Football Safety Essay
Dating back to the 1800’s, Football has been one of America’s favorite pastimes. Every Sunday, countless homes tune in to watch their favorite teams play, or they head out during the week to see their sons, nephews, brothers, or even grandchildren play this sport. However, it was not until recently that researchers began to understand just how dangerous this sport was to play. Once studies about the danger of the sport began to circulate, the NFL (National Football League) tried to hide the findings for years. Because of the hesitation of the findings, getting information out to the public about the dangers of the sport was proven to be difficult, and still is. There are still many parents, children and players that do not understand the risk associated with playing football, and are being put in danger because of it. In order to protect players from the dangers of the game and the potential long-term risk, it is essential that there is more education to parents, children, and even players about the risk.
Today’s Football is …show more content…
played with two opposing teams switching roles of playing what is known as “offense” and “defense.” When a team is playing offense, their goal is to rush past the opposing team, either by throwing the football, or by passing it to other team members. The goal of the offense rushing past the other team is to eventually enter their “end zone,” which is where they score points for their team. When a team is playing defense, their goal is to do everything they can to stop the offense from being able to move and get to their end zone. In order to do this, the defense tackles players from the offense repeatedly. Football is nothing short of a very hands on and harsh contact sport. In fact, with the help of Tim Gay, it was found that the impact of an average 245-pound player was equivalent to that of a small adult killer whale’s weight. Today however, the average weight of player is closer to 275 pounds (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2013).
With players getting hit repeatedly, and with that much impact, they are far more susceptible to head injuries. In particular, concussions are head injuries that are more likely to occur in contact sports such as football. Concussions are described as “a shaking of the brain inside the skull that changes the alertness of the injured person. That change can be relatively mild. (She is slightly dazed.) It can be profound. (She fells unconscious), ” (Cantu & Hyman, 2012, p. 3). More information about concussions has surfaced in the past decade, and even more has surfaced about what multiple concussions are capable of causing. Fainaru-Wada and Wada in their book “League of Denial,” go into very explicit detail about the path that Dr.’s Bob Cantu, Kevin Guskiewicz, Julian Bailes , and Bill Barr took to uncover the fact that the concussions that football players are at risk of receiving over and over again, can lead to diseases called CTE (2013). CTE is a complicated disease but is described as the following:
A progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in people exposed over many years to receptive brain trauma. That trauma includes concussions, of course, and thousands upon thousands of subconcussive blows that athletes absorb over a lifetime playing left guard on a football team or right wing on an ice hockey squad. These jolts to the brain can trigger a buildup of an abnormal form of protein called tau. The process is similar to the one that takes place in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. The toxic abnormal tau proteins form plaques that block passageways in the brain, killing brain cells and destroying their axons. The medial temporal lobe often comes under attack, causing victims to lose critical function such as memory and impulse control (Cantu & Hyman, 2012, p. 90).
The connection between football players and the development of CTE first appeared during an autopsy of a professional retired player by the name of Mike Webster. Webster had been a center for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs, and experienced many hits to his head throughout his career playing football. Family and friends who were close to him expressed their concerns that Webster was very confused, angry and violent leading up to his death. Webster had not been diagnosed with any disorder or disease while he was alive, but it was very apparent during his autopsy that he suffered from CTE. This discovery did not end with just Mike Webster either. More retired players who also showed symptoms of depression, confusion, and anger were also found to have CTE (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2013).
After the first initial findings of CTE, the NFL (National Football League) did not show their support. The NFL had always maintained that although Football players do get hit, and sometimes dangerously, players playing the game were relatively safe because of precautions taken during the game. With increasing pressure from the public questioning the safety of Football however, the NFL even went as far as stating, “professional football players do not sustain frequent repetitive blows to the brain on a regular basis (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016, p. 6). Fighting accusations about the safety of the game further, the NFL eventually partnered with Riddell to market a new helmet that was claimed to “significantly reduce concussions in children” (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016, p. 6). However, there was a problem with this partnership when Riddell was later sued because of this accusation. It was found that Riddell did not do the correct research and testing into their product, and their claim that the helmet reduced concussions was proven to be false (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016).
The NFL also went on to create their own board of doctors to oversee and create their own research regarding head trauma and the impact it had on players. This board of doctors continued to produce research that went against the claims of Dr.’s Bob Cantu, Kevin Guskiewicz, Julian Bailes , and Bill Barr showing that Football had the potential to cause CTE. It was later discovered that this board of doctors that the NFL had put together, that released continued research and statements regarding head trauma and football, was no where near qualified to make such acquisitions. This is because of all the doctors that the NFL appointed, not one neurosurgeon was among the group, or helping with their research. The reason why it was so essential that a neurosurgeon be a part of such research is because neurosurgeon’s specialize with the brain and with head trauma. Without a neurosurgeon on board, research was flawed. What the NFL did is as equivalent as a student asking a classmate for help on a problem, instead of asking the teacher. General concepts can be learned by doing this, but the classmate may not give the student all of the information, or the correct information that the teacher could have given. This issue is later used to question the NFL’s integrity. People even started to compare the NFL with tobacco companies, because it became apparent that they were trying to do whatever they could to hide the truth, in fear of losing popularity (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016).
