Cce And Sports Research Paper

The topic I'll be addressing for my proposal essay is "If football is so dangerous to players, should we be watching it?". I have read multiple articles, seen documentaries and have even watched the movie, Concussion, starring Will Smith, about how dangerous football is and how the players are almost risking their lives to entertain Americans. The most common, and newest, disease is CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It’s the result of multiple concussions, causing the players to go mad and eventually they’ll commit suicide because they feel like they’re going insane. CTE cannot be diagnosed until after death either. There are already 25 deaths due to CTE and every year a new death arises.

CTE is a brain disease found in individuals with annals of head trauma. It has specifically been found in athletes with numerous concussions. So far it can only be diagnosed in the deceased, but Dr. Julian Bales and his staff in UCLA have discovered symptoms in living players such as Hall of Famer Anthony “Tony” Dorsett, Hall of Famer Joe DeLamielleure, and NFL All-Pro Leonard Marshall. CTE can cause memory loss, dementia, depression, suicidal thoughts, cognitive and emotional difficulties (Waldron par 1, 2, 3). Is it a compelling issue? A total of 171 concussions were reported in the NFL in the 2012-2013 season; 88 thus far in the 2013-2014 season (Frontline pt). Those are just numbers in the professional level. There are thousands of kids playing football either in youth, middle school, high school, or college level. The diagnosis is currently in progress, researchers are optimistic this could lead to a legitimate treatment, how to manage, and hopefully a cure. Furthermore, this can also possibly lead to an answer to a connection between football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Junior Seau, Mike Webster, Terry Long, and Justin Strzelczyk (all of whom are dead now) are all men who played in the NFL for an extent period of time. This is not the only thing they have in common. These former players had an uncustomary

CTE affects many different athletes all over the world. Chronic Traumatic encephalopathy or normally referred to as CTE is a brain disease that affects people who have had multiple head injuries. It is found in many cases of ex NFL players who took many hits to the head when playing over their careers. There are many documented cases of it across other sports and some military veterans as well. We have made large strides in learning more and more about the terrible disease. The game of football has changed since we have learned so much more about the terrible disease in recent years. We could prevent concussions by changing the way players practice.

While the NFL is putting new rules and regulations on equipment and which type of tackles are allowed, living retired NFL players are found to already have symptoms of CTE (Fainaru, 2013). Through brain scans and research done by UCLA, they have identified proteins in player’s brains that cause CTE, which as Dr. Julian Bailes, co-director or North Shore Neurological Institute said, is the “holy grail” to studying CTE and finding ways to cure and prevent it (Fainaru, 2013). While this is a break through, there is still no cure or way to treat CTE (Fainaru, 2013). But this research also raises questions about CTE and the NFL. Will players be required to be tested for CTE? Can players be denied playing anymore if CTE is found? Will this greatly affect the way that football is currently played? As the research is still being collected, there is still no definite answer to any of those questions, but the NFL has acknowledged the correlations of CTE and concussions caused by playing in the NFL and assures that they will do all they can to help prevent severe brain trauma to their players, including donating $30 million to the National Institutes of Health to conduct further research on CTE (Kroll, 2013).

A CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, is a, “progressive degenerative disease that is believed to plague people who've suffered severe or repeated blows to the head” (Murphy). A player can have a CTE and not even know that they are suffering from it. This is because CTEs can only be discovered after the person dies. Paul Bright, for example, was a football player who played from the time that he was seven until he was a freshman in high school. He had experienced only one concussion, but it changed his entire life. His family and friends described him as hard working and upbeat, but then, something changed. He became reckless and erratic; these traits caused him to die at age twenty-four from a motorcycle wreck. His mother sent his brain off to be tested and discovered that he had been suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. This brain disease had caused him to make the type of impulsive decisions that took his life (Murphy). In addition to the CTEs players may experience, the likelihood of dying from brain and nervous system issues increases significantly for football players. Studies from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health discovered that, “death involving neurodegenerative causes among the retired players was three times higher than in the general U.S. population, and the risk for two major

Aikman was not alone in his decision to retire early because of concussions, Merrill Hoge and others retired early. Most people know Merrill Hoge as a TV football analyst today. In one very sad case, concussions did lead to the loss of life of one former player. In 2012 Junior Seau took his own life after dealing with severe depression, which is one of the symptoms of CTE. In Seau 's will he donated his brain to research on CTE. Although, the concussion was not the cause of death for Mr. Seau, it did cause the symptoms that led to him taking his own life.

Soon after Dr.Omalu’s paper was published another case of CTE gone wrong occurred, Terry Long. While the NFL denied any connect of the disease to the sport and the safety of their players, It was irrefutable that the fact that these athletes were dying and sustaining major injuries and the NFL was looking over it completely. In the end the NFL seemed to throw Dr.Omalus discovery to the wind, yet they have taken extra precautions since the discovery was made and gave a hefty settlement to Mike Webster’s

