Back in the ancient years gladiators would fight to the death in front of hundreds of screaming fans in a massive sized coliseums. However now in the modern era, instead of gladiators fighting it out in a coliseum we have football. Football player’s tackle, hit and try to score touchdowns in front of thousands of fans in stadiums shaped liked coliseums. The highest level of football, the National Football League, averages over 19 million viewers a week, and is always the most watched show of the week. The biggest football game of the year, known as the super bowl, was watched by 108 million people this past year (NFL 2012 TV Recap). Still there is a dark side to football that has started to pick up steam in the last decade. Football players are susceptible to concussions. Other sports like boxing and hockey have taken precautionary measures to fix the concussion problem, but yet it is still prevalent and a major problem in football. It has become such a problem that there are rumblings of football maybe dying out as a sport at Mike Freeman says “All of these things will probably be discussed, and perhaps litigated, in what could be a nightmare for the NFL. Or even doomsday.”(Freeman “NFL isn’t in”). The issue of concussions is not going away unless changes are made. The best way to correct these problems is to address them on two fronts; at the youth and professional level.
Your brain is a delicate thing and must be protected. “The brain is surrounded in the skull by fluid. This protects the chemical balance from being altered by trauma to the brain” (About Concussions). When a concussion happens there is a momentary change of brain function due to distress. The brain has a sudden shift in the person’s skull that causes it to go ...
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...rogram Teaches Kids Proper Way to Play."TwinCities. N.p., 11 Aug. 2013. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.
Freeman, Mike. "NFL Isn't in Danger of Dying Soon, but You Can Hear Whispers."CBSSports. N.p., 7 May 2012. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.
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29 Oct 2013. League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis? Dir. Michael Kirk. Prod.
There has recently been an acknowledgement that children could develop brain injuries through playing football and it was suggested in the episode that no one under the age of fourteen should play tackle football. Although, in my personal opinion, I believe that tackle football is still very dangerous to play even after the age of fourteen. Due to the fact the brain is not fully developed until the mid-twenties, there are negative results playing tackle football could have on children to young adults. Although young people playing football may be more susceptible to the negative consequences playing football can have on the brain, it does not mean those over a certain age are invincible to such problems, as learned from the episode.
Smith, Rodney(2013).. Thomas Jefferson Law Review, Vol.35(2), 127-191 Solving the Concussion Problem and Saving Professional Football
Kremer, Andrea. "Health of the Game: Brain Injuries beyond Concussions 0." NFL.com. N.p., 7 Mar. 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. (Online Video)
Emmert, Mark. “Concussions put football at a crossroads.” Portland Press Herald (ME) 6 April 2014: Newspaper Source. Web. 7 April 2014.
B. Research Questions The research questions being proposed in this paper include but are not limited to the following: How well do helmets prevent concussions from occurring and prevent the development of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)? Is there one helmet that is better at protecting players against concussions than the others on the market? Is there any protective equipment besides helmets that football players should be wearing to prevent concussions? What is the current National Football League (NFL) concussion protocol?
Concussions have become arguably the #1 most prevalent issue in football today. The number of concussions throughout football has been rising for the past 20-30 years and there seems no way of stopping them. However, the NFL and many private researchers are set on finding a way to conquer this issue. They want to stop these concussions from happening and prevent the diseases resulting from them that have ruined so many football families’ lives. In order to solve this problem, I think that these researchers need to combine all of their knowledge to solve an issue that so many want solved. As soon as we conquer this “illness” we can return to enjoying the game that we love.
Concussions occur regularly on the football field and have always been an injury associated with football. They occur at all levels from little league to the NFL. One of the earliest reported concussion...
A concussion is a head injury that can have damaging effects on athletes of all sports and ages. Concussions are regularly caused by a hard hit to the head or body that causes the brain to shake inside the skull. While there is fluid within the skull to protect the brain, when an athlete is hit hard enough, the brain moves to the point of hitting the skull, causing a head injury otherwise known as a concussion (“Concussions”). Terry Adirim, a medical doctor who writes articles for Clinical Pediatrician Emergency Magazine, says that an individual may have many different symptoms after receiving a concussion. Symptoms can include headache, nausea, dizziness, loss of consciousness, and vomiting, but each of these symptoms do not necessarily happen with every concussion.
Concussions are an injury that falls under the Traumatic Brain Injury category. A concussion occurs when a force causes the brain to rock back and forth inside the skull, and hit the interior walls of the skull. When this happens it can result in bruising on two parts of the brain, the Coup and the Countercoup. This may result in Loss of consciousness, confusion, headaches, nausea or vomiting, blurred vision, and loss of short-term memory. I know from experience the nausea and blurred vision. I noticed that during what I thought was a concussion though after the initial hits my ears would ring and give me very painful headaches.
In the article “Should Kids Play Football” from the Scholastic Scope on February 2015, writer Jennifer Shotz discusses both issues of the benefits and dangers of playing American football. For example, Jennifer Shots mentioned that tens of thousands of young football players get concussions every year. She states that most players return to the game after they are healed but some never return because their concussion was too severe to their health. On the other hand, the writer also discusses how football isn't the only sport that encounters concussions. The rules of football are always changing and each new rule provides a safer way to play the game. For example, the writer notes that Pop Warner has reduced the amount of practice time dedicated
The world of sports is filled with great memories, grand moments and at times complete mayhem. There are moments like hitting a Home Run in game 7 of the World Series or memories of scoring an overtime goal during the Stanley Cup finals. However, there are also incredibly low moments when mayhem occurs such as an action or incident that results in a concussion. An injury such as a concussion can ruin your sports career or potentially your ability to function normally in the future. Concussions are caused by blunt force trauma to the head, a fall or an injury that shakes the brain inside the skull. Recovering from a concussion can take weeks, months or even years to heal. For some, it can impair your mental or mobility functions for life.
In contrast to the positives, high school athletics can be seen in a negative light. “Concussions [from athletics] cause structural brain damage” (Solotaroff 7). Even though nobody is said to get a concussion in Friday Night Lights, they are very frequent in football and in other sports today. They occur all the time in football especially. In addition to that piece of nega...
Even though the devastation of concussions is just rising to the surface, they have always been around. In 1994, the NFL started a committee called the MTBI (Mild Traumatic Brain Injury). Dr. Elliot Pellman was appointed as chair, and he was quoted saying, “We think the issue of knees, of drugs and steroids and drinking is a far greater problem, according to the number of incidents” (Ezell). This quote shows how concussions did not hold much importance, even though it should have been the committee's main focus. This is ironic, because in today’s sport world concussions are a highly talked about topic. They hold such significance that some rules are even being changed to lower the risk for players.
The problems and injuries that come with playing football have been obvious since the beginning, and to this day are still being discovered and researched in hopes of finding solutions so that the sport is not so dangerous. Malcolm Gla...