Everyone in America that tunes into NBC on Sunday nights loves their football. They love the aggression, violence and epitome of "manly toughness" that is the NFL. But as they watch quarterbacks smashed to the ground and ball carriers pummeled by defenders, are they aware of what's really happening?
The Concussion movie, starring Will Smith tells the story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, a chief Medical Examiner and neuropathologist in California who discovered a new disease after doing on autopsy on the body of former Pittsburgh Steeler, Mike Webster who played from 1973-1990. Omalu realized that Mike Webster who died at 50 years of age died having suffered from more than just a heart attack. Besides having herniated discs, a broken vertebrae and heart disease, Mike Webster, in fact, was a victim of the disease that Omalu discovered known as CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). What this disease does is create unnecessary proteins in the brain known as tau until they overcome the healthy cells by suffocating them. The brain deteriorates resulting in effects that can begin months, days, or years after the head trauma. People who suffer from this disease may experience bouts of aggression, depression, impaired judgment and processing problems. This ultimately leads to dementia and possibly death.
Researchers at Boston University have tested 165 brains of former football players who died suddenly or at a fairly early age. 131 of these brains were positive for CTE and. Out of the 91 NFL players' brains, a whopping 87 had CTE.
One of the youngest cases to date so far has been a player of 21 years of age with CTE found in his brain after committing suicide in 2010. He had never been diagnosed with a concussion and never had any history of mental illness. He had played football since he was 9 years old.
Now imagine the risks small children, whose brains are still in the growing process, face when playing this sport.
This isn't to say that the protective gear football players use is as basic as that which was used decades ago. Helmets, mouthpieces, and shoulder pads are certainly better quality. However, the NFL did work to cover up this truth about the effects of concussions and their deadly effects, even so far as to threaten Dr. Omalu to keep quiet about his discovery. They knew they weren't doing enough to fix this issue and they did not want word to get out about it.
Overall the NFL and all other football associations need to do a much better job of finding a solution to head injuries. They claim to have tightened up their concussion protocol by pulling players out if they take a big hit, but this is not enough. They have no answer for players' heads hitting the ground after being tackled or for hits away from the head that sometimes result in concussions because of the way that the body vibrates upon taking contact.
In April of this year, the NFL officially had to pay a whopping settlement of $765 million to over 4,500 retired NFL and all associate leagues for not properly warning them of the damages the sport could cause. This is pocket change for a league that gained 9 billion dollars this year alone, making it the most valuable sports league in the world. This settlement covered medical costs for the players suffering from CTE, Alzheimers, Parkinson's disease and Dementia, in addition to frequent medical examinations, and initiatives to promote football safety. The league seems to have done this to quiet the voices of these players because they have yet to admit that there is a connection between football and long-term brain damage.
Football in itself is a wonderfully entertaining sport, but the culture that is promoted within locker rooms across all leagues is one of "overly exaggerated" masculinity. Because of this, players do more harm than good in the way that they lust to deliver hits and leave their opponents laid out on the ground. But then again, this is what the sport promotes and allows.
If NFL in particular, wishes to exploit its players, knowing the ramifications, the least they can do is put in real money to work with another company to produce high tech gear that will absorb most of the shock from hits that are delivered on players. It is also the duty of helmet companies like Riddell and Xenith to do more to upgrade helmets to promote player safety.
Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case as of yet.
To this day the, NFL and their "doctors" insist that there is no clear link to football related injuries and CTE.
No one deserves to suffer such costly effects from a sport that they love, while the "higher ups" continue to count their billions. It is certainly a shame that commissioner Roger Goodell's plan is to have the NFL reach 25 billion in yearly revenue, but there has been no word on breakthroughs in advancements to drastically improve protective gear for players.
Interesting.
The Concussion movie airs in theaters everywhere Christmas Day.
