Almost one hundred and forty-eight years has passed since the first football game. During that span, there has been numerous leagues of all ages formed, the popularity has skyrocketed in and out of the United States, and as a plethora amount of people played, a higher amount of people sustained injuries. Fast forward to today’s time, and a major topic with the media is the NFL, the concussion scandal, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and player safety. As an Athletic Trainer and medical provider, there are aspects of every football game that create a sense of anxiety. Big hits and kickoffs are exhilarating for the spectators; however, Athletic Trainers see thunderous impacts and full speed collisions jarring the brain, damaging the body, and decreasing player safety.
Throughout my college career, I have researched and written several papers discussing concussions and varied aspects of the topic. Each one had different angles, as well as, the majority were filled with
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Omalu’s CTE findings and the resistance that he received from the NFL when trying to bring his results public. His results showcased that numerous former NFL player’s brains had CTE. Nonetheless, the NFL still tried to deny the correlation between head injuries and football. A majority of people have either watched football, played it, or knows someone who has. With this notion of football’s popularity, the idea of safety needs to be in his or her thought process nearly at the same level with how fun or exciting the game is. Conflict arose about why the NFL was hiding football’s and the league’s responsibility for so long. The lawsuits are abundant, and the evidence is incriminating. Were the revenue, gains, profits, and lavish lifestyles worth the health of the players? The evidence does not play into their favor. Dr. Bennet Omalu’s groundbreaking discovery, countless others’, and the domino effect of everything that has followed was too