs of dementia that occurs "in people in their 80s and 90s." Waters was 44, Long 45 and Webster 50.

"This is direct tissue evidence, there's no speculation or inference," said Omalu, an adjunct Pitt professor who has written a book on the subject. "It's mounting scientific evidence.

"It's not about any specific individuals, it's about the truth. We're dealing with human beings here, we're dealing with their families. Each player should be fully aware of the dangers. Each player should make a judgment. If boxing causes dementia, why wouldn't football? Their force [from a football hit] is sometimes 38 times the gravitational pull on their head. That's been published by the NFL itself."

He said a concussion is a biomechanical reaction involving proteins in the brain, causing even mild cases to have cumulative effects later, such as diminished cognitive and executive functions, memory problems, exaggerated reactions and depression. The last result was the forum upon which Johnson, a former Patriots linebacker, went public in February.

The same month that Johnson detailed his post-concussion syndrome, amphetamine addiction, depression and early signs of Alzheimer's, the chairman of the NFL's mild-traumatic brain injury (MTBI) research committee resigned his post after published reports questioned his credentials and divulged that he had no expertise in neurology. Dr. Elliot Pellman, however, remains a general member of the league's overall MTBI committee.

In December 2004, Pellman and his succeeding committee co-chairs wrote that their research found no evidence about "widespread permanent or cumulative effects from one or multiple MTBIs." Meanwhile, the University of North Carolina's Center for Study of Retired Athletes -- a research sponsored in part by the NFL Players Association -- concluded that retirees who sustained in their playing days three or more concussions were: three times more likely to have memory problems, five times more likely to develop Alzheimer's and three times more likely to develop clinical depression, that last study being published just 19 days ago.

Lovell sits on both the NFL's research and overall MTBI panels. He was joined in January by longtime Steelers team doctor and neurosurgeon Dr. Joseph Maroon, whom league officials at first mistakenly identified as a "non-NFL affiliate physician" in announcing new concussion standards May 22.

Among measures then adopted, all raised by uber-agent Leigh Steinberg in his concussion summit in April:

Neuropsychological baseline testing will be mandatory for all players, using a standardized examination and starting next season (something Goodell disclosed previously, on May 2).

Brochures will educate players and their families about concussions, how to recognize symptoms, recommended treatments.

Decisions about returning to play post-concussion will be made by team medical personnel without pressure from players, coaches, front offices or competitiveness issues.

Goodell and the NFL owners also announced a month ago that, starting next season, they will strictly enforce chinstrap buckling -- removing players from the field if helmets are improperly snapped -- and they will introduce an anonymous, whistle-blower reporting system if a concussed player returns to play prematurely.

The summit Tuesday, mandatory for all 32 NFL trainers and physicians, additionally was announced as part of the first-year commissioner's new look at an old problem. The thing is, these summits aren't new, either.

They were held in Indianapolis at the NFL Combines in 1995 and 1996, when Lovell spoke at a seminar titled "The Pittsburgh Steelers Concussion Project." (Said Lovell of UPMC Sports Medicine's neighbor and close ally, "It's not an exaggeration to say none of this [NFL concussion progress over the past decade] would've happened without the Steelers.")

They were held for NFL team physicians in August 1998 in Phoenix and New York.

They were held as University of Pittsburgh seminars in July 2002 and 2004, when the speakers also included Dr. Robert Cantu, of Johnson and New England fame, and West Virginia University neurosurgery chairman Dr. Julian Bailes. One was held as part of an NFL injuries conference in Hollywood, Fla., last May, with Pellman as a speaker. And two more, separate from the NFL auspices, were held this April in Boston's Fenway Park, with Johnson as the keynote speaker, and one week later in Marina del Rey, Calif., sponsored by Steinberg -- whose clients have included victims of concussions, former quarterbacks Troy Aikman and Steve Young -- and where Lovell, Bailes and Cantu all lectured.

They will be among the speakers Tuesday alongside the former Steelers graduate-assistant trainer with whom Bailes and others worked on the North Carolina studies, Dr. Kevin Guskiewicz.

"It would be irresponsible to ignore [their research findings and incidences such as Waters, Long, Webster and Johnson] and say they don't exist," Guskiewicz said. "It isn't just the retirees. The current players who have had three or more concussions, they [need to] start to think about life after football. I think the good news is, we've seen some actions by the commissioner over the past month that have many of us optimistic, that he's very sincere about addressing concussion issues. I don't think he's turning his head and looking the other way."