Finally last but not least, another red flag that the NFL participated in was the creation of the “88 plan.” According to Fainaru-Wada & Wada, the “88 plan” was the league and unions way of creating “a special fund for players with brain damage while at the same time vehemently denying that football caused brain damage,” (2016, p. 215). The “88 plan” provided help to players who were diagnosed with Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Parkinson’s, but yet the league still denied to the public that Football could potentially lead to these diseases. It seemed odd to many that the NFL would offer so much support, while at the same time denying acquisitions regarding such things (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016).
Some may argue that the responsibly of protecting players should not depend solely on the NFL or coaches, but instead on the players. They might lean towards the idea that players should be able to determine whether they are hurt or not, and make their own decisions on whether they want to continue to play. Football has proven to have a different and interesting social aspect to it however. Former NFL player, Nate Jackson, went on to write a book addressing some of these social complications by the name of “Slow Getting Up.” In this book, Jackson examines how the pressure to play and fear of losing their jobs, often made players hide the fact that they were hurt. He describes how he had to sign a disclosure that allowed his team to drop him at any point if he was unable to play due to injury. At one point in the book, Jackson did become injured, and he went into great detail about how he feared that he would never be able to play the sport that he loves and had panic attacks constantly because of it (Jackson, 2013). Other players have also reported that they have had problems with coaches and team members respecting the fact that they were injured as well. In particular, former New England Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson, reported that in 2002 he received a concussion while playing during against the New York Giants. Ted Johnson was aware of his injury, and knew that he needed more time to recover. So during practice, Johnson “took the practice field wearing a noncontact red jersey. Before a set of running drills, however, and assistant trainer handed him a blue jersey – essentially an order to get out and hit” (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016, p. 212). Johnson later said he “knew right away the switch had not been made not by the team’s medical staff but the Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick. He feared that if he refused, he’d lose his job and his $1.1 million salary” (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016, p. 214).
In September of 2006, the NFL appointed a new commissioner by the name of Roger Goodell. After further concerns from doctors, and players starting to speak up about their injuries, the NFL was left with nothing else but to address the issue of concussions. In 2007, Roger Goodell held a conference doing just that. Neurosurgeons that were before ridiculed by the NFL were invited, and invited to speak. The goal of the meeting was to get a better understanding of concussions and how they impact players now and in the future. The meeting was a success, but the NFL still showed some hesitation to accept the findings of the neurosurgeons until they were able to look over their own studies, and the studies of Dr.’s Bob Cantu, Kevin Guskiewicz, Julian Bailes , and Bill Barr. Dr.’s and players did not back down however, and started putting even more pressure on the NFL by beginning a lawsuit related to head trauma in players, and partnered with Boston University to further study head trauma in Football players. Whether it was due to the increased pressure, or their own findings, a breakthrough happened once NFL’s spokesman stood up and stated “It’s quite obvious from the medical research that’s been done that concussions can lead to long-term problems (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016, p. 284).
It has been a long journey for the NFL, but with the help of more research and the growing understanding of concussions and head trauma, little steps have been taken to improve the quality of the game for the players.
According to an article posted directed from the NFL, last updated in 2012, the NFL released some rule changes, and described why they were changed in order to further protect players. Some of these rules include: “prohibit a player from launching himself off the ground and using his helmet to strike a player in a defenseless posture in the head or neck” (2010), “when a player loses his helmet, the play is immediately whistled dead” (2010), “during field-goal and extra-point attempts, the defense cannot position any player on the line directly across from the snapper, who’s considered to be in a defenseless position” (2010), and “each team must consult with an independent neurologist whenever there is a head injury”
(2010). It seems clear that although research on the matter is not complete, Football has been shown to be a potential dangerous sport to play. The key is to not to tell children and players they cannot or should not play the sport, but it is imperative that everyone involved needs to be educated as to what they are getting themselves into. Current sports agent, and someone who sees the toll taken on players on a daily basis, Leigh Steinberg, even goes on to state football is “a health epidemic, the consequences of which are a ticking time bomb that may not be seen in their totality for 10, 15, or 20 years. It’s one thing to go out and play football and understand when you turn 40, you can bend over to pick up your child and have aches and pains. It’s another thing to bend down and not be able to identify that child”(Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016, p. 284). It is also imperative for not only the players to be knowledgeable, but also the coaches and any medical staff. By setting more strict guidelines and making sure that the people who oversee the players follow them, this will drastically reduce repeat injuries. One cannot argue against the fact that Football is a hands on contact sport, and with any game like that, having knowledge and rules never is a bad thing. It only allows for the players and fans to be able to continue to enjoy the game, but in a more safe way.
