NFL Affecting Our Lives

Many memories are made in football, but sadly some of the greatest players cannot recall them. The National Football League has been associated with concussions and brain traumas throughout the years, but lately it has been exposed by media and NFL veterans. The league recently “reached a $765 million preliminary settlement with thousands of former players who were suing the league over its treatment of concussions…” (Waldron). Many former players are experiencing the effects of taking hard hits over and over again; they were not properly treated, which makes the injury worse and long term. The concussion issue in the NFL is more prevalent today, because it affects not only the players, but the league as a whole.

Based on my research, there are considerable lifelong health related consequences associated with participating in grueling sport activities such as professional football. What responsibilities should the National Football League (NFL) have in regards to providing an adequate support system to players suffering from a concussion during a practice or regular season game and from lifelong challenges as a result of traumatic head injuries sustained during the regular season or practices? The resources I have referenced in this proposal essay, provide evidence to answer this question and lends support to my position that considering the violent nature of professional football, the NFL needs to take more efforts to protect players during the games and afterwards if a serious injury has been sustained that affects their quality of life and future earnings. Current policies are inadequate and continue to contribute to lawsuits and cost lives.

There needs to be more safety in the NFL because of the immediate dangers of concussions. According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, “a concussion is an injury to the brain that results in temporary loss of normal brain function.”(AANS) The most common symptoms are confusion, dizziness, headaches, memory loss all of which can have lifelong effects. Concussions are a serious injury because it can do a lot of damage to the brain; therefore, there needs to be a way to limit the blows to the head that causes them. If one gets a high number of concussions, then there is a high chance of their life being affected in a negative way. A report published by the NFL states that the number of concussions in 2016 was 244. That is a decline from 2012 when there were 261 concussions. The decline shows that there has been some progress in reducing the amount of concussions in the NFL, but there still are 244 players being exposed to the symptoms that can be an occurrence for their whole lives. The NFL needs to do more to protect its employees from concussions via safety rules. A major problem is the concussion protocol. The NFL states that if a player exhibits symptoms during a game, then they “must be removed and evaluated by the Club medical team,” (NFL Concussion Protocol 4). This seems like a good rule, but there is a lot of gray area in this rule because a team can have an examination, but they can falsely claim that the player does not have a concussion and place him back in the game. In an article for USA Today, Jarrett Bell writes about a play where Indianapolis Colts quarterback, Jacoby Brissett, was hit in the head and it seemed that he would not come back, but the Colts cleared him after one play with no concussion. In the article, Chris Nowinski,

One hard hit to a NFL player’s head can destroy their life. Concussions are a major problem that the NFL has been dealing with for a very long time. As a huge football fan, I have a special interest with this issue. When concussions were first identified as a problem, they were extremely down played. People thought that injuries to knees and backs were much worse than a concussion. What they did not know was that a concussion is lethal and can cause serious consequences. After this was discovered, the NFL started to take steps to improve the safety of players, but for some, it was far too late. Concussions that NFL players receive are negatively impacting their lives after their career, due to Chronic

In recent years, there has been a backlash from all kinds of doctors throughout the world that believe the National Football League or NFL needs to make adjustments to the way they treat head injuries, specifically concussions. A concussion is a brain injury characterized by an onset of impairment of cognitive and/or physically functioning and is caused by hits around the head and neck area. This NFL is under destress because of numerous studies that show concussions can lead to a large amount brain injuries way after the player has played his last game. However, this isn't just a problem the NFL is facing, the real problem is our youth contact sports and head-related injuries. High school athletes are extremely more exposed to concussions than

Over the past couple of years the National Football League as well as other football associations have witnessed a rise in the occurrences of severe head trauma to players resulting in concussions. One of the NFL’s top priorities is the health and safety of their players. These NFL players bring an abundant amount of joy and excitement to their wild, raving, die hard football fans across the nation. However, these mens’ health today and for decades to come is equally if not more important than their careers that often last an average of 4 years playing football. Despite the increase in the number of concussions in football, leagues are doing all they can to prevent concussions by implementing new rules, provide new and improved equipment,

A great majority of kids and adults football careers are ending shortly because of brain damage and concussions. To this day scientist and people in sports are trying to find a way to decrease the number of brain damage and concussions. There been so many head injuries in the game of football. It got real serious over the past 20 years. In the NFL and College football league, players and coaches can know if someone have a concussion because of the technology they have at the game. It’s mandatory for every team in college, and in the NFL to have doctors and the technology they have at each game they have.

