Concussion vs. Football Football is a sport unlike any other; it takes a special breed of humans to play this game at a high level. Unfortunately, at this high level and even in lower levels concussions are a major issue. Lindsey Neumann wrote about concussions in her article “Raising awareness of the severity of concussions.” In Neumann’s article the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) states that, "A concussion is a brain injury that may be caused by a blow to the head, face, neck, or somewhere else on the body with an ‘impulsive’ force transmitted to the head" (Neumann para. 5). Many people when speaking about football and injuries immediately think of concussions because they are always all over the media. This coverage gives football a bad rep because people seem to think that every player will suffer from a concussion. The football community needs to rise as a whole against the diversity to try to diminish the amount of concussions suffered throughout the sport. The impact of concussions has had the greatest effect on all aspects of football from changing the lives of player’s negatively, the changing of rules, regulations and equipment, and the promotion of new safety techniques for coaching. Many football players see the game as a lifestyle and throw their bodies around to make big runs, blocks, and tackles. That is why so many injuries are suffered throughout the sport; the one that seems to occur most often is concussions. When on the field, there is not much on the player’s mind besides winning and having their team’s back. Players never think about hitting another player and the fact that they are at risk of hurting their brain. However, if that player suffers from a concussion, it can really impact his brain and even his life. Lauren Ezell wrote an article about the history of concussions titled “Timeline: The NFL Concussions Crisis.” Ezell explains in her article how Troy Aikman, the star quarterback for the Cowboys in the 90’s, reacted to a huge hit, “I didn’t know what planet I was on. I still to this day have no recollection of ever having played in that game. So whenever I see footage of that game, it’s like somebody else is out there doing it” (Ezell para. 8). Aikman suffered a severe concussion after this game and told reporters a few weeks later that he could not remember being hit or anything that happened before the hit. Issues that Aikman suffered from, like memory loss, is a big reason the football community needs to try to diminish as many concussions as possible. When the concussions can be reduced, the health of all football players will be able to escalate and not so many players’ lives’ will be affected by the head trauma. Players never think about how what happens on the field can dramatically affect them off the field.
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Neumann states in her article that when players experience concussions, they can suffer from memory loss, depression, paranoia, aggression, impaired judgment and if severe enough the player could develop Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which is a degenerative brain disease (Neumann para. 2). Several NFL players have had to deal with this chronic illness and it takes a big toll on their lives. This illness plays such a big role because the player slowly loses their sanity day by day, they begin to forget things and become very angry/annoyed. One day the player is having the time of his life on the field, then he gets hit, and the next day he begins to slowly lose his mind. Furthermore, Beth Mole discusses in an article titled, "New Report Outlines NFL Interference in Concussion Research" the topic of CTE. Mole names a player, Junior Seau, who committed suicide and after death his brain was examined and it was found that he was diagnosed with CTE (Mole para. 17). The NFL presumes that CTE is why Seau killed himself; which is one of the many reasons the football community is trying to find effective ways to cut out as many concussions as possible. Fewer concussions mean fewer players developing diseases, brain trauma, and other side-effects causing fewer lives’ to be negatively impacted. To reduce unnecessary blows to the head, the NFL is
Neumann states in her article that when players experience concussions, they can suffer from memory loss, depression, paranoia, aggression, impaired judgment and if severe enough the player could develop Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which is a degenerative brain disease (Neumann para. 2). Several NFL players have had to deal with this chronic illness and it takes a big toll on their lives. This illness plays such a big role because the player slowly loses their sanity day by day, they begin to forget things and become very angry/annoyed. One day the player is having the time of his life on the field, then he gets hit, and the next day he begins to slowly lose his mind. Furthermore, Beth Mole discusses in an article titled, "New Report Outlines NFL Interference in Concussion Research" the topic of CTE. Mole names a player, Junior Seau, who committed suicide and after death his brain was examined and it was found that he was diagnosed with CTE (Mole para. 17). The NFL presumes that CTE is why Seau killed himself; which is one of the many reasons the football community is trying to find effective ways to cut out as many concussions as possible. Fewer concussions mean fewer players developing diseases, brain trauma, and other side-effects causing fewer lives’ to be negatively impacted. To reduce unnecessary blows to the head, the NFL is