The Role Of Concussions In Professional Sports

Third and long. I got ready for the snap of the football as I got set in the three-point stance. I looked up and stared the center in his eyes. His eye-black is fading and smearing all over his face has as he sweats profusely. The quarterback yelled, “Set…… Hit!” I sprung forward and launched out of my stance. The center snapped the ball then shot at me with his hands aimed for my pads to attempt to block me. I took a sharp left step, as I propelled my left hand onto his back and cycled my right arm over to push him away. As I got past him I locked onto the quarterback. Rushing towards him as fast as I could he scrambled to catch up to him and disrupt the play. I charged at him and got low to prepare for the sack. Then, everything went to

Concussions have been studied since biblical times dating back to 800 B.C. In the early NFL era, concussions were a common occurrence but were not thought as a serious issue as it is now. Until 2002, there was no link between contact sports and life-long brain damage. Between 1996 and 2001, the NFL lead a self-investigation to see if there was a link between permeant head trauma and the sport. Though the results did find a small link, the NFL tried to cover themselves and downplay the findings. The New York Times were the first to find the skew in the findings by an average of ten percent. Also when interviewed by the Times, the NFL continued to blame the link of brain damage in their players to the use of tobacco and not trauma from the game ( Swhwarz, Bogdanich, and Williams). After the death of a former Hall of Famer, Mike Webster in 2002, Dr. Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian neurosurgeon who lived and worked in Pittsburgh removed his brain and studied it for almost a year. He found a new brain disease that is generated from multiple instances of brain trauma especially in NFL players and named it Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE for short. By 2005 Omalu published his findings. After years of research of donated brains of deceased former NFL players, the NFL had to finally come to their realize that the truth was out. “Out of 128 former players, regardless of level played (NFL, Semi-pro,

The more aware the public is over this head injury, the better of a chance there is to save a life. It can only take one concussion that can ruin a life. The multiple hits on the head from youth ball to the pros adds up even though it may not appear to at first. I may sound hypocritical by chastising the NFL about not acknowledging the importance of the head injuries caused by the game, yet talking how much fun the game was. It all comes down to awareness. If you ever think you might have a concussion, regardless if you’re showing symptoms, sit out of the game and rest until cleared by medical personal. No game is worth your health or