...Concussions in NFL athletes Daniel Cetnarowski DeVry University Concussions in NFL athletes. Football, a sport of hard hits and exciting plays. Every year you see something in football which is amazing. A player breaks a record or catches a ridiculous pass for a touchdown. Your favorite team goes to the super bowl and wins. Your favorite player has a career season and breaks NFL records. These are the reasons why I love the game of football. But with the good, must come the bad. Players receiving injuries while playing. Minor injuries to major injuries, sooner or later every player in the NFL will experience an injury. The sad thing is, there is one injury that has an everlasting effect. Concussions. Once thought to be no big deal, concussions are now at the center of a huge lawsuit against the NFL and forcing retired players to change how they live. So, are concussions changing the lives of NFL players or is there something else happening to the players that are causing these brain disorders? My vote is the concussions are causing these players lives to change forever. The purpose of this proposal is to show that if something is not done to limit concussions the sport may change the way we know it and love it. I would not want to watch football if the NFL went to flag football and not full tackle. The players would not want that either. If that happens the players’ salaries will get decreased. It will be a trickle down affect. The NFL will lose viewers...
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...Culverhouse (2011) cites evidence from medical research about the effects of concussions on football players, interviews with neurologists, and her personal stories of players affected by injury on the field. She contends that when a football player receives a concussion, he or she exhibits certain short term side effects which may include blurred vision, headaches, nausea, sensitivity to light, and nausea. Other more serious cognitive impairments may include difficulty concentrating, memory loss, anxiety, seizures, trouble walking, confusion of location, and numbness of the limbs. According to Abreu (2016), “one-third of former NFL players will develop some type of long-term cognitive issue as a result of playing football.” In the article, the author writes about the high rate of severe brain damage among retired NFL players and examines the evidence presented in federal court where players have sued the NFL and provides a synthesis of information on how one third of the former players in the NFL suffer “long term cognitive and emotional problems.” Pro Football Hall of Famers Tony Dorsett and Joe DeLamielleure, and former NFL All-Pro Leonard Marshall who were diagnosed as having signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is a degenerative condition caused by a buildup of tau, an abnormal protein that strangles brain cells in areas that control...
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...You”). Of all sports contributing to the concussion total, football is by far the main contributor. “High school football accounts for 47% of all reported sports concussions, while 33% of these concussions occur during practice,” (“Head Case - Complete”). The main reason for this could be improper technique and teaching, neglect, and other factors. But for these players, high school is followed by college and possibly the National Football League (NFL), where concussions get much more attention and criticism. Concussions in the NFL...
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...The minimum income for a rookie NFL player is four hundred five thousand dollars but does it compare to the toll the game takes out on their body” (Jenkins)? There is a growing list of ex-NFL players who have developed physical and mental issues, and there have been many successful studies proving that there is a correlation to their time in the National Football League. One of the more disastrous injuries caused by the physically draining sport is CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). Injuries like these bring up the question of whether the NFL is safe for players. Football can be a dangerous sport and there is already efforts to make it safer however there is very little effort to help the people who are still suffering from their career as a...
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...of interest I chose was domestic violence/abuse from an show titled: An NFL Wife Tell Her Story: Intimidated Spouses Followed “Code of Silence” Around Domestic Abuse. This topic is common among the players in the National Football League (NFL). The date this show was posted is Tuesday, September 16, 2014. The key presenter(s) that discussed the topic were as followed: Amy Goodman (Journalist and columnist for radio show Democracy Now!) and Dewan Smith-Williams (Wife of retired NFL Player Wally Williams; Intimated spouse around domestic abuse). A briefing of the show, Mrs. Williams, is currently married to retired NFL player Wally Williams and has dealt with domestic abuse. In their relationship in the past, she encountered domestic abuse by Mr. Williams. Mrs. Williams wanted to tell her side of the story about how domestic abuse cases are filed against NFL players by their spouses and/or partners and how the NFL keeps it silence when informed. She wanted this story to help encourage change and promote change within the NFL. Mrs. Williams also discusses how drugs, Alcohol, and football are common issues apart of many spouses and/or partners lives and they deal with it all the time, which causes domestic abuse in many relationships of NFL players. Even though Mrs. Williams husband was placed in the diversion program for drug and alcohol abuse and for the use of marijuana the abuse continued and the NFL did nothing about it. During this show, Mrs. Williams talked about her...
