Ryan Hoffm A College Football Player Essay

Tim Tebow is one of the most inspirational active sports players to younger kids and even adults. Tim Tebow has overcome many challenges in his life, he won the national championship in football at University of Florida as quarterback. He later entered the draft and was picked by the Denver Broncos in the first round and twenty- fifth pick. When Tim Tebow joined the league it was not for him, he had only bad games situations we usually go deep down to find talents that we never knew we had. We tend to rise to the occasion and complete tasks that need to be done by us because we are the bravest to do it. I do agree with this specific prompt because there have been times where I have had to rise above and be the bigger man to complete challenges. There are also many famous figures such as: Tim Tebow, my great uncle, and Steve Jobs. These people in one way or another have started with nothing and made millions and billions. They have all found talents that they did not know they had. Their hidden talents have impacted families, fans, and the evolution of technology.

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

Football was and is a very popular sport in America and has always been a favorite. Erik Fisher plays football because he is great at the sport, hence page 27, “Dad had brought Erik to meet Coach Warner earlier in the summer. Dad had knelt down and held the ball for Erik to drill fifty-yard field goals, one after another, while according to Dad, the Coach’s jaw had dropped lower and lower.” But, Erik played football primarily for and because of the fame. He had never cared about whether he had to hurt someone in order reach the top of the “Erik Fisher Football Dream”. On September 5 (pages 50-94), when Mike Costello dies of lightning, Paul finds Erik and Arthur laughing about how Mike’s hair was singed off. Paul was disgusted. Though Erik and Arthur didn’t kill Mike, their laughter reflects their inner evil and selfish selves. Paul then reflects on his own self and decides to walk a path of truth, unlike Erik. In continuation, Ray Lewis had once said, “Don't walk through life just playing football. Don't walk through life just being an athlete. Athletics will fade. Character and integrity and really making an impact on someone's life, that's the ultimate vision, that's the ultimate goal-bottom line.” Erik never had any character or integrity, whether he played sports or not. On the other hand, Paul did have character and integrity. Paul noticed Erik’s evil actions to get higher and higher up the Erik Fisher Football

In his article “The Shame of College Sports,” Taylor Branch (2011) describes how universities are focused on advancing and receiving money from major athletics and having star athletes, but how the universities are not caring for the “student athlete.” The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has made college sports into an unmerited business. However, as years progress more athletes are getting smart and are taking the NCAA to court. The more students that challenges the rules by the NCAA and take them to court, the secrets and undermining values of the NCAA come out and the closer the NCAA comes to an end.

Chris Herren was a professional Basketball player in the United States, and he played in several leagues overseas. Chris Herren grew up in Fall River, Massachusetts. He attended Durfee High School, and he won a lot of awards because of his skills in basketball. He was in shape on the court, but he had a lot of problems off the court with drugs and alcohol. He got offers to play on the best college basketball teams in the nation. He ended up choosing Boston College because it was close to home. He then played professional basketball in the US, but after a while his addiction to drugs was a part of him and he couldn’t perform on the basketball court without them. He family starting falling apart, and after a while he wasn't able to play basketball

High school is a big time for change in a teenagers life. They go through problems with friends, family, grades, and sports. For Andy Jackson, a 17 year old student at Hazelwood High School, he went through all of those troubles. He plays for the basketball team with his friends Rob Washington, Tyrone Mills, and B.J. Carson. One night after basketball practice, Andy was drinking alcohol and driving which led them to get in a car crash. Andy, Tyrone, and B.J. escaped the car with a few cuts and bruises, but Rob got stuck and burned to death. Rob’s death brought Andy to blame himself. He turns away from his friends, his girlfriend, Keisha, and his family. Andy changes negatively after the car crash; he becomes insecure, he closes up his feelings, and he turns emotionally weak.

Before high school athletes totally rule out trying to play sports in college they need to consider the similarity and differences between high school and college sports. As young children, most high school athletes started out dreaming about being a sports star and making it into the professional. If these dreams are given up because college sports seem out of reach or too difficult, they will never know where they could have ended up. College sports can seem like a big step from high school sports but in the end they have many similarities.

