Essay On Brain Damage In Sports

Brain Damage
The National Football league (NFL), has been a violent sport since its inception in 1920. Close to a century has past, and while little has changed by way of the padding, the speed and strength of today’s premier players has caused the sport to become extremely dangerous. Most notably, the aggressive nature of football has increased, therefore resulting in more head to head collisions. Consequently, these collisions are causing severe concussions and life-threatening brain damage. The NFL should implement new rules and regulations, with regards to equipment and provide better safety measures for its players.
Recent developments by leading neurologists have been to linked concussions to irreversible brain damage. Some brain damage, noticed

well beyond a player’s active years, has been linked to players becoming delusional, psychotic an in rare cases extremely dangerous; even suicidal.
In a congressional report the NFL is alleged to have conducted a crooked operation to which the NFL tried to influence a government study on football and brain disease. According to a sports journalist who writes for The Atlantic, a reputable magazine focused mainly on major contemporary political and educational issues, the NFLs’ suspicious strategy was to “pull funding on concussion research” (Vasilogambros), and in the report, “The NFL did not carry out its commitment to respect the science and prioritize health and safety.” (Hudson and Koroshetz)
Modern football helmets are clad with flashy designs and logos, drawing attention away from the helmets’ true purpose; head protection.

Unfortunately, the antiquated and inadequate padding on the inside is goes unseen. The foam padding does not cushion the players head sufficiently enough to meet the intense pressures due the high impact hits in the game today.
Big hits bring big excitement. The allure of violence as a form of entertainment can be traced back thousands of years to the Roman gladiators. Many fans may believe that that kind history is a justification for leaving the rules of the game alone. To the avid fans I can understand that changes to a long standing set of rules and standards in the game of American Football would lessen the thrill, however, allowing the game to be toned down in order to save lives feels like a small step for any level of football enthusiast.
Obviously rough and now medically proven to be extremely dangerous, football is dire need of rules and equipment change. Whistleblowers and cover-ups continue to find their way into mainstream media and government documentation, yet the NFL continues to side-step taking responsibility for prior, present day, and future players’

safety.