Essay On Bye Week

Football is America’s go to entertainment sport. The NFL hit its peak in 2015, with an average of 114.1 million television viewers throughout the year (“Statista,” 2017). This sport is loved by all, the players, parents, coaches, and fans. But, is football merely entertainment? Is it just a simple game, teaching young boys the value of teamwork, dedication, and discipline? Are parents spending their Friday nights to support their boys, or is there something bigger happening? In H.G Bissinger’s novel, Friday Night Lights, one can see the true effects of this toxic drug through the mindset of the players and the actions of the coaches. While society sees football as entertainment, it actually functions more like a drug.

Even though football players are aware of the dangers the game can bring upon them, they take part despite it. The passion, the joy it creates; for professionals it’s also the devoted fans and compensation they receive is what keeps the players motivated. Today players are much bigger, faster, smarter, bigger, better. The game is more physical. The sport has never been so competitive. The popularity has reached new peaks, as much that the NFL has thoughts of moving a team to London, England. Additionally, Super Bowl XLVII (47) was one of the most watched television events of all time; an astonishing 108.4 million viewers (The Associated Press). Fans worship their teams and love to see big hits. Football is a contact sport; injuries are no

The NFL has become the most popular sport in the United States. It is watched my millions every weekend. The NFL is only growing in popularity. With new fans joining the fun every day. The NFL has faced its share of problems too. With concussions scaring away many future players, the NFL is hoping to lower the possibility of concussions in the future. Each NFL team plays a total of 16 games over a span of 17 weeks. There are two conferences in the NFL, the AFC and the NFC. There are four divisions in each conference, each with 4 teams. The playoff teams are decided by the division rankings. The winner of each division makes the playoffs, with the two best 2nd place teams making it in as a wild card.

Here is why. In 2015, the NFL diagnosed 271 players that had concussions. There has continued to be an increase in the number of concussed players over the past several years. With the continual increase in concussions over the years,it is a reasonable question to ask whether the NFL is doing enough to protect their players or not. I am going to start this issue by discussing a movie I am sure you have heard of. Concussion. A Forensic pathologist named Dr. Bennet Omalu was the first doctor to discover chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in the brain of former Pittsburgh Steelers' center Mike Webster, who was 50, when he committed suicide. Dr. Omalu made the bold statement that football is the reason that Webster had mental issues, and ultimately the reason for his death. There continued to be a trend of NFL players passing at a young age due to mental health issues, and Omalu was certain that all of it was because of football. He examined the brains of these players and found correlations in their brains that suggests that the repeated blows to the head they received during their career caused severe damage. As you can imagine this discovery was a huge threat to the NFL as people and players saw this evidence and couldn't help but be scared about the outcome football has on an individual. The NFL basically just tried to cover up clear facts stated by Omalu, but eventually it became to evident to ignore. This movie made a large issue in the NFL apparent to many people and creating a film to do so was a very effective platform for displaying it. To make a long story short, since this discovery in 2002, there has been a drastic change in player safety rules, concussion protocol and guidelines, and strictness of teams to follow such protocol and guidelines. In

I can’t believe my first college semester is almost over. Key word is “almost” because the weeks following thanksgiving break will be critical for me. Even though it’s almost over, I must finish strong. I wouldn’t want all my hard work to go to waste. All the A’s that I earned so far must remain A’s for me in order for me to be happy with my academic performance. These next 3 weeks are going to be hectic, but also relaxing.

Rushing players back to the field has been a hidden but serious problem. Many players try to rush back to their job in order to keep it. One player lost his starting job for missing one game due to a concussion. Another was released after missing six games due to a concussion. Many players sometimes hide their symptoms or act fine in order to keep their job. The professional leagues are tough businesses and jobs are important. One player played six games with a concussion in fear of his job. After the sixth game, he sat out and got treated because he could not take it anymore. Luckily for him he could not lose his job. In his contract it stated injury could not be a reason for release. Many other players do not have this clause in their individual contract (NFL). Not playing games due to injury is very tough especially if a

An increasingly popular topic in the realm of sports fans has begun to unravel. The National Football League recently has begun to introduce new rules and regulations for their athletes to start abiding by to ensure the continued safety of the player’s health. Although most find this change in the game of professional football as a positive step forward, others see this as a diminishment of the sanctity of NFL football. New rules and regulations that have been introduced into NFL are vital to athletes involved in the sport and help them to play with lowered risks of long term injuries that could possibly affect not only them but also the league in the future as well. The reasons for these

It is apparent that paid time off can offer many benefits to employees and employers aside from just simply reducing occurrences of unscheduled time off, likewise, a paid-time-off (PTO) policy has other benefits such as PTO, makes employees more productive, increases retention rates, makes the company more attractive to new hires, and helps prevent people from feeling guilty about taking time off. All in all, incorporating PTO can appear as a frightening challenge, although the process will differ for every company (Heathfield, 2016).