Today’s Football is …show more content…
played with two opposing teams switching roles of playing what is known as “offense” and “defense.” When a team is playing offense, their goal is to rush past the opposing team, either by throwing the football, or by passing it to other team members. The goal of the offense rushing past the other team is to eventually enter their “end zone,” which is where they score points for their team. When a team is playing defense, their goal is to do everything they can to stop the offense from being able to move and get to their end zone. In order to do this, the defense tackles players from the offense repeatedly. Football is nothing short of a very hands on and harsh contact sport. In fact, with the help of Tim Gay, it was found that the impact of an average 245-pound player was equivalent to that of a small adult killer whale’s weight. Today however, the average weight of player is closer to 275 pounds (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2013).
With players getting hit repeatedly, and with that much impact, they are far more susceptible to head injuries. In particular, concussions are head injuries that are more likely to occur in contact sports such as football. Concussions are described as “a shaking of the brain inside the skull that changes the alertness of the injured person. That change can be relatively mild. (She is slightly dazed.) It can be profound. (She fells unconscious), ” (Cantu & Hyman, 2012, p. 3). More information about concussions has surfaced in the past decade, and even more has surfaced about what multiple concussions are capable of causing. Fainaru-Wada and Wada in their book “League of Denial,” go into very explicit detail about the path that Dr.’s Bob Cantu, Kevin Guskiewicz, Julian Bailes , and Bill Barr took to uncover the fact that the concussions that football players are at risk of receiving over and over again, can lead to diseases called CTE (2013). CTE is a complicated disease but is described as the following:
A progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in people exposed over many years to receptive brain trauma. That trauma includes concussions, of course, and thousands upon thousands of subconcussive blows that athletes absorb over a lifetime playing left guard on a football team or right wing on an ice hockey squad. These jolts to the brain can trigger a buildup of an abnormal form of protein called tau. The process is similar to the one that takes place in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. The toxic abnormal tau proteins form plaques that block passageways in the brain, killing brain cells and destroying their axons. The medial temporal lobe often comes under attack, causing victims to lose critical function such as memory and impulse control (Cantu & Hyman, 2012, p. 90).
The connection between football players and the development of CTE first appeared during an autopsy of a professional retired player by the name of Mike Webster. Webster had been a center for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs, and experienced many hits to his head throughout his career playing football. Family and friends who were close to him expressed their concerns that Webster was very confused, angry and violent leading up to his death. Webster had not been diagnosed with any disorder or disease while he was alive, but it was very apparent during his autopsy that he suffered from CTE. This discovery did not end with just Mike Webster either. More retired players who also showed symptoms of depression, confusion, and anger were also found to have CTE (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2013).
After the first initial findings of CTE, the NFL (National Football League) did not show their support. The NFL had always maintained that although Football players do get hit, and sometimes dangerously, players playing the game were relatively safe because of precautions taken during the game. With increasing pressure from the public questioning the safety of Football however, the NFL even went as far as stating, “professional football players do not sustain frequent repetitive blows to the brain on a regular basis (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016, p. 6). Fighting accusations about the safety of the game further, the NFL eventually partnered with Riddell to market a new helmet that was claimed to “significantly reduce concussions in children” (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016, p. 6). However, there was a problem with this partnership when Riddell was later sued because of this accusation. It was found that Riddell did not do the correct research and testing into their product, and their claim that the helmet reduced concussions was proven to be false (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016).
The NFL also went on to create their own board of doctors to oversee and create their own research regarding head trauma and the impact it had on players. This board of doctors continued to produce research that went against the claims of Dr.’s Bob Cantu, Kevin Guskiewicz, Julian Bailes , and Bill Barr showing that Football had the potential to cause CTE. It was later discovered that this board of doctors that the NFL had put together, that released continued research and statements regarding head trauma and football, was no where near qualified to make such acquisitions. This is because of all the doctors that the NFL appointed, not one neurosurgeon was among the group, or helping with their research. The reason why it was so essential that a neurosurgeon be a part of such research is because neurosurgeon’s specialize with the brain and with head trauma. Without a neurosurgeon on board, research was flawed. What the NFL did is as equivalent as a student asking a classmate for help on a problem, instead of asking the teacher. General concepts can be learned by doing this, but the classmate may not give the student all of the information, or the correct information that the teacher could have given. This issue is later used to question the NFL’s integrity. People even started to compare the NFL with tobacco companies, because it became apparent that they were trying to do whatever they could to hide the truth, in fear of losing popularity (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016).