As an introduction, Michael Oher was a famous Black American football player that came from a poor family that consist of thirteen children, an absentee father and an alcoholic plus drug addict mother in the village of Memphis, Tennessee (Bell, 2009). In Michael’s childhood, he did not enjoy any love or caring from his parent as both of them do not want to be in charge of him and

On the morning of December first of two thousand and twelve, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher took a .40 caliber gun and shot his girlfriend 22 times inside his master bedroom. He then drove down to Arrowhead Stadium, the Chief’s home stadium, to express his appreciation to his team’s general manager and coach for everything they had done for him, walked away, and then shot himself in the head. This tragic recollection of the murder-suicide case executed by the 25 year old football player paints him as a monstrous and willfully violent man but what if one was to acclaim all of these fatal incidents to too many bumps in the head? Well it has been. Years after this incident, after medical examiners conducted an autopsy on Belcher and they found that his brain showed signs of CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a disease caused by repetitive traumatic head injuries, also denoted as concussions. There have been many documented cases where after contact sport athletes experience excessive concussions, they then seem to develop a seemingly new character as they come to be ill fully violent, overtly aggressive, or even deeply depressive. Many times this may lead to the diagnosis of a mental disorder or may end tragically, as in Belchers case, in the death of others and/or the athletes themselves.

No matter the circumstance, people will always be able to learn something to improve their lifestyle. It might be dire and serious, or light-hearted and fun. Whatever the case, the experience people gain from that situation is what aids to develop their persona. In “What Football Taught Me” by Donald Murray and “Suicide’s Forgotten Victims” by Lisa Keiski, both writers learn life lessons from their experiences. Despite emotional and physical exhaustion, Murray and Keiski learned life lessons through society, authority figures, and self-awareness.

In the area of collegiate sports, there have been numerous heated debates about the integrity of many things concerning the NCAA and how it handles legal and ethical issues. Two well renowned scholars tackle this issue in their co-authored book entitled

Collegiate athletics is a multibillion dollar business. Competition across basketball, football, and other popular sports generate just as much money as they do excitement and entertainment to sports fans and the casual viewer. The driving force behind this behemoth are the athletes that don the uniform of the competing universities. These athletes, the most of which are black, dedicated time synonymous to working a full time job on top of being student in order to serve this money machine. What is so damning about this system then? The truth is that the student-athletes do not see a penny of the millions they earn for their schools. On top of that, they are stretched beyond reasonable means in order to serve their athletic program. In return, they are compensated with scholarships to attend the college. However, what might seem like a coveted opportunity is not what it seems.

David Duerson’s family, the family of a legend, found Duerson dead in his home, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the chest (Bartholet). Duerson had won two championship rings, named first team All-Pro by three sources, received the NFL Man of the Year Award, and held an NFL record for 19 years (Bartholet). So why would this amazing man with a life of accomplishments commit suicide? Doctors wanted to find out. Duerson had sent his family a text message that he wanted his brain to be donated to research for concussions caused by professional football. In his final months, Duerson had complained to his family about his declining mental state. After his death, researchers found that Duerson had a disease found in many ex-professional football players, known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, caused by concussions (Bartholet).

19 Feb. 2016. In this broadcast, Michel Martin interviews Pablo Torre about the dangers of CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, among major league baseball players. This has become an important issue since Ryan Freel took his life after suffering from depression. Researchers analyzed his brain and found that he was suffering from CTE. Torre uses pathos to reach people’s emotions by pointing out that Freel was an all-out player who was famous for diving catches.

For High Performance athletes, there can be a lot riding on their results and performance in competition. If athletes develop an over-reliance on sporting success as a source of self-worth and identity, it can lead to serious emotional issues if things do not go as desired. Athletes often identify their self-worth with their ability to perform, and performance failure has been significantly associated with depression (Taylor, 2015 pg.11; Troijan, 2016, pg. 137) Athletes face many struggles and when something goes wrong it can leave them not knowing where to turn for help. They can be left with they feelings that they are nothing, undeserving, and alone. This may also exacerbate their feelings of seclusion, depression, or grief. Most athletes