The Role Of Concussions In Professional Football

Professional football is a national pastime in the United States for its viewing pleasure and sense of competition. However, football has begun to receive negative attention about the safety risks associated with playing the sport. Numerous statements have been made about how repeated blows to the head takes a painful toll on the player in his later years. Some players have even started to retire earlier in their careers to avoid these elongated detriments. Similarly, A.E. Housman wrote a poem in 1983 titled “To an Athlete Dying Young,” which focuses on a runner who died tragically after participating in a race. With competition comes great intensity, which can lead to overworking the body or even premature deaths. To avoid situations like
Effects are usually temporary but can include headaches and problems with concentration, memory, balance and coordination” (“Concussion,” 2017). Concussions are most often suffered through participation in a contact sport, such as football. As Mayoclinic.com declares, concussions are usually temporary and can be recovered from (“Concussion,” 2017). However, playing a contact sport like football can often lead to suffering multiple concussions, which are much harder to recover from. Football players that sustain multiple concussions are at risk of developing a deadly disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a disorder that progressively deteriorates brain function and causes immense pain (Murphy, 2016). I know first-hand the exhilarating pain of sustaining a concussion. I played football for seven years and only suffered one concussion, which came in the last game of my high school career. It was also the championship game, so the stakes were sky high. I sustained a concussion through constant blows to the head trying to shed blocks and make a vicious tackle. After the game, I was extremely dizzy and was experiencing unbearable nausea. My whole body ached because my brain was damaged from the impact of football. Luckily, I only sustained a concussion this one time and could recover from this injury. Like I did, when the stakes are high,
Junior Seau, who was an NFL linebacker, is an example of an athlete who died too young. Seau was a tremendous football player in the 1990’s who often delivered bone-crushing hits on the opponents. He was a defensive star in the league, who always seemed to be recording all-pro honors. Seau ended his professional football career in 2009 and began retirement. His fame had now ended and all he had from football was money, relationships, memories, and a declining health. After only three years of retirement, Seau took his own life in May 2012 at the age of 43. He shot himself in his chest, so that his brain could be examined for the deadly disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Seau held the game of football close to his heart, but he never could have imagined the strenuous toll it had on his body. His family says that he was in low spirits after football and started to drift away from his family emotionally. Tyler Seau, who is Junior Seau’s son, talked about the effect football had on his father, "It's not worth it for me to not have a dad. So, to me, it's not worth it" (Avila, Goldman, & Pearle, 2013). The violent game of football led Seau to end his own life at the young age of 43. His life after football was extremely painful, physically and emotionally. It was blatantly apparent that Seau loved the game of football, but the emotional suffering and void left by Junior is