Film Review Of Mike Webster

In America, football is huge entertainment industry and brings in lots of money annually. This doesn’t mean that football is just there for the money, but it provides life long impact for some people. Football is used as a brotherhood or a family, and provides opportunities for kids to learn how to be a teammate. The head coach for J.H. Rose High School, discussed how he loves his team and wants nothing but the best for them (CNN, 2012). In addition, it is a matter of autonomy to be discussed. If a player knows the risks of football, it should be their choice whether they want to play or not. One of the football players in the video said he knows the risks and he’s willing to take them (CNN, 2012). On the other hand, some would argue the principle of beneficence and that doctors are merely trying to save the lives of many young men. In the video, it was discussed that tau proteins become present in the brain after multiple collisions to the head (CNN, 2012). Tau proteins are known to become present in the brain when an older person has Alzheimer’s or dementia (CNN, 2102). Also, is football worth a life, two lives? How many young men have to lose their lives to head trauma caused by football hits, to realize this sport is deadly. Zach Rogers was a teammate and friend of JaQuan Waller, and said how they thought JaQuan was okay and just got hit pretty hard

As a result former football players are experiencing health issues. Sports news headlines have been abundant with stories concerning former NFL players currently suffering from headaches, loss of memory, dementia, and early Alzheimer’s (Ellenbogen, 2010;Neumann, 2011). Even though the devastation of concussions is just beginning to rise to the surface, they have always been around. There appear to be several recent cases involving former and current NFL players committing suicide that was influenced by some of the suffering due to medical maladies associated with playing football (Amen, 2011). Many skeptics of football related concussions have indicated such health issues are coincidental and people commit suicide for different reasons; or that early Alzheimer’s as well as dementia are known to develop with age (Casson, 2010). Recently attention has been given to the fact that there may be a link between various cases (Nowinski, 2006). Consequently, each of these players associated with these stories all sustained repeated concussions while playing football. Although several of these concussions were documented, players were forced to sit out for a few plays; however, others were not documented, and because the game was close, were asked to stay on the

The documentary starts off talking about a football member who played in the Pittsburgh Steelers named Iron Mike who after being a number one player in his team, received all the glory from his fans, ll years after he retired Iron Mike was found dead at the age of 50. Mike’s dead came to be a surprise to everyone because he died at a young age. After the body of Iron Mike was taken for an autopsy, Bonnet Omalu a trained Neural Pathologist and Medical Examiner was doing further investigation and pointed out so many damages he had, yet his brain was looking “normal”. Doctor Omalu observed that he looked very old, beat up, worn out and drained at an early age. His legs and feet were damaged and destroyed due to playing football, immediately he mentions to himself that he must have some type of brain-damaged. When the Medical Examiner opened up his brain, he found that the brain seemed to has no damage and it looked normal.

In the article, “Performance Enhancing Drugs, Paternalism, Meritocracy, and Harm to Sports” by Nicholas Dixon, argues that PED 's should remain banned due to the many different medical risks one could develop when taking drugs mostly, anabolic steroids. Anabolic steroids might be the most popular performance-enhancing drugs out there today, but most definitely isn 't the only one being used. There are many medical problems associated with these types of steroids, “they include heart disease, cancer, or other damage to the liver, and damage to both males ' and females ' reproductive system” (Dixon, 247). Anabolic steroids affect an athlete both mentally and physically. The psychological damage one may have is an increased aggressiveness and sexual appetite, sometimes resulting in abnormal

result in brain damage, long term medical problems, and trauma to their body including athletes

In February 2011 an NFL defensive player committed suicide and left a final note requesting his brain be donated to Boston University School of medical research where it was found that all his head injuries had caused long-term brain damage. Another NFL star that committed suicide, Junior Seau, was one of the toughest defenders to ever play the game. While playing Junior Seau was never sidelined for head injuries he sustained. According to his ex-wife Seau had multiple concussions throughout his career. (Velasco 2012) This is an example of the culture in the NFL of being “tough”, and not coming off the field no matter how severe the impact is. Research done at the University of Texas had results that showed individuals who have concussions in early adulthood have a higher chance to develop depression when they get older compared to people that haven’t had concussions. (Stong 2013)

According to an article published under the name; “Don’t let kids play football” in the New York TImes, There has been a great deal of evidence that brain damage at the cellular level of brain functioning can happen in a high school football player even if the player experienced no documented concussions or even reported symptoms. If the child continues to play over many seasons, these cellular injuries accumulate to cause what the New York Times considers “irreversible brain damage” which is now known as C.T.E or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. This condition puts a child at great risk of developing symptoms such as major depression, memory loss as well as loss of intelligence and dementia later in life. The risk of C.T.E as well as other conditions of permanent brain impairment are heightened by the fact that unlike most other organs, the brain does not have the ability to fully cure itself from any types of injury. In other words, we are born with a certain number of neurons and we can only lose them, not replenish or replace damaged or dying ones and playing high school football is a great way to do this.

