All athletes know of the danger an injury can bring them while competing in their sports. They play regardless of the physical damage that they continue to inflict on themselves. What many athletes are now contemplating is the hazard of death caused by their respective sports.

Football players in particular are in danger more than any other sport. Especially offensive and defensive linemen that are often tipping the scales at over 300 pounds.

A recent study done by Scripps Howard News Service states that these men are among the heaviest in sports history and are 52 percent more likely to die of heart disease than the regular population.

At the beginning of the NFL season, Thomas Herrion, a 23-year-old offensive lineman, died of heart disease during the 49ers' training camp.

Herrion isn't the only death to come this year.

Two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Reggie White, died at the young age of 43 from a cardiac arrhythmia compounded by breathing disorders.

White is just another example of this epidemic that is taking over the football world.

There are countless other players that have died from the same sort of things.

This brings up the question of our priorities and if they are in the right place when we ask high school and college players to bulk up to keep up with the competition.

Is it worth it?

Were the all-pro years that 27-year-old Korey Stringer, 325 pounds, spent with the Minnesota Vikings worth his life during training camp in 2001?

I think not, and I hope that teams and organizations feel the same way.

There needs to be a policy put into place by all teams - high school through pro - to regulate the size and weight of players to insure their heath.

The patterns show, and if teams will not regulate players' weight, then they need to take serious precautions to make sure that the death of these players does not continue.

Offensive and defensive linemen were never this large, and they only continue to get larger because of the growing demand by teams to get bigger.

I hope that every high school, college and pro team takes these studies seriously and creates policies to take care of their players who bring in millions a year to their establishments.