Why Is Football Truly Dangerous?

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

The topic I'll be addressing for my proposal essay is "If football is so dangerous to players, should we be watching it?". I have read multiple articles, seen documentaries and have even watched the movie, Concussion, starring Will Smith, about how dangerous football is and how the players are almost risking their lives to entertain Americans. The most common, and newest, disease is CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It’s the result of multiple concussions, causing the players to go mad and eventually they’ll commit suicide because they feel like they’re going insane. CTE cannot be diagnosed until after death either. There are already 25 deaths due to CTE and every year a new death arises.

CTE is a brain disease found in individuals with annals of head trauma. It has specifically been found in athletes with numerous concussions. So far it can only be diagnosed in the deceased, but Dr. Julian Bales and his staff in UCLA have discovered symptoms in living players such as Hall of Famer Anthony “Tony” Dorsett, Hall of Famer Joe DeLamielleure, and NFL All-Pro Leonard Marshall. CTE can cause memory loss, dementia, depression, suicidal thoughts, cognitive and emotional difficulties (Waldron par 1, 2, 3). Is it a compelling issue? A total of 171 concussions were reported in the NFL in the 2012-2013 season; 88 thus far in the 2013-2014 season (Frontline pt). Those are just numbers in the professional level. There are thousands of kids playing football either in youth, middle school, high school, or college level. The diagnosis is currently in progress, researchers are optimistic this could lead to a legitimate treatment, how to manage, and hopefully a cure. Furthermore, this can also possibly lead to an answer to a connection between football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Junior Seau, Mike Webster, Terry Long, and Justin Strzelczyk (all of whom are dead now) are all men who played in the NFL for an extent period of time. This is not the only thing they have in common. These former players had an uncustomary

While the NFL is putting new rules and regulations on equipment and which type of tackles are allowed, living retired NFL players are found to already have symptoms of CTE (Fainaru, 2013). Through brain scans and research done by UCLA, they have identified proteins in player’s brains that cause CTE, which as Dr. Julian Bailes, co-director or North Shore Neurological Institute said, is the “holy grail” to studying CTE and finding ways to cure and prevent it (Fainaru, 2013). While this is a break through, there is still no cure or way to treat CTE (Fainaru, 2013). But this research also raises questions about CTE and the NFL. Will players be required to be tested for CTE? Can players be denied playing anymore if CTE is found? Will this greatly affect the way that football is currently played? As the research is still being collected, there is still no definite answer to any of those questions, but the NFL has acknowledged the correlations of CTE and concussions caused by playing in the NFL and assures that they will do all they can to help prevent severe brain trauma to their players, including donating $30 million to the National Institutes of Health to conduct further research on CTE (Kroll, 2013).

A CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, is a, “progressive degenerative disease that is believed to plague people who've suffered severe or repeated blows to the head” (Murphy). A player can have a CTE and not even know that they are suffering from it. This is because CTEs can only be discovered after the person dies. Paul Bright, for example, was a football player who played from the time that he was seven until he was a freshman in high school. He had experienced only one concussion, but it changed his entire life. His family and friends described him as hard working and upbeat, but then, something changed. He became reckless and erratic; these traits caused him to die at age twenty-four from a motorcycle wreck. His mother sent his brain off to be tested and discovered that he had been suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. This brain disease had caused him to make the type of impulsive decisions that took his life (Murphy). In addition to the CTEs players may experience, the likelihood of dying from brain and nervous system issues increases significantly for football players. Studies from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health discovered that, “death involving neurodegenerative causes among the retired players was three times higher than in the general U.S. population, and the risk for two major

Within the last few years, the BU ADC developed a new branch called the Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center (CTE Center), which is devoted specifically to research this disease (Boston University, n.d.). In 2015, a team of scientists from the CTE Center conducted a study analyzing the brain tissue of deceased football players. The researchers separated the participants into two groups: (a) those who played professional football, and (b) those who had played football during some part of their lifetime (high school level, college level, etc.). The results showed that 87 of the 91 NFL players tested positive for CTE. In addition, 131 of the 195 subjects who had played football during some part of their lifetime tested positive for CTE (Breslow, 2015). This study proved that CTE could affect any athlete (including high school level athletes), not just professional

Since the 1920s, there has been a severe disease linked to athletes. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a disease that effects athletes that have had head trauma. The trauma causes the brain tissue to deteriorate. The changes can become apparent after months, years, or even decades. CTE is linked to memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, and, eventually, progressive dementia. (“What”, 2009). CTE has caused football to change as well as the equipment. CTE is now widely known and is effecting, not only professional athletes, but also high school athletes. Concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy are serious conditions that can affect anyone and have adverse effects.

