Dave Mirra - RIP

Dave Mirra dead of apparent suicide

Wow. I'm in shock.

that's nuts, and very very sad. wonder if he was dealing with some CTE problems like football players.

Wow

Damn.

Oh wow. That sucks.

Not ok.

Sadness.

Wow, terrible news. He was the reason all of my friends and I HAD to have bmx bikes as kids

2016 is turning into a rather bummer of a year.

Sheesh, that really sucks. Hope his family is doing ok.

Wait...what? This sucks.

Sadness.

Heard earlier this evening. I remember all the hullabaloo with Hoffman over his "vert record". I also remember his first X-games, and he seemed to come out of nowhere. He polarized guys my age in the sport, but his talent was undeniable.

Paid to ride bikes, and drive race cars, millionaire of his own making, and still chose to end it. I guess you never know what people might be dealing with. Sad news

This is sad news indeed.

??????????????????

RIP Dave....

Double back flip was still my favorite X Games moment.

I know it's morbid, but I wonder if the multiple concussions he sustained during his career had anything to do with it?

Mazda787b wrote: Double back flip was still my favorite X Games moment. I know it's morbid, but I wonder if the multiple concussions he sustained during his career had anything to do with it?

I wad thinking the same thing. Cts is a motherberkeleyer.

Mazda787b wrote: Double back flip was still my favorite X Games moment. I know it's morbid, but I wonder if the multiple concussions he sustained during his career had anything to do with it?

One of my coworkers made the same point a few minutes ago. I never considered that.

I was going to make the same comment about concussions. Hopefully if that's the case, some awareness of the problem among action sports will come out of it.

I posted about this on FB and an acquaintance of mine called him a POS for leaving 2 kids behind. I tried to explain that no mentally sound person commits suicide, that there had to have been something going on, but apparently that is too much for a person to fathom by the conversation that ensued.

Either way it's a tragedy and I feel bad for his family. Mental health is a thing to take seriously.

This one hit me right in the feels. I grew up riding BMX, and loved playing the Dave Mirra BMX games on the Playstation and Playstation 2. He was basically the Tony Hawk of BMX. Another famous person from my youth gone. It's a truly terrible thing, especially leaving behind the family. Is he a POS for doing it though? That's a stretch if you ask me. None of us can understand what was going through his head, or what he was suffering from.

All I can ask is why he would do it. I can only come up with two reasons. One could be that he suffered from extreme depression. This guy was on top of the world 10-15 years ago, and he peaked back then. I honestly don't know what he's been up to the past few years, but if the fame & fortune disappeared, then depression may have led to this terrible decision.

Scenario #2 relates to possible issues from suffering from CTE. Did he have it? It's possible; the guy probably smacked his head off the pavement a ton over the years. Look at all the NFL players that took their lives in similar fashion. They suffered every day from it, and some went to that extreme, like Dave Duerson and Junior Seau. Just the other day, Ken Stabler was found to have had it as well.

Either way, it sucks. If you have depression, talk to someone. Get some help before you do something like this. The CTE thing is where it gets tough, and outside of not doing these activities, I'm not sure what can be done to prevent that from happening. Maybe safety gear will get better for future generations.

Sad to hear RIP, enjoyed watching him Rally race.

Hadn't thought of the concussion thing as a possible "reason". I've only had the one and trying to extrapolate the effect of several is beyond me. That brainshake screwed me over for months. In any case dammit, talk to someone if you're feeling that bad... So far this year, the Wrong People are checking out early.

If not concussions, one might also speculate if he didn't end up inadvertently hooked on some drugs/painkillers as result of injuries and pain.

Sad indeed. Only those close to him likely know.

Mental illness isn't logical, and having things look good to the outside doesn't mean squat.