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...NFL Player Safety and the Effects of Concussions An increasingly popular topic in the realm of sports fans has begun to unravel. The National Football League recently has begun to introduce new rules and regulations for their athletes to start abiding by to ensure the continued safety of the player’s health. Although most find this change in the game of professional football as a positive step forward, others see this as a diminishment of the sanctity of NFL football. New rules and regulations that have been introduced into NFL are vital to athletes involved in the sport and help them to play with lowered risks of long term injuries that could possibly affect not only them but also the league in the future as well. The reasons for these changes of rules in the NFL come from various points of emphasis. Legal actions taken by former NFL athletes have plagued the league and its reputation as of late, prompting this proactive approach to reduce the risk of long term effects on players. With all of the legal actions being performed on the NFL some felt that these changes that needed to happen would solely be kick started because of the legal aspect of it as represented by this quote, “"I don't think it'll be driven by public opinion, but by lawyers and insurance companies," David Meggyesy, who played linebacker for the St. Louis Cardinals in the nineteen-sixties.” (McGrath, 2011). One of the main concerns by the NFL is the long term affects that concussions have been shown to have...
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...Concussions In The NFL The Problem * A hit or a bolt to the head ultimately causes a concussion, which is classified as a traumatic brain injury. * Concussions can also be caused by an excessive blow to the body that causes a person’s head to move back and forth, which causes the brain to bounce around or twist in the skull. * Concussions within the National Football League have become a serious health risk due to the fact that athletes were playing in games before their concussions had completely healed, which puts athletes vulnerable to increased injury. * Many retired NFL football players have suffered memory and cognitive issues, such as dementia, Alzheimer’s, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and depression. Indicators of Concussions * During the 2012 NFL football season, there were 265 concussions reported. * From the 2010 season to the 2012 season, the amount of concussions per season only decreased from 270 to 265. * In the 2012, players who suffered concussions have been linked to severe memory loss, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and player suicide. * Mike Webster’s death in 2002 was the first to relate concussions in the NFL with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy and death. * In 2012, autopsies of Ray Easterling and Junior Seau both showed evidence of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. * This concerning evidence led to relation of concussions and deaths for several more NFL players. * Chris Henry, a former Cincinnati...
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...The NFL’s Head Case The NFL and its teams have a professional medical staff that is assigned to each team. Their responsibility is to treat and evaluate players after an injury. While they claim that they only release players if they are completely free of symptoms and that also the players consent to feeling normal, the NFL should take on more responsibility with current and former players and acknowledge fact that they have knowingly allowed players to compete in games when they should have been kept on the sideline. There have been over 4100 former players who have been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) which also includes illnesses like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. There have been several suicide related deaths that have left many unanswered questions. Some have even left suicide notes that requested that their brain to be researched. Additionally, medical research has been able to show connection through several studies that head injuries, especially repeated, can cause traumatic brain damage. The main point of this research paper is to argue that repeated head injuries suffered by current and former NFL players are directly related to the neurological problems and the deaths of Junior Seau, Jovan Belcher and others, while also presenting the reactive measures that are taking place to prevent future occurrences in regards to rules and equipment. Every NFL football team is assigned a medical staff that is a paid member(s) of the organization. Their...
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...The Negotiations of the 2011 NFL Lockout MSM 9019-Emmanuel College Joshua Rosenbaum December 14, 2011 The National Football League (NFL) with the highest revenue, income, and value is considered the leader in the American professional sports business. The last NFL work stoppage occurred in 1987 and the NFL has continued to gain in popularity since while the three other major sports have all experienced work stoppages since that time. The 1987 work stoppage resulted in the players striking for twenty-four days and replacement players being used. After this strike and union decertification the NFL entered a new era of collective bargaining between the NFL owners and athletes in 1993. Both parties agreed to enter into a new collective bargaining agreement outlining the wage scale and rights of both parties involved. This agreement had been extended five times since 1993 but it was May 20, 2008 where the NFL owners voted unanimously to opt of their collective bargaining agreement, which without action would expire March 3, 2011. There were several issues that caused the lockout, but for the owners the largest issue involved the revenue. The issue of revenue was a difficult one for the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) to address since 31 out of the 32 teams were private entities and did not have to show the union their books. However, one team the Green Bay Packers are publically owned and therefore the union was able...
