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Michael Kirk's Film, League Of Denial NFL Concussion Crisis

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Mike Webster was a center for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Mike Webster had many injuries as a result of playing football. He had broken bones, torn tendons, heart malfunctions, and his teeth were falling out. However, his worst one of all was the injury to his head. In 2003, after Webster passed away, Dr. Bennet Omalu did an examination of his brain. In this examination, Dr. Omalu found a chronic disease that he believed to be caused by playing in the NFL (Kirk). As stated in the film by Steve Fainaru, “And that decision would change the NFL, because if Webster’s brain had not been examined, I don’t honestly think that we would be where we are at today” (Kirk). Without this examination the investigation would not have occurred, and therefore, the muckraking would not have occurred. …show more content…

Michael Kirk, the director of this film, is a well renowned filmmaker. He has produced more than 200 national televised programs. In 1987, he made his own company, the Kirk Documentary Group. Michael Kirk is very well educated, having received a Neiman Fellow Award …show more content…

Some of the information was obtained through examinations and scientific studies, and other parts were obtained through interviews. Michael Kirk interviewed many people. He interviewed scientists, sports reporters, doctors, and many others in order to get many different perspectives and as much information as he could on this topic. The research and investigation started in 1994, when Mike Webster was first showing symptoms of a chronic brain disease. The investigation ended in 2013, when the film was released

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Concussions On September 24, 2002 is when Bennet Omalu was getting ready to start an autopsy on the famous football player Mike Webster. Mike had died from blows to the head on the football field. But the Steelers claimed it was a heart attack. The blows to his head affected him most after he retired.

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But whereas the book just enveloped blackouts in football on the grounds that it was the game the writer was advised with, the narrative branches out to incorporate different games too, including hockey, soccer and lacrosse. The film interfaces the suicide of various games players, including previous Philadelphia Eagles player. Andre Waters and a 21­year old University of Pennsylvania understudy to a degenerative mind illness known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopaty (CTE) that originates from blackouts. The film makes an incredible showing of utilizing design to demonstrate precisely how a blackout is brought on, what it would seem that and what it does. The issue of this documentary is that football players are in danger it was proved by the doctors and scientist that concussion is a really big thing in NFL and it has to be solved or

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(pg 2-5) Webster suffered from dementia as a result of numerous hits and concussions. Webster eventually died at age 50 in 2002, and after his death his family eventually sued over the NFLs

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Chris Bachelder, the author of “Rewatching the Theismann Injury”, published on November 18, 2015 by the New York Times, did a good job of further informing football watchers of the events that occurred when Washington Redskin quarterback, Joe Theismann suffered a career ending injury. Bachelder explained how most people say they know of or have even seen the injury to Theismann, but people may not remember everything that happened when his career was ended. The way Bachelder explained what happened was he did a memory test on himself to see what he remembered about the play and testing it with what really happened, which informs the reader on what transpired back in 1985. For example, Bachelder recalled that he was young at this time and his

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In the true story based movie and the documentary, the dangers of head injuries in football are laid out for the viewer. Dr. Bennet Omalu discovered the brain injury chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE; however, the NFL was in denial about the effects football had on the brain and had on causing CTE. I believe that the NFL’s denial to the accusations were detrimental to many football players and that serious consideration should be taken into the way football is played overall. When Dr. Omalu originally diagnosed CTE on Mike Webster and the NFL denied that football was the cause for his death and disease.

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Dr. Bennet Omalu, who conducted the autopsy of Mike Webster, found the first scientific clue regarding the long-term effect of concussions in football (Kirk League of Denial). Upon investigating Webster's brain tissues, Dr. Omalu found collections of tau proteins, a definitive sign of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. CTE is best characterized by the lifelong progressive deterioration of cognitive functions with an environmental etiology (McKee et al.

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Some of the tests revealed damage to the amygdala which controls mood. Additionally the NFL players scored much lower on memory tests, and had worse verbal skills (Hedin, 2015) 5. Due to the recent number of suicides & violent crimes committed by former players, there is more of a need to research the correlation between the head injuries in the NFL and brain disease even more C. Thesis Point 3: What steps the National Football league has taken to protect players long term health and safety 1. With the scrutiny the NFL has come under, they have developed a new protocol for the diagnoses and treatment of players with concussions 2. Under the new protocol, any player who exhibits sings of a concussion, even the most remote sign, must come out of the game and be checked out by the medical staff, they may not return to the same game if they undergo tests for concussion.

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One wrong move and he’s dead. The goliath of a football player lay there motionless as grasped his head tightly making sure not to move even ever so slightly. The scorching rays of the sun burned at the back off my head as I stayed frozen like statue a simple twitch could cost a life. Although I knew that this was merely a simulation of an on field concussion I had to prove it to myself and my classmates that I was strong enough to spine board this colossal football

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E. Does the NFL have a code of ethics or whistleblowing protection in place for the reporting of such unethical behavior? If yes, why did these measures not prevent the problem? If no, could these measures have prevented the problem? (8 points) Yes, NFL outlines for players steps taken to address concussions National Football League, Published: Aug. 14, 2007 at 07:08 p.m.

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The Impact of Concussions During Football Concussions have become a major problem in athletics throughout the entire world. Head injuries can impact many athletes lives in a negative way. Hard contact to the head of a player can damage the brain and the way he goes about life. The way football is played, equipment should be better equipped to prevent significant injuries such as concussions. Head injuries drive a player out of the sport earlier than normal, so the NFL has looked into the issue and has gone about bettering technology and equipment to prevent concussions in the future.

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Many different investigations were started in order to connect CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) to football. These investigations succeeded, even though some took longer to be recognized due to the fact of how important American football is to the U.S.A., but nonetheless it was known that NFL players were at a high risk for CTE and the only way to fix it is to stop playing football. During studies like the NFL case in 2002, there was a big riot about NFL and how it impacts the football fans, but they never focused on how the injuries start to stack up into CTE. The scientists that focus towards the beginning of a football athletes rate of concussions start to see the a distortion in the brain. Scientists like Dr. Christopher Whitlow, who did an experiment on 25 boys around mid teens and used helmets to record brain activity while playing football.

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Head Injuries In American Football Since the beginning of American football, concussions have been a big problem with players in high school, college, and the National Football League. Concussions have led to the end of many players football careers and in some cases, their lives. People that are in college and the NFL continue, playing even though they are risking their lives just for a little fame. Today football players play the game to make money and just because of their love for the sport.

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Carson Simpson Mrs. Gallos English 3 Honors 24 April 2017 Concussions in Football Although football is a very popular sport, changes need to be made. There is a lot of research and data showing head injuries in football and how they hurt the players. The NFL tries to just sweep these cases away because they know it would hurt the popularity and economical support of the sport. Head injuries and concussions are the most popular injuries in football because of the fact that they are one of the most dangerous injuries a player could have.

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Almost 58,000 concussions were reported from the NCAA, which represents 1,200 colleges/universities, in the 2001-02 season (“Head Injuries”). That is about 48 concussions per school, and 1 in every 23 athletes. Sports and recreational concussions have become a more serious issue over the past decade. Many parents, coaches, and players deem concussions not serious and resume playing in the game. The increase in concussions, mainly in sports, has a long-lasting effect on the human brain and needs to be taken more seriously.

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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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