Mike Borich died among strangers. He met them at a bar. Later that night he passed out and couldn't be revived. He was 42.

In medical terms, the cause of Borich's death was an overdose of alcohol, cocaine and OxyContin.

But what killed him was football.

Borich loved the violent sport that has become our national pastime. Fans go to the stadium or turn on the TV and live vicariously and cathartically through athletes who are so fast and so huge that the physics of their collisions are thrilling and chilling.

As a receiver, Borich took pride in holding onto the ball after a mid-air crash or body-slamming tackle. The harder the hit, the louder the cheers. Little did he know that each blow to the head was shortening his life.

Borich's brain was damaged by a condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Eight former NFL players who were aged 36 to 52 when they died have been found to have C.T.E., which afflicts boxers.

What is shocking about Borich's death is that he didn't play beyond his four seasons of small-college football at Western Illinois. His case is the first providing evidence that a non-professional athlete can suffer the same devastating brain alterations as one who plays years longer at the highest level.

Listen up, kids, coaches and parents: Football can start wrecking a player's brain at a young age, and once it's wrecked, it can't be repaired. The hits have a cumulative effect, just as a sledgehammer does on the sturdiest of walls.

Borich sustained nine or 10 concussions, according to his father, Joe, although he can't be sure because many concussions are never diagnosed or are diagnosed incorrectly. But the doctors studying C.T.E. believe repetitive subconcussive blows also contribute to the condition.

No one wants to see a high school player or a college star like Tim Tebow end up like Mike Borich.

A brain knocked around like a bumper car doesn't look normal on a brain scan. Nor does a brain-damaged person act normal.

Borich's parents donated his brain to science after he died in February so that others might not suffer as he did. He was a lonely, confused and broken man.

For the last couple years of Borich's life, his friends and family no longer knew him. It was as if a different personality inhabited his body.

Borich, who played high school football in the Salt Lake City area, started trying to blunt his depression with alcohol 10 years ago while he was receivers coach for the Chicago Bears. Things got worse when he worked at Brigham Young and the University of Arizona. He took drugs and pain killers. He became belligerent. His emotions swung to extremes. He had cognitive problems. He was forgetful. He'd miss the team bus or end up at the wrong hotel. He was fired in 2004 when he blew up at a receptionist.

Borich's case has similarities to that of Bucs lineman Tom McHale, also diagnosed with C.T.E., who died at 45 after a mystifying spiral of lethargy, depression and drug abuse. Doctors said he would have had dementia by 60.

``In these cases, people call it a midlife crisis or say the person has lost his spark for living,'' said Chris Nowinski, co-founder of the Sports Legacy Institute, which is studying the long-term effects of the games we play. ``It was obvious to people Mike had changed but they didn't know why. Nobody understood that it was organic brain disease.''

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