Most of these studies have been conducted in the sport of football because of the vicious nature of the game. These studies have shown that the long-term effects of concussions are far worse than expected and in many cases, have resulted in the brain disease called CTE or Chronic traumatic encephalopathy. CTE is a neurodegenerative disease which causes the tau protein to form around small blood vessels in the brain. CTE causes cell death and has been linked to erratic behavior and dementia. The symptoms of this vicious disease range from headaches and dizziness to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, severe depression and dementia. Former NFL Patriots player Aaron Hernandez who recently committed suicide, found by analyzing his brain showed classic signs of Stage 3 CTE. It was also found in the brain of Patriots Junior Seau, who also killed himself in 2012. Contrary to widely held belief concussions are a problem in many other contact sports such as hockey, lacrosse, boxing, wrestling and rugby. Athletes that have participated in baseball, soccer and even basketball have been diagnosed with concussions as well. Many cases of concussions have gone unreported in these non-contact sports due to the rarity of athletes who receive them. Although concussions may be rare in these sports, parents could still factor in the risks when

In recent stories local retired NFL player Junior Seau suffered many head injuries while playing in the NFL. Well known and loved in all surrounding San Diego communities had committed suicide in 2012. Coming upon the 2 year anniversary of his passing people still wonder what exactly did it to him. The problems of head injuries in the NFL is they are always occurring. In 2010 over 154 head injuries happened in practices and or games, but in 2007 the NFL had released a pamphlet to the players about head injuries. since then the NFL has taken many different safety precautions to fix the recurring problem. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy also known as CTE had been discovered in a deceased

For the first time ever, researchers at UCLA recently have found signs of CTE in living former NFL players. Until now it was only possible to detect CTE after death. The researchers at UCLA discovered a new method of testing for CTE in living people. They tested four retired players for CTE; Joe DeLamielleure, Leonard Marshall, an unnamed player, and most notably, the Dallas Cowboys Hall of Famer, Tony Dorsett. So far, the three named players have all

As many of you may have seen with prominent NFL players like Mike Webster or Dave Duerson, CTE can be a fatal issue. It cannot be officially diagnosed until after death, but has symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. As the player gets repeated hits, especially a large number of sub-concussive impacts or a lower number of severe concussions, a protein in the brain, known as tau, begins to strangle the brain from the inside. Tau is able to react like this because during a hit, its normal structure around the neurons is damaged. The process starts just in certain areas in the brain’s cortex and symptoms include dizziness, disorientation, and headaches. The proteins eventually progress to consume more of the brain in the cortical sulci, causing symptoms like erratic behavior, poor judgment, social instability, and depression. Many people, including the NFL players mentioned beforehand, die at this age, often as a result of suicide. However, the third and fourth stage show the protein strangling the hippocampus, involved with memory, and the amygdala, involved with emotional reactions. Eventually, it consumes the entire cortex and the brainstem. During these two stages, common symptoms include dementia, slowing of muscle movement, impeded speech, and vertigo. CTE has been linked to playing football in studies conducted by researchers at Boston University and the NFL has accepted this claim. It can even be seen in some players only at the high school level. In fact, 90% of cases of CTE are from people who started playing their sport at a young age. This does not only include football, but other contact sports like hockey and rugby. However, it is important to tell you that some researchers do not believe that this connection between CTE and playing football can made, as CTE can result from other factors, such as environment, genetics, and being in

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also referred to as CTE, is a brain disease that cannot be diagnosed until after death. Eighty seven out of ninety-one former NFL players have been diagnosed with CTE after they died and had their brain studied. While not all football players are at risk, the real question lies in the fate of children. Should children be able to play tackle football? It’s no secret that in football, you’re bound to get your head banged at one point. Parents probably assume that there’s no harm in that since kids are just enjoying themselves and having fun. But what many people don’t know is that even the smallest hit to the head can cause trauma, and

As many of us do not want to believe it, football is a very dangerous sport and the NFL is full of controversies.  Being a very rugged sport, athletes are exposed to various injuries and are handed dangerous opioids by coaches and team doctors.  Pushing the human body past their designed limit is harmful in the long run.  With the hits that come along in football many players get trauma and have countless concussions.  CTE short for chronic traumatic encephalopathy is degenerative disease found in people who suffer repetitive brain trauma.

The body is a perfect mesh of numerous organ systems; however, when ranking them top to bottom the brain’s importance is unparalleled. All involuntary and voluntary functions are virtually controlled by this mass of tissue and countless neurons. Ultimately, there would be no life without it. CTE has gone unnoticed for a long time; in fact, until recently, researchers did not know much about its existence. A major component in an NFL lawsuit, researchers found that a majority (96% of the near-hundred tested) of former, deceased NFL players’ brains had CTE.1 The lawsuit is due to the fact that the NFL covered up the relationship between continual head trauma and long term brain diseases.2,3 Now made aware, this disease is one that should have major awareness. There are warning signs; unfortunately, the only way to confirm this pathology is post-mortem.1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11

In early 2013, the NFL created a rule prohibiting players from lowering their heads and hitting with their helmets, when outside the tackle box, to prevent “defenseless” players taking hits above their shoulders. Although many football players disagree with this rule they have to obey, or will be penalized, fined, or suspended off the game. They agree that if many younger players (junior high/high school) are taught to play the game as they would like, the NFL will have a better produced game following their new rules without making it difficult for the players to actually play. Players say it might decrease the number of concussions, what about the number of blows to the knees. If players hit to high, they will get fined or suspended, and if they hit too low they can probably end a guy's career with a knee injury. Although there has been data to proof that the number of knee injuries has not increased due to rule changes, but has actually decreased throughout the last three years, less players being fined (showing enforcement is working), 13 percent drop in concussions, and 23 percent due to