While growing up in the state of Texas I was introduced to National Football League (NFL) at a very young age. Not only was I obsessed with great players like Emmitt Smith and Michael Irving, I had a more finical appreciation for the lucrativeness associated with the NFL. My young adulthood as well as my teenage years was spent playing and learning football with the aspirations of hopefully making it to the NFL. Unfortunately, my playing days ended with tryouts at Texas Tech University, but my love for the game has remained stagnant over the years even till this day. The NFL today is Americas most watched sports league and has taken the crown as the most lucrative and unique economic force in sports. Forbes offered approximations stating that on average, the NFL generates more than $6-9 billion a year in revenues alone. A third of the individual franchises in the league were appraised at over more than $1 billion while the other franchises average nine figures or higher. The NFL as an organization generates its revenues through a multitude of ways ranging from huge television contracts, in-stadium ticket sales, advertising ads paid for by sponsors and merchandise. Their business model unlike most other leagues, is centered on a hard salary cap on player contracts which provides cost certainty with its sponsors. In this paper, I will examine the economic and historical narrative associated with the growth of the NFL’s

The average NFL career is only 3.5 years. Much shorter than other sports like the MLB, which is 5.6 years. These short careers are caused by injuries, many of which are concussions. Authors from Twelve Years of National Football League Concussion Data say, “There were 0.38 documented concussions per NFL game in 2002-2007-7.6% lower than the 0.42 in the earlier period (1996-2001).” This is showing improvement of the league’s efforts to make the game safer for the players. “In a move that would symbolize the league’s strategy in dealing with player health, the NFL made an arbitrary change to the rules, hoping that eliminating wedges would come across as a genuine attempt to protect players.” writes Nate Jackson. The wedge was a blocking formation by the returning team in an NFL kickoff that would cause players to go outside of the wedge eventually and be opened up to big hits, causing concussions. The article Twelve Years of National Football League Concussion Data also said this, “The number of players returning in less than 7 days was 8% lower during 2002-2007.” This is proof that when players take the needed time off of the game and the time to rest their bodies for full recovery, there are less injuries. When players come back too early, there is a risk for another concussion, and taking extra time off could prevent

“It’s the sport of Kings, better than diamond rings…..football…..football.” (LL Cool J, 1986). All across the country, football, both college and professional, has its own cult-like following. Fans of both leagues eagerly anticipate kick-off whether it is on Saturday, for college football fans, or Sunday, for professional football fans. An additional fix is available for college football fans on Thursday. Professional fans get their extra dose on Monday nights. Admittedly, there are many similarities among the National Collegiate Football Association (NCAA) and the National Football League (NFL). Both have extremely loyal, boisterous, and diehard fans. Both play four quarters and the players try their best to get the ball across the goal line. Although there are more similarities in how the game is played, it is the differences that will have respective fans insisting one is better than the other. Differences, such as the two-minute warning, the knee-down rule, and over time, distinguish the professional from the collegiate player (See Table 1).

A playoff system would extend the 13 week regular season by at least a month, which would interfere with athlete’s college studies and would also potentially led to more injuries from playing. There is a lot wrong with college athletics. Many football and basketball players are funneled through the system without receiving much of an education. Coaches and administrators are paid salaries that invite questionable ethics. Too many athletes arrive on campus completely unprepared to be educated and solely interested in the development of their bodies. Some people have forgotten how important a college education is. Making the college football season longer only hurts the players. Most college athletes don’t go on to become professional athletes. The more class time they can get the better.

Rising CTE and concussion rate with the add-on of the modern player’s super-athleticism has destroyed many lives in the NFL. Furthermore, the play of professional football should be banned completely or the length of an NFL game and the season should be shortened with Thursday night football being taken out of the TV lineup. Many former NFL players have already passed away and more are to come unless communities band together and say no to football. Don’t watch its programing nor buy a ticket to a game until the NFL promises to make some

Does anyone care for Sunday night football? This is not just any Sunday night NFL game, but the biggest sporting event in the world that 151 million people will watch in 232 different countries. (“By the Numbers”). Welcome to the Super Bowl. The huge night that everyone looks forward to is a “billion-dollar economic engine that is bigger than the Gross Domestic Product of many nations” (John 3). Although the Super Bowl is only played once a year, it is the biggest, most-widely known game in American history and the most-widely viewed television spectacle in the world.

Since the introduction of organized team sports into American culture, numerous sports have stepped into the limelight for certain periods of time but none have stuck around as long as football has. Just as with everything else in life, football has had it’s fair share of drawbacks since its invention in the mid-19th century. Despite the drawbacks and criticism football has faced, its role and influence on American culture between the 1890’s and 1930’s far outweigh the negative aspects of its past.