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Concussions In Sports Analysis

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In 2015, the NFL reported 271 concussions through practices, games, and workouts in the 2015 season alone (Breslow). The NFL is the most popular sport in the US (McGarry and Schwartz). It’s competitiveness and excitement were all people focused on until players recognized the true effects concussions can have on a player. Today, only a handful of players come out and speak about the problem, addressing their concerns. The cost of speaking out could be that you would lose respect from your teammates and coaches, as they are trying to preserve a game that they love. The benefit of speaking out would be the change that followed in order to reduce head injuries. It is very important to bring awareness to this issue so that the NFL can make …show more content…

The NFL was still in denial of the epidemic, and that put many players in serious danger. Unfortunately, Seau is just one of the many players that suffer from this brain condition. Dave Duerson was a safety that was a part of the 85’ Bears team. Duerson went on to win one more Super Bowl, and get elected to four straight Pro Bowls. Duerson, also, reportedly suffered ten concussions in his eleven seasons in the NFL (Fox News). Just to put that in perspective, experts today say that if an athlete has three concussions in a lifetime, they should no longer play any contact sport (KnowConcussion.org). The very fact that Duerson was allowed to continue playing after 10 concussions just emphasizes the fact of how corrupt the NFL was, and still is, on concussions. Duerson went on the kill himself later in his life. The New York Times reported that hours before he killed himself, he sent text messages to his family, requesting that his brain tissue be examined for research (Schwarz). His brain showed clear evidence of brain damage due to the trauma it went through (Fox News). The terrifying concept of this problem is that an alarming number of retired players could be in the same position as these two; an article from the Washington Post wrote “more than 40 …show more content…

If the NFL is prompted to explore new technology in order to make the game safer, that could have a huge effect of the number of people with brain disorder following their career. Many players have experienced these life threatening disorders that cause tragic results. Frank Wycheck was a tight-end who played for the Redskins for the majority of his career. Wycheck was interviewed following an NFL concussion case settlement. He called it a “joke”(Red), and explained how he, himself, suffered from CTE. He explained how for years, he has been battling his concerns, anxiety, thoughts of suicide, and depression following his career (Red). Frank Wycheck is a prime example of why players must speak out. In order to save hundreds of innocent people from terrible mind-altering diseases, the game must change. Today’s players are going down the exact same road as many retired players. Bo Jackson, one of the greatest players to play the game, was voicing his concerns for the football players of today to ESPN; “The person I love in the NFL like my own son is Cam Newton. I cuss him out like my own son. But every time he takes a hit to his head, that scares me, it scares the hell out of me”(Newton). Bo Jackson was a two sport athlete. He played two professional sports, football and baseball. Many consider him to be one of the greatest

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Mike Webster, a former NFL player, who played for the Steelers in the 1970s have started to experience head trauma and health complications. He began to struggle with his normal routine and family relationship, ending up homeless. From Frontline documentary film, “A League of Denial” explains how “he later died from a cardiac arrest on September 24, 2002, where Dr. Omalu examined the cause of his death.” How this happened may correlate to the football player's head-on collision of the brain resulting in what is known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is known as a neurodegenerative disease that affects the person’s cognitive function, altering their behavior.

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According CNN’s article “NFL Concussion Fun Facts,” there have been 692 combined concussions diagnosed throughout the preseason and regular season in the NFL over the past 3 years. It may be evident by these numbers that the NFL has a major problem with players getting concussions, and over the years their concussion protocol has been questioned by former players and other people around the football community. Ken Belson stated in his article “Brain Trauma to Affect One in Three Players, N.F.L. Agrees,“ that a third of retired football players are subject to long term brain issues, these issues may include the disease known as CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) which has been brought to light in a more recent time. CTE has effected a good

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Even though the National Football league under Goodell 's leadership has maintained steady viewership growth and profit, Roger Goodell has handled the concussion epidemic of the NFL extremely poorly, in addition to handling the constant ethics issues with little regard. In the many instances of concussions in the NFL Goodell has given inadequate punishment to guilty parties. In addition, Roger Goodell has also handled the "Deflategate" scandal poorly by suspending Tom Brady, even after no solid evidence of wrongdoing. In recent years it has been discovered that American Football has a reampint concussion epidemic, that has caused long term brain damage. Goodell on several occasions has only punished players who take headshots, with fines ranging from $50,000 to $150,000 (according to ESPN), issued to multi-millionaire players, This policy gives no incentive for players to stop, for example player for the Miami Dolphins Matt Moore’s concussion.

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An NFL football player will endure somewhere between 900 to 1500 blows to their head over the course of a single season. With an immense amount of blows like this comes an immense amount of damage to a player’s brain. This extensive amount of brain damage has been decided, by Dr. Bennet Omalu, to result in chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. Over the course of these discoveries and much controversy, the NFL has been targeted, denied all accusations, done very few things to lessen the risk of concussions in football, and the risks and number of concussions have steadily increased throughout the league’s

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The long-term side effects of these traumatic injuries have led spectators and doctors to speculate the dangers of head on collision in sports. Furthermore, concussions lead to TBI which leads to depression and problems with their functioning. Brain injuries have led to famous NFL players committing suicide and losing their families and

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A football player experiences massive hits to the helmet in a game. Those hits slam the brain on the side of the skull, which creates a concussion or a bruise on the brain. Continuous concussions create massive head trauma which chokes the brain. This choking of the brain lowers the life expectancy of a football player to fifty-three to fifty-nine years old. Unfortunately many players and families ignore the facts and allow their children and themselves to slowly injure the most important part of the human body.

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Omalu had innocently believed that the NFL would offer a positive reception to his study that exposed the dangers posed upon football participants’ mental health. Contrary to his expectations, the NFL demanded for an extraction of the article from 2005’s July issue of Neurosurgery. Three editors from the NFL’s committee for Mild Brain Injury wrote about serious flaws they had come across in his research. Other people who had been affected apart from Webster were the likes of Terry Long. After the first report denial by NFL, Omalu pushed forward with a second brain examination on Terry Long who had showed signs of distressing behavior after his immediate retirement.

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