Not only can concussions lead to suicide but, they also have many long term effects. Some of these long term effects can be depression, dementia, and alzheimer 's disease. As a matter of fact “one in five [football players] who said they had suffered at least three concussions has been treated for clinical depression”(Vance). Also depression from concussions can sometimes cause players to have suicidal thoughts. As an example Andre Waters, former NFL player committed suicide from depression at 44 years old(Weir 8). As Dr. Redelmeier does another study he takes “1044 retired players from the American National Football League (NFL) which found a nine-fold increase in subsequent depression for those with multiple concussions”(10). This means that professional football players have nine times the chance of suffering depression than someone who does not play football. Correspondingly in an important article by USA Today the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill did a very significant study. The university has “found that ex-National Football League players

Death sentences, or even handicap for life, the reality of sports is they can lead to outcomes of all kinds. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is the outcome of many hits to the head, as concussions.. It affects the body by limiting the body movement to just the eyes. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy become the result of an extra gene, but also could be caused by concussions, or head trauma. The diagnosis of these diseases have been seen in young athletes, due to the constant head trauma. Sports have made it a big thing to comprehend and to be aware of as well. Concussions are the main cause of the diseases because of the repetitive hits the brain is taking to the skull. Sports have a variety of wins, but the intensities of the game are not worth the win with the life threatening plays.

Concussions, injuries, and suffering- those are what always happen in football games. Football is the most popular sport in America, people like the sound of “uh....” when football players hit each other. In the documentary “League of Denial: NFL’s Concussion Crisis” by Frontline, the connection between playing football and brain injuries is analyzed. Steve Almond’s, “Against Football: One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto” shows how football impacts his life and how evil the NFL is. Also other books that say the same things are “Ban College Football” by Intelligence2 Debates. They want to show how much impact human beings can receive when they play football and how football’s safety rules change to protect their players. Most of the time, resources always talk about CTE -Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy- an injury that can result in a memory loss. The illness comes from brain trauma that is caused by violent concussions and makes the tau protein, which actually is not supposed to be in the brain, stay inside the brain and kill all the neurons. The documentary by Frontline focuses on how many people are being affected by this problem and how the NFL reacts to all the allegations

Just imagine being 21-year-old making millions of dollars, many athletes can not handle the amount of money that comes their way. These young athletes spend their money on drugs and alcohol. Look at Johnny Manziel a 23-year-old football player. When the money came his way, he became a notorious partier, drugs, alcohol and parties took over his life. His lifestyle caused the Cleveland Browns to release him. Many athletes’ careers are ruined because of their lifestyle; Drugs, alcohol and parties take over their lives. This bad lifestyle all starts off in college where binge drinking, drug use are the norms for an athlete. Many college sports teams and many fraternities and sororities team up and throw wild parties every weekend. “It is reported that up to 70% of college athletes take part in binge drinking and 47% smoke cannabis.” (Verger,2003). Last season the NFL suspended 26 players for abusing the substance abuse policy, of the twenty-six twenty-five were suspended for smoking marijuana. The average age of the players was 24.6 years old. Most players leave college to play in the NFL when they're 20-22 years old. This means that bad lifestyle habits are in fact carrying over into the NFL from college, It is not only from college I would have to worry about the lifestyle, many ex-NFL players are addicted to painkillers and other drugs to cope with the pain from playing. “Up to 70% of players have taken opium or another pain killer without a prescription to deal with the physical pain from playing.” (Strain, 2011) Many players develop a dependence on opioid once their careers are over to cope with the pain. The combination of numerous hits to the body and post career drug use means that the average lifespan of an NFL player is “55 years,”(Maki, 2012) while the average life expectancy in Canada is 81 years. Every hit adds up. To have a long

Concussion is the true gripping story of one man’s decision to stand up to a multibillion-dollar business. Nigerian pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu works at the coroner’s office in downtown Pittsburgh. Here he made a discovery in the body of one of the greatest football players ever to play the game, Mike Webster. He suffered a decline in his body and started to act very strange by living out his car and tasering himself till he was unconscious so he can go to sleep; he was only fifty years old. Omalu discovered that Webster had a disease caused by multiple blows to the head from his football career, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which could affect everyone playing the game. Omalu felt that everyone should know of this and the harm

Many of the former and present NFL players believe that like boxing, the NFL had to be aware of the health risks associated with repetitive blows producing sub concussive and concussive results. The fact that some members of the NFL player population were at significant risk of developing long term brain damage, had to be known by the league. Players say,

If you play football you’re putting yourself at risk of the Mike Webster disease also Known as the “chronic traumatic” or also known as encephalopathy. Mike Webster was and still is a Steeler hall of famer who’s health outcome at mid-life was an active portrayed in the movie. There are some takeaway message from this significant film, after a career of repeated head brain damage, A person who becomes prone to an entirely experience induced “neurological” disease process that makes the human mind to a strengthen and scary of intense emotional volatility, severe decrease and a disturbing sort of malaise, marked by abandon of society and suicide. A football player must now learn to deal with the with the fact that healthy dose of anxiety and fear of this harsh reality to successfully get use to the sport and evolve his on field performance. How many important concussive and concussive events are needed to activate this horrible disease process? If we can figure out to a pinpoint whether an action has just happened seeing stars after the collision? flunking a mental screen the next day? Does a waiting period of healing help to negate the aftereffects? now presumed. The most

Not just everyone else, but also their family members. If the family knows the facts about it, their child taking this type of drug, it can be very hard for them to deal with it. Especially most mothers for this kind of situation. Players who play for their school can feel pressured by their teammates or coaches to get stronger. A player can feel depressed or guilty when fail to reach their goal.