Brief Summary: The Culture Of Football

The culture of football itself is puts the athletes that participate in the sport at a substantial risk for permanent brain damage. “Head hunting” by defensive players is when someone on the defensive side of the ball hits an unsuspecting player with full force, aiming for the head. This is not only psychologically demoralizing to the player, but it causes obvious physical damage. Another relevant aspect of football culture, is the requirement for these athletes to be tough, and play through injury; individuals that remove themselves from the game are seen as soft and selfish. As you can see, football players fail to address the extreme amounts of physical damage they endure throughout games. Players often only remove themselves when they

sustain an injury that no longer allows them to function. One controversial topic in the NFL today is the use of ammonia tablets, better known as smelling salts. After a big hit, when a player feels as if they can no stay in the game, they head to the sidelines and are instantly awoken by a whiff of the smelling salts (8). This is dangerous, as “loss of consciousness corresponds with damage to the brain stem, and that the stimulus of smelling salts can start a brain back up despite the injury” (8). Their body will no longer recognize the damage it has sustained and will attempt to function as if it is healthy, blow after blow to the head.