Brain injuries in football have to be prevented at all cost. The sport is very dangerous on all levels. The proper safety is not in place to protect the players lives. Many lives have been affected negatively and some lives were even lost due to violent nature of the game. As the captain of the football team twenty year old Owen Thomas committed suicide during his senior year at the University of Pennsylvania (Schwarz). When his brain was studied after his death it was found that he had a rare case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (Schwarz).
Brain injuries within the sport has lead to the death of players. If Owen Thomas and his was aware that he possibly could lose his life because he played football he may not have not participated in the sport (Schwarz). In 2011 Trey Duerson a former pro football player killed himself and in his suicide note he asked his family to donate his brain to science so they can find the connection between concussions and traumatic brain injury (Martin). Studies found that Duerson brain was in the third or fourth stage of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (Martin).
Which are the most severe and they are associated with dementia. That disease has some lethal effects on a person’s life. It changes the person they are mentally and at heart because your brain is what helps your heart beat. The dangerous nature of the sport has had a huge toll on players and families affiliated with football. In 2013 Junior Seau one of the best linebackers in the National Football League committed suicide (Schwarz). It was reported that Junior Seau suffered from a rare case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (Schwarz).
His family wanted the world to know the truth about his death so they released the full details about his death. Junior Seau was in stage four of chronic traumatic encephalopathy when he committed suicide (Schwarz). One of the greatest players was lost because of that disease. That should motivate everyone affiliated with football to take a stand. The sport has lead to death, playing football or any sport not worth risking any lives. It is imperative that the sport is changed for the safety of everyone who plays the game.
Brain injuries within the sport has to be prevented, that should be the main goal and focus of football until the problem is solved. The National Football League was not so honest about everything they knew about brain injuries and the effects it could have on a person, There are many facts about the National Football League and brain injuries that the world are blind to. The National Football League had the truth about the link between football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy in 2003 but they denied it (Fainaru).
The league withheld the truth about the link between football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy from the public for over a decade (Fainaru). That is a sad case on the National Football League account, to hide the truth about people’s lives is just devastating. The league should be working to prevent brain injuries not working to keep the facts in the dark. The National Football League spent millions of dollars in order to prevent the truth about brain injuries from surfacing (Fainaru). They paid off the families of several surviving players and the player’s who died because of CTE (Fainaru).
Hiding the truth about the long term effects a brain injury sustained from playing football was the league’s top priority before 2012 (Fainaru). Now that lawsuits have been filled and the league has to pay up for their actions the league wants to take action. The National Football League should have been took action in order to prevent brain injuries within the game. It is a very delicate situation and the league must do what they can to publicize the truth about brain injuries and publicize a plan to help prevent brain injuries within the sport.
On the professional and collegiate level of the game where the sport is nationally televised, the NFL and the NCAA failed to give the world the truth about the risks of the game to the public. Over the past few years both organizations have addressed head injuries within football because the types of brain damage players experience throughout their career has received increased attention over the past years(Johnson). The NFL even banned tackling with the crown of the head, mostly all tackles above the neck lead to fines or suspensions for players(Johnson).
The NFL is trying to prevent brain injuries because the severity of head injuries within the game has finally surfaced. They are putting money into the research for the deadly disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy caused by repeated head injuries in football (Johnson). On March 15th, 2016 the NFL finally admitted that there is a link between chronic traumatic encephalopathy and football (CBS News). The truth about this disease has surfaced recently during the past three football seasons.
The knowledge of this disease was hid by the NFL for their own purposes (CBS News). Now that the NFL have paid lawsuits and will continue to pay lawsuits to the players and families of players affected by this disease they have shifted the primary focus from overall brain injuries to the one major disease within retired football players and that is chronic traumatic encephalopathy (Rettner). It is fantastic that the NFL is trying to take action because of the violent effects the game has, but they should have been made a stand soon as they found out about it.
Not just the NFL acknowledging chronic traumatic encephalopathy, every organization associated with football should have acknowledged and publicized all the facts about any type of brain injury or disease that could possibly occur because a person is playing the game. In any situation where football monopolies have the hard truth they have to release it it is just the moral thing to do. Football organizations such as the NFL and the NCAA have national platforms to publicize the truth about brain injuries.
Instead of publicizing situations with no regards to the safety of football they should publicize the truth about brain injuries within the game in order to prevent future brain injuries. It is imperative that every organization that has a link to football come together to raise the awareness around brain injuries sustained while playing football and the effects it can have on a human’s life in order to prevent brain injuries. The awareness of brain injuries and the effects it has on a person during and after their football careers has to rise on all levels.
All the untold facts has to be told to the world in order to prevent brain injuries. Every head collision effects the brain, it is very important that every person who participates in the game know that. Many concussions occur on every level of the game. Those concussions causes players brains to function differently forever. Repetitive head collisions can lead to the development of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. That disease can possibly lead to death. It is essential that the players of the game have a great reason to believe that they will not develop that disease.
The people of America love football it is a great sport, but too many lives have been lost and too many lives have been altered negatively forever to allow the game to stay this way. Everyone affiliated with the game of football must help to create a safe game. It is imperative to the safety of the game and those who play the game for fun and for a living. The United States is a country of safety and freedom. Football is one of America’s most popular sports, it is essential that the sport is altered to ensure safety for all the players who play the sport.