Finally last but not least, another red flag that the NFL participated in was the creation of the “88 plan.” According to Fainaru-Wada & Wada, the “88 plan” was the league and unions way of creating “a special fund for players with brain damage while at the same time vehemently denying that football caused brain damage,” (2016, p. 215). The “88 plan” provided help to players who were diagnosed with Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Parkinson’s, but yet the league still denied to the public that Football could potentially lead to these diseases. It seemed odd to many that the NFL would offer so much support, while at the same time denying acquisitions regarding such things (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016).
Some may argue that the responsibly of protecting players should not depend solely on the NFL or coaches, but instead on the players. They might lean towards the idea that players should be able to determine whether they are hurt or not, and make their own decisions on whether they want to continue to play. Football has proven to have a different and interesting social aspect to it however. Former NFL player, Nate Jackson, went on to write a book addressing some of these social complications by the name of “Slow Getting Up.” In this book, Jackson examines how the pressure to play and fear of losing their jobs, often made players hide the fact that they were hurt. He describes how he had to sign a disclosure that allowed his team to drop him at any point if he was unable to play due to injury. At one point in the book, Jackson did become injured, and he went into great detail about how he feared that he would never be able to play the sport that he loves and had panic attacks constantly because of it (Jackson, 2013). Other players have also reported that they have had problems with coaches and team members respecting the fact that they were injured as well. In particular, former New England Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson, reported that in 2002 he received a concussion while playing during against the New York Giants. Ted Johnson was aware of his injury, and knew that he needed more time to recover. So during practice, Johnson “took the practice field wearing a noncontact red jersey. Before a set of running drills, however, and assistant trainer handed him a blue jersey – essentially an order to get out and hit” (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016, p. 212). Johnson later said he “knew right away the switch had not been made not by the team’s medical staff but the Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick. He feared that if he refused, he’d lose his job and his $1.1 million salary” (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016, p. 214).
In September of 2006, the NFL appointed a new commissioner by the name of Roger Goodell. After further concerns from doctors, and players starting to speak up about their injuries, the NFL was left with nothing else but to address the issue of concussions. In 2007, Roger Goodell held a conference doing just that. Neurosurgeons that were before ridiculed by the NFL were invited, and invited to speak. The goal of the meeting was to get a better understanding of concussions and how they impact players now and in the future. The meeting was a success, but the NFL still showed some hesitation to accept the findings of the neurosurgeons until they were able to look over their own studies, and the studies of Dr.’s Bob Cantu, Kevin Guskiewicz, Julian Bailes , and Bill Barr. Dr.’s and players did not back down however, and started putting even more pressure on the NFL by beginning a lawsuit related to head trauma in players, and partnered with Boston University to further study head trauma in Football players. Whether it was due to the increased pressure, or their own findings, a breakthrough happened once NFL’s spokesman stood up and stated “It’s quite obvious from the medical research that’s been done that concussions can lead to long-term problems (Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016, p. 284).
It has been a long journey for the NFL, but with the help of more research and the growing understanding of concussions and head trauma, little steps have been taken to improve the quality of the game for the players.
According to an article posted directed from the NFL, last updated in 2012, the NFL released some rule changes, and described why they were changed in order to further protect players. Some of these rules include: “prohibit a player from launching himself off the ground and using his helmet to strike a player in a defenseless posture in the head or neck” (2010), “when a player loses his helmet, the play is immediately whistled dead” (2010), “during field-goal and extra-point attempts, the defense cannot position any player on the line directly across from the snapper, who’s considered to be in a defenseless position” (2010), and “each team must consult with an independent neurologist whenever there is a head injury”
(2010). It seems clear that although research on the matter is not complete, Football has been shown to be a potential dangerous sport to play. The key is to not to tell children and players they cannot or should not play the sport, but it is imperative that everyone involved needs to be educated as to what they are getting themselves into. Current sports agent, and someone who sees the toll taken on players on a daily basis, Leigh Steinberg, even goes on to state football is “a health epidemic, the consequences of which are a ticking time bomb that may not be seen in their totality for 10, 15, or 20 years. It’s one thing to go out and play football and understand when you turn 40, you can bend over to pick up your child and have aches and pains. It’s another thing to bend down and not be able to identify that child”(Fainaru-Wada & Wada, 2016, p. 284). It is also imperative for not only the players to be knowledgeable, but also the coaches and any medical staff. By setting more strict guidelines and making sure that the people who oversee the players follow them, this will drastically reduce repeat injuries. One cannot argue against the fact that Football is a hands on contact sport, and with any game like that, having knowledge and rules never is a bad thing. It only allows for the players and fans to be able to continue to enjoy the game, but in a more safe way.