In 2015, a movie starring Will Smith as a doctor named Bennett Omalu who is researching how a former football player died when he discovered a brain disorder that is related to Alzheimer’s disease and attempted to warn people about the head-related dangers of football. This nonfiction movie is about just the beginning of the football concussion problems, but the problems still exist today. All players are at risk, not only professionals, but kids as well. Countless concussions by football players have lead to trauma and even death. Officials in charge of these games need to make the game safer for all players and better equipment is required or football may go extinct in the future.

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

Background Information: Over the years, there has been a lot of controversy in the sport of football, about whether the league truly cares about concussions players are suffering. Research over the past decade, has shown that many former football players have suffered from extensive CTE, due to brain injuries not being properly treated. Since this has become such a fear for athletes and fans playing the sport, the league has made small rule changes to help prevent less helmet-to-helmet contact. On top of that, athletes who violate the rules will be fined and possibly suspended depending on the severity of the incident. As of late though, many athletes and fans have begun to think that the league doesn’t truly care about concussions. This is due to how the schedule has changed to make football players prepare to play a game on a short week, multiple times throughout a season. Also, as athletes continue to beg for there to be a shorter preseason to lessen the amount of hits taken, the league

Many things should be done in relation to the prevention of collisions potentially leading to different brain diseases, disorders, or syndromes. The football helmets should be reevaluated,reassessed, and redesigned to prevent mTBI, mild traumatic brain injuries, such as subconcussive injuries that play a huge deal in what causes CTE. In agreement with Dr. Andrew McIntosh, helmets can prevent skull fractures and intracranial hemorrhage, but they are not designed to prevent mTBI. Also, have youth leagues implement stricter rules, apply the same rules in the NFL in league games or even practices. For example, spearing, when a player uses the helmet/head as the first point of contact with another player, was banned in American

The national football league has stiffened its policy on legal hits. The hit zone has shrunk, while player frustrations have grown. The policy is enacted in an effort to reduce the number of concussions in the game of football. The enforcement of these rules has strayed away from being all about safety. The policy on hits has created a divide among its players and fans alike. The policy of hits being enforced so strictly has had a significant impact on the sport. The sociology of the NFL and the rule itself drive this argument. By stepping on the field as an NFL football player, it is accepted that it is very dangerous. The players make enough money to make the concussions worth it. Profiting from the fine money for these hits has caused the NFL to be enforcing these rules unethically, the rules and the impact they have had on the sport have been detrimental to football.

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.

Most old timers and even some of the generation that remember the middle 90’s to early 2010’s football would almost always say that was the greatest time to watch football because the athleticism of the players was not very far behind the players now and they could still do all the hitting they wanted. Many younger people who were probably only babies during those times and are only familiar with today’s football would almost one hundred percent say today’s NFL is the best it has ever been. The player’s on the field are the best they have ever been as far as complete players but these rules the NFL are putting into the game are affecting the attention span of watchers, people love seeing these huge hits a lot of these players have during games, but then they are let down by the refs and the league by them giving them either a suspension or a fine. Watchers of the NFL would love nothing less than them to just adjust the rules so the game can be at least a little more aggressive than it has been in recent memory. There are players out there in the NFL that

You may have watched the movie concussion were Doctor Bennet Omalu from southern Nigerian who brought forth the surprising news about how the NFL was putting the players in the game even thoe the coaches knew that the player had the concussion. He states that “and that if 10 percent of mothers in this country would begin to perceive football as a dangerous sport, that is the end of football” (Taddonio). This is news that mothers need to know what type of sport they are getting there child in to.