In The Documentary League Of Denial : The NFL Concussion Crisis?

Thesis- I want you to better understand concussions, why they’re a problem in the NFL and what measures are being taken to prevent them.

Among the terms of the agreement is that the settlement is not to be regarded as an admission of guilt by the league." The NFL knows of the dangers the players are in. The rules change but the equipment increased. Without more or better equipment the players are still in danger. In a PBS Frontline documentary about injuries in football Dr. Robert Stern said," In football, one has to expect that, almost every play of every game and every practice, they're going to be hitting their heads against each other. That's the nature of the game. Those things seem to happen around 1,000 to 1,500 times a year. Each time that happens, it's around 20 g or more. That's the equivalent of driving a car at 35 miles per hour into a brick wall." The players in the NFL know the risk of playing but it is up to the NFL to make the sport safe for the players. Many people may argue that since the players know the risk and they are paid for their athletic performance is ok. However you cannot put a price on a person health. There is no way of rationalizing the behavior of the NFL. Yes, the athletes are paid to perform, but it is up to the NFL to make the sport safer. The NBA has increase rules and is aggressively making the sport less physical. In a Radio interview with XTRA 910 a Phoenix, AZ, Former NBA player, Robert Horry said, "… If you

The spectator of this sport has an obligation to the players of the sport, to make sure that the organization is protecting and looking out for them. Yet not only should the viewer be held accountable for the lack of communication in consequences between the player and the pro scene, but the organization of the NFL needs to make sure that their players have a full understanding of what is going on and how they need to protect the players. The current situation that is understood, contents contain implied knowledge that all parties of this table are in uniform knowledge and agreement to what comes of playing football. Finally, this should also happen at the youth level when kids are just getting into the sport, as it would better inform the parents and the kid if they understood the full

His former wife, Pam, tells how he took a knife and slashed all his football pictures” (Mihoces). He died September of 2002 and the narrator of a Frontline special on his life said, “The news that day would start a chain of events that would threaten to forever change the way America sees the game of football,"(Mihoces). His brain was examined to find out more about his disabilities and their relation to football.

If any of these player safety rules have been broken recently, the NFL has come down swiftly and harshly against the culprits. These swift and efficient actions performed by the NFL have taken notice by the parents and fans of the sport. These forms of punishments come through fines, suspensions, and in extreme cases bans from the league for years or even indefinitely. Recently a defensive coordinator on the New Orleans Saints was found to have installed a “bounty program” on his defense. This program would fund the defensive players with bonuses for various actions in a game. Although this may seem okay, it is actually highly illegal in the NFL. This bounty program would fund the players for knocking out other athletes they were competing against. Injuring players was one of many forms of bonuses that players would be able to accrue. The problem with this in sports is because football is already violent enough. Now teams are actually “gunning” to injure others on purpose. The NFL’s quick and extreme punishments for the creation and participation in this bounty case definitely put the player’s safety aspect into the mainstream of what the NFL is worrying about these days.

In 2002, Mike Webster, a legendary football player, suddenly died at the age of 50. After examining his body, Dr. Bennet Omalu became curious as to what exactly was the cause of Webster’s death. Being a neuropathologist, Dr. Omalu knew Webster’s death was related to his brain. Omalu took samples of Webster’s brain and studied it over

Throughout the basis of this position paper, I will be debating on the controversy of concussions present in the National Football League (NFL) and the sport of football in general. Currently in the National Football League, concussions are looked at as a dangerous aspect but most definitely a recoverable feature. Concussions are an

How many people believe what they hear and see on television or the internet? It is astounding to believe that some members of the population will believe anything that is reported in the media without any scientific research or backing. With the popularity of the National Football League, it is easy to believe that any information given by ESPN or other sports broadcasting stations are providing accurate information. However, more scientific studies and research should be provided to fans based on the health of the players. Ever since the death of former National Football League star Junior Seau, which was caused by a concussion, there have been multiple reports to come out about the causes and effects of concussions. However, there are still aspects reguarding concussions that need to be clarified and studied regarding concussions: what are the long term effects of one concussion compared to many concussions, are the people who receive more playing time worse off in the long run, and will repeated concussions lead eventually to a complete mental collapse in everyone.

For this research paper I will be exploring concussions in the NFL, and how it represents American ideologies. I am not only going to be analysing the long lasting effects concussions have on players, but also how the NFL was able to to ignore and deny allegations against them proving the fatality of the sport. The National Football League is a multibillion dollar business, and is the most watched sport in the United States, making this a very relevant topic in recent news. All you have to do is watch an afternoon of Sunday football games in order to witness the brutality of the sport, and the tolls players bodies take. My primary source for this topic is a 43 page scholarly article produced by Harvard University explaining the history and evolution of concussions in the NFL. This source goes into depth on nearly every aspect of the topic, which will help me answer my research questions as I go along. Although I will be looking into several different aspects of this topic, my main research questions are what is the truth behind concussions in the NFL, and how does it

In the beginning of 2005 a concussion scandal had rocked both the National Football League (NFL) and the sports world alike, resulting in news outlets from the medical journal Neurosurgery to The New York Times reporting on some aspect of the situation. By 2009, almost everything that was known about the concussion issue was published and made known to the public. However one story was left in obscurity, and that was the story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, told by author Jeanne Marie Laskas in the novel Concussion. Through Laskas’ narration in the novel and employment of strategies such as characterization, conflict, and point of view, she is able to present new information and different perspectives on an already well investigated subject.

A research study conducted by Purdue University examined the brains of high school football players. They compared the changes of brains that had been affected by concussions and brains that hadn’t been. Surprisingly, both brains showed an amount of tissue damage (Nader and Reed 1). This further supports the idea for firm concussion regulations, through the fact that concussion symptoms are not always easily recognizable. Many concussions are never diagnosed because their symptoms are so mediocre and unnoticed.

Science says concussions are inevitable; 96 percent of all NFL players and 79 percent of all football players test positive for brain disease (Source: Frontline League of Denial 9/18/15 Concussion Watch Article). Prior to 2002, the NFL’s approach to preventing, treating, and managing concussions and CTE was very different than it is today. My essay will explore what some of those differences were and whether or not changes in the NFL are improving the outcomes and quality of life for current and former NFL players.

In the movie, Concussion, Dr. Bennett Omalu persevered through both professional and personal challenges and was ultimately vindicated. A lot of former NFL players went insane when something bothered inside their heads and they died so Dr. Omalu found neurological deterioration when he observed the dead players’ brains for an autopsy. Dr. Omalu worked as a forensic pathologist and he cut the bodies to take the things out of it. During the investigation, Dr. Omalu researched about neurological deterioration and he met the medical colleagues about the situations from the dead NFL players. Dr. Omalu was very religious and he used his faith for professional work. Also he received the critics from NFL because the committee didn’t support Dr. Omalu’s

The number of concussions in professional and amateur football has been rising and has sparked much controversy in recent years. These concussions are most likely linked with disease and even the deaths of some pro and semi-pro football players. New research is attempting to solve the problem but the issue is still prevalent in football today.

A recent study of college football players has shown that those who participate in high contact sports and have had a concussion before have a 300% higher chance of having another one in comparison to athletes that have never had a concussion before (Jolicoeur et al, 2007). The NFL and NCAA have enacted several rule changes in order to minimize the occurrence of concussions. These new rules, like many before them, have come under the scrutiny of the very athletes that they were meant to protect. The NHL and NHL Players Association in 1997 together created a program in order to get a better understanding of concussions and how to prevent them (Burke et al, 2011). According to Covassin (2008), athletes who have had more than one concussion take a longer time to recover with each concussion that they suffer from.