It is the moment football fans live for: the running back brakes through the line and heads up the field only to be sacked moments later. In the time it takes for the crowd to stand and cheer, the running back has forgotten where he is. His struggle to remember the four words he was just given on the sidelines increases every moment. His obvious concussion will keep him from playing for a few weeks but then he will be as good as new and ready to play again, right? But what about the long term affects of his concussion? When Mike Webster died at the age of 50 in 2002 from heart failure, his autopsy showed more than just a heart condition. Dr. Omalu, from the University of Pittsburgh found chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE, which shows atrophy to the brain similar to Alzheimer 's. CTE is a progress degenerative brain disease said to be caused by repetitive brain trauma, such as hard hits in football (Tanaka and Wells). Dr. Omalu 's discovery of CTE has brought up many questions including what is CTE and what are its effects, and did the NFL know about the possibility of CTE and why do they keep denying its existence. Because of Omalu 's discovery CTE and the NFL are in the limelight as players past and present worry if they are at risk. As more and more people learn about CTE, the level of urgency to find answers to these questions rises. In response, the NFL and other companies are backing research in hopes of finding ways to prevent and cure CTE, all while learning

“If only she knew then that her son would be dead at 25. Joseph hung himself in his mother's shed on June 7, 2012. His brain was later found to have severe CTE, a degenerative brain disease that has been linked to concussions in football. Joseph Chernach had played sports, including wrestling, pole vaulting and football most of his young life. But he spent almost four years playing Pop Warner football from ages 11 to 14.” When you get concussion after concussion it repetitively traumatizes your brain and it can lead to CTE it means Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy it is a brain disease found in athletes, veterans, and others with a history of concussions. That's why i think little kids shouldn't play in rough sports it can give concussions that affect them for a lifetime(...or the lack thereof), parents have unrealistic expectations, and its too force on to them if they are young

Many argue that because of how many concussions football players sustained in their careers is the reason why the players are now suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia. They also believe it can be traced back to their high school career, which now has the young stars parents’ concern. How many concussions happen in sports? According to the BrainLine website, 1.6 million to 3.8 million sports related each year in the United States, during 2001-2005, from ages 5-18 accounted for 2.4 million sports-related ED annually, of which 6% (135,000) involved a concussion. Football accounting for more than 60% of high organized sports concussions. According to Forbes website article, that recent research proved that eighty-seven out of ninety-one ex-NFL players tested positive for brain diseased linked to head trauma. The researchers who studied a large amount of people who have football from a high school, college, or professional level has found evidence of CTE, which is chronic traumatic encephalopathy, in over half percent of their participants. Of the brains, the researchers studied, most of them belonged to former NFL players. The problem with CTE is that it can only be detected or found after death. CTE is “an abnormal build-up of tau- a protein that can spill out of cells due to blunt force trauma and can choke off or disable neural pathways that control things such as memory, judgement, and fear”

Otto Graham, veteran quarterback for the Cleveland Browns and future Hall of Famer, spins out of the pocket and starts running down the sideline. He thinks he is in the clear, but he is wrong. As he is running, he is hit in the chin by an opponent’s elbow. He is down for a couple of minutes, until the medical crew takes him to the locker room. They stitch up the cut and give him a face mask to add to his helmet. When they are done, he surprisingly returns to the game, and does not harm the cut for the rest of the game. This is the first time a football player has used a face mask in a regular season game (“A Football Life: Paul Brown”). A lot has changed since 1953, but there are still many injuries that occur in football

According to Headcase Company, 47% of all sports concussions come from football? Football is one of the most popular sports in the U.S, but it is also the leading cause of all sports-related injuries. According to Nationwide Children's Hospital, during the 2005 season, half a million injuries were sustained by football players nationally. More recently, football players are losing their lifes from their head injuries. They suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE, which is a brain condition that causes so much pain it drives them to suicide. With injuries and concussions, high school football is just too dangerous because players aren't properly trained, the equiptment isn't safe enough and the hits-per-game count is becoming too

According to source 1 Weighing the Risks is states this disease is called CTE and is caused by a large amount of head traumas. This means more and more football players have a higher percentage of dying each year and possibly every day. Another great reason source 1 provides is this disease called CTE can kill your nerve cells. What this means is one's body could be acting up terribly. One more reason is someone with advanced CTE can have serious disorders.

Football can be a very dangerous sport. And although those who play the game believe that they are being protected by the helmets that they wear, the truth is that this may not be the case. In a recent study released by the American Academy of Neurology it has been found that “protection against concussion and complications of brain injury is especially important for young players, including elementary and middle school, high school and college athletes, whose still-developing brains are more susceptible to the lasting effects of trauma”(Science Daily, 2014). The study also found that standard football helmets worn by the majority of players on the field today, only reduce the risk of traumatic brain injury by 20 percent compared to not wearing a helmet at all (Science Daily, 2014).

Football is one of the most popular sports in America. The sport started in 1863 as a game between universities and became professional football in 1892. American football got its popularity in the universities and become one of its most popular games. Later, High Schools started to introduce the football game as well as a part of their sports. Since football became very popular, many teenagers try to get into the school teams, but not all of them were lucky to get into the teams. Football requires of strength, hard training and the courage to fight in order to keep the ball within the team, in consequence, it causes many accidents have happened since then; for example, broken ribs, legs, arms, etc. If players are not careful, they can ended up with a broken part of the body; therefore, the sport should be vanished from all high schools because of the risk outcomes. Football is a brutal sport and can lead teenagers to have a different attitude, and feel with a source of power over others causing bullying and other type of mental disorders.