The Dangers of Playing American Football

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Struggling to maintain consciousness as well as retain my vision after embracing a brutal hit enforced from an opposing player really makes me question the seriousness of football related trauma. How many injuries does it take until it really matters? For me, after having experience with concussions, I came to the realization that the positive externalities of football do not make up for the numerous negative externalities. Football, as well as any other contact sport, can be very dangerous and potentially threatening to a persons overall health and future. From long practice hours, hot summer workouts, and many Friday nights, my personal observation of this dangerous sport is exceptionally prevalent. My initial experience of the damage that football brings came my eighth grade year when I witnessed a senior football player on my team try and eat a phone on the ride home after receiving a concussion in the third quarter of the game. Which is a prime example to defend the fact that football related injuries to the head result in people not “being all there.” Not only have I seen someone try and eat a phone, but I have also witnessed head injuries resulting in my own friend randomly yelling at me after a game for no reason, and also a friend trying to jump down a full flight of stairs thinking he was starring in a movie. The fast paced, high intensity contact that comes with playing football is nothing to think flippantly of when it plays a role on brain trauma, and the results of brain trauma. 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... ... middle of paper ... ...o be a major part of life; but the hopes are that many things about football are changed in order to make the sport safer for everyone. Football may in fact be a worldwide fad, but when will people ever realize that the lasting affects that football leaves on people is a dangerous thing? Nothing about the game of football will ever make up for the lifelong negative realities that come with playing the dangerous sport. Unfortunately, people do not seem to care about those negative things, because the love of football is unconditional. Will football ever be safe? Even though that question may never be answered, and the problems with football may never be solved, people will still continue to love and play the game, regardless of what may come. The only hope is that something will happen, and the excessive injury, trauma, and death will come to a complete halt.

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