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...The NFL’s Head Case The NFL and its teams have a professional medical staff that is assigned to each team. Their responsibility is to treat and evaluate players after an injury. While they claim that they only release players if they are completely free of symptoms and that also the players consent to feeling normal, the NFL should take on more responsibility with current and former players and acknowledge fact that they have knowingly allowed players to compete in games when they should have been kept on the sideline. There have been over 4100 former players who have been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) which also includes illnesses like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. There have been several suicide related deaths that have left many unanswered questions. Some have even left suicide notes that requested that their brain to be researched. Additionally, medical research has been able to show connection through several studies that head injuries, especially repeated, can cause traumatic brain damage. The main point of this research paper is to argue that repeated head injuries suffered by current and former NFL players are directly related to the neurological problems and the deaths of Junior Seau, Jovan Belcher and others, while also presenting the reactive measures that are taking place to prevent future occurrences in regards to rules and equipment. Every NFL football team is assigned a medical staff that is a paid member(s) of the organization. Their...
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...called American Football, is a sport played mostly in America and Canada. Football evolved from the sport of rugby and became the most popular sport in the United States. The sport is played with two opposing teams yielding 11 players at a time, trying to advance an oval shaped ball across their opponent’s goal line. The offense runs and throws the ball in order to move closer to the defense end of the field, while the defense stops their tactics by tackling players to the ground. Football is a full contact sport, players wear armor from their heads to their knees in order to protect themselves. Players are coached to attack and hit the ball carrier as hard as possible. Head on head collisions are a natural aspect of this exciting sport, however concussions are the probable result of constant blows to the head....
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...National Football League (Assignment 1) Michael Davis BUS 475 February 2, 2014 Dr. Joaquin M. Angles The National Football League My choice is the National Football League (NFL) which was founded on 20 August 1920. The NFL is made up of 32 teams across the United States; each team has 53 players on the team at the start of the regular season. The 32 teams are broken into two divisions; the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL original name was the American Football League and the name was change on 22 August 1922 to the National Football League. The NFL is the only major sport that does not have any teams outside of the United States. Each team has one majority owner and the owners elect the commissioner of the league; the commissioner oversees the daily rules and regulations of the league. The NFL ends a long season by two teams playing in the Super Bowl for the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The NFL has become the number one sport in America; most watched and biggest profits year after year. But with that said the NFL still has its issues going forward form profits, society and business. Most teams in the NFL are privately owned and finically statements are not release to the public. In my opinion the two key factors that can affect the success of the NFL or the ownership and customers (fans). I know that ownership is internal/external because the owner is not really seen as a part of the team. The owner is one of the biggest...
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...Football players more likely to develop neurodegenerative disease, study finds By Nadia Kounang, CNN updated 4:38 PM EDT, Wed September 5, 2012 [pic] (CNN) -- Just hours before the 2012 NFL season kicks off, a new study suggests that professional football players are three times more likely to have neurodegenerative diseases than the general population. When researchers specifically looked at Alzheimer's disease and ALS -- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease -- that risk increased to four times greater than the rest of us. The study, published Wednesday in the medical journal Neurology, surveyed nearly 3,500 retired NFL players who were in the league between 1959 and 1988. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a division of the Centers for Disease Control, had been following this group of players since the early '90s, when the NFL asked the institute to evaluate them for their risk of cardiovascular disease. This time, the authors decided to look at the neurological outcomes of the players by specifically evaluating the autopsies of 334 players. "We looked at all the death certificates, and Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and ALS had significant contribution to the death," according to study co-author Elliot Lehman. When tallying those specific diseases, the authors found that among the 334 players, seven had died from Alzheimer's and another seven with ALS. Three players had died with Parkinson's disease, but the authors...
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...Bennet Omalu was the first to publish findings on CTE in football players. Although there was former research done on boxers, Omalu became popular because of the horrific light he shed onto the NFL. He performed an autopsy on former Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Webster in 2002, who died of a heart attack at the age of 50 after years of depression and dementia, that eventually led to him becoming homeless and forgetting how to do basic things. This autopsy led to Omalu’s discovery of the disease in the former NFL players brain. Omalu then published his work in 2005, after being harassed and threatened for three years by the NFL. He has testified twice before the United States Congress against the National Football League for their lack of necessary care for the football players. He now works at UC Davis and is praised for his findings, meanwhile he continues to do research on CTE to find more underlying causes and...
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...CTE causes memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, paranoia, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, and, eventually, progressive dementia. Once it starts growing, it doesn't stop. When Mike Webster retired from playing football for the Pittsburgh Steelers, he suffered from depression and dementia before dying of a heart attack at age 50. In 2002, doctors examined his brain and discovered CTE in his brain, making him the first player to be confirmed with it. Another football player who dealt with the effects of CTE was Junior Seau. He was a linebacker with three different teams. Seau played for 20 years and retired from the NFL in 2010. In his 20 years of playing, he had never been diagnosed with a concussion. Soon after he retired, Seau...
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