Positive And Negative Effects Of Sports

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Life of a Football Player: Success or Stitches Friends, fame, money, and success is something that everyone wants in life but what if all this came with the price of a fatal brain injury, would you still look at life the same? Football players across the nation ask themselves the same question when choosing a career in football. “What factors do football players use to measure the importance of their lives, success or their personal health?” The film “Undefeated” (2011), by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin, and an article published in the New York Times titled “Dying to Play”(2012) by Kevin Cook, took a part in helping me to understand a deeper meaning of this question. Both articles analyze the positive and negative effects of football and …show more content…

From a high school level to a professional level football players everywhere have acquired a numerous amount of brain injuries and diseases from playing the sport that they love. According to Cook; concussions, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s are just a few risks that athletes put themselves up against when choosing to play. Cook explains that until the culture of football changes all we can do as Americans is to stop pressuring injured players to get back into the game until they have been cleared. While both the filmmakers and the author understand how important football is, Cook only comments on the negative impact that it has on players; Lindsay and Martin have an optimistic view on how football positively impacts the players’ …show more content…

So, is success or health more important in life? Cook’s article shines light on many players who are not happy with the outcome of their life after football. This makes me realize that players are too involved in the success they achieve at such a young age, that they don’t stop and take a second to think about their future. Lindsay and Martin also show how players put the game before themselves, and love the positivity that they get out of putting their lives at risk. Players’ fifteen minutes of fame is more important than the life that awaits them once they can’t play anymore. Is money and wealth more important than an individual life? Lindsay, Martin and Cook bring these questions come to

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