Gryphen kills brain cells.

A blow to the head that knocks a person unconscious can result in widespread loss of brain tissue, Canadian researchers said on Monday, explaining why some people who suffer head injuries are never quite the same.

The more severe the injury, the more brain tissue is lost, they said.

"There is more damage and it is more widespread than we had expected," said Dr. Brian Levine of the Rotman Research Institute and the University of Toronto, whose study appears in the journal Neurology.

Uh Oh!

I will take a moment from my enthusiastic support for Barack Obama to confess one of my past sins.

Before I was the sophisticated erudite blogger that I am today, I was a quick tempered pugilist who loved to dominate my fellow males through physical tests of skill. In other words, I beat people up.

Now most of these interactions were in a ring or on the mats, in boxing or martial arts contests. Some were not.

And I did indeed knock people out. A lot. I sat here trying to remember how many people I rendered unconscious and to best of recollection it may have been just under two dozen.

Including my younger brother. Oops. (I still maintain it was an accident.)

So now apparently I, just like binge drinking and eating paint chips, am responsible for killing brain cells. So I have no choice but to apologize.

If I knocked you out I am sorry. Of course in most cases I remember that I was not the only throwing punches. But if you find yourself standing in a parking lot trying to remember where you parked I will take some responsibility.

P.S. To be honest I figured this out a number of years ago and cannot now watch a boxing match (which I used to love), without feeling badly for the guys in the ring. I always want to take the fighters aside and suggest they go back to school and get a different profession.