Concussions In The Movie Essay

Malcolm Gladwell’s “Moral Hazard Myth” is more effective on explaining its faulty system rather than Michael Sokolove ’s “Football Is A Sucker’s Game.” Gladwell provided a more in-depth explanation while staying on topic and was naturally more appealing to the general public.

The national football league has stiffened its policy on legal hits. The hit zone has shrunk, while player frustrations have grown. The policy is enacted in an effort to reduce the number of concussions in the game of football. The enforcement of these rules has strayed away from being all about safety. The policy on hits has created a divide among its players and fans alike. The policy of hits being enforced so strictly has had a significant impact on the sport. The sociology of the NFL and the rule itself drive this argument. By stepping on the field as an NFL football player, it is accepted that it is very dangerous. The players make enough money to make the concussions worth it. Profiting from the fine money for these hits has caused the NFL to be enforcing these rules unethically, the rules and the impact they have had on the sport have been detrimental to football.

In Steve Almond’s essay, “You Knock My Brains Out This Sunday and I Knock Your Brains Out the Next Time We Meet,” he starts off by describing a haunting memory from his childhood. He explains how when he watched Jack Tatum collide with Darryl Stingley, he enjoyed the thrill of the violence, yet felt ashamed about the way he felt because Stingley was now a quadriplegic. He goes on to explain why he felt that way, and also why he still kept watching the game, He talks about his childhood and about how his family seemed perfect on the outside, however behind closed doors they were a troubled family with little boys running around with forks and knives and stabbing each other. He goes on to talk about aggression and how soothing it was. He then moves on to talk about the life expectancy of football players and how they live shorter lives, and that Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is common among football players. Almond focuses on how football players suffer long-term brain damage due to the sport. He gives an example of former players saying how they have memory loss and how they see stars frequently. Almond addresses the issue of how the NFL tried to hide the actual facts about what was really going on, and manipulate the players as well. And that even when the truth came out people put

Multiple deaths from a degenerative brain disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, is what the true culprit of the NFL is. This disease is caused from repetitive blunt force trauma to the head, leading those who are effected to struggle later in life and even turn to suicide. People are writing about these safety concerns in football nowadays because of the multitude of deaths related to this disease and the way the NFL choses to deal with it. The NFL disregarding its players is a subject at hand currently because people continue to suffer from CTE without even confirming they have it before they have already deteriorated. “Football Has Become Too Real to Watch” by television writer, Eric Buchman, describes these realities of the NFL and how it went from being a safe haven to a place where the NFL pretends to be oblivious to the realities of the game. Buchman’s argument is that the joy of football is gone due to the reality of current issues within the NFL. The NFL getting away with awful things is what Buchman wants the reader to take away from this article. His contribution to this debate is that he offers a perspective of the fans for why this issue is important without any biases towards the NFL.

The spectator of this sport has an obligation to the players of the sport, to make sure that the organization is protecting and looking out for them. Yet not only should the viewer be held accountable for the lack of communication in consequences between the player and the pro scene, but the organization of the NFL needs to make sure that their players have a full understanding of what is going on and how they need to protect the players. The current situation that is understood, contents contain implied knowledge that all parties of this table are in uniform knowledge and agreement to what comes of playing football. Finally, this should also happen at the youth level when kids are just getting into the sport, as it would better inform the parents and the kid if they understood the full

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

The NFL’s response to the CTE findings was that they denied there was a problem with CTE in their players and that the media made a big fuss over nothing. The NFL decided to choose a doctor to lead the committee on concussion research. This action was poorly executed due to the fact that they decided to hire NFL doctors that had no experience with brains. Their research came to the conclusion that football was not

Many memories are made in football, but sadly some of the greatest players cannot recall them. The National Football League has been associated with concussions and brain traumas throughout the years, but lately it has been exposed by media and NFL veterans. The league recently “reached a $765 million preliminary settlement with thousands of former players who were suing the league over its treatment of concussions…” (Waldron). Many former players are experiencing the effects of taking hard hits over and over again; they were not properly treated, which makes the injury worse and long term. The concussion issue in the NFL is more prevalent today, because it affects not only the players, but the league as a whole.

Player safety has been an issue for the National Football League since the start of the league, but has taken on a greater importance in recent years. Now, when a player is injured after a play, he must sit out for at least one play to allow the team’s trainer to assess his injury and make sure he is fit to return to play. Many say the NFL is very invested in player safety, and the protocols recently introduced have drastically changed the way athletes are assessed and eventually released to return to the field. These changes were necessary in order to protect players from serious injury and long-term health issues. There are many possible reasons the NFL has increased its emphasis on player safety, including, many people are disturbed by the violence of the game, fewer kids are playing football at the youth and high school levels, league sponsors are worried about bad publicity, and there are lawsuits against the NFL dealing with the long-term effects of brain damage. These reasons make many ponder, “Does the NFL really care about player safety, or are they just saving themselves from bad public relations, and the detrimental economic effects that may result from them?”

In the movie concussion starring Will Smith, who played Dr. Bennet Omalu, they wouldn’t let him speak at conferences about his findings. The NFL threatened him to stop or they’d hurt him and his wife who was pregnant with their son. Early in the 2000’s they had a highlight reel on Sportscenter of people getting knocked out from huge hits. After the concussion news came out they got rid of it to get rid of evidence. The NFL also had players with brain damage hide it and tell the people nothing was wrong. Teams also took star players and gave them smelling salts and put them back in the game with concussions so they couldn’t leave the game. If the players stayed in the game, it wouldn’t look bad to outsiders. This author concludes that the NFL went out of their way to hide this from the

Statistics show NFL players are paid $1.9 million a year on average. An injury as severe and time-consuming as a concussion can undoubtedly counteract this kind of pay. Professional athletes do not want to jeopardize sitting out a game and missing their opportunity, “‘[t]he return to play decision is based on symptoms, and the problem is the players all want to get back yesterday and the question is whether they are being truthful and honest’ during their evaluations, Stieg said” (Futterman). There is nothing doctors or trainers can do if the athlete lies about being symptom free. They can suspect the severity of the concussion by just observing the athlete’s behavioral response toward certain things, like light or noise.

Here is why. In 2015, the NFL diagnosed 271 players that had concussions. There has continued to be an increase in the number of concussed players over the past several years. With the continual increase in concussions over the years,it is a reasonable question to ask whether the NFL is doing enough to protect their players or not. I am going to start this issue by discussing a movie I am sure you have heard of. Concussion. A Forensic pathologist named Dr. Bennet Omalu was the first doctor to discover chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in the brain of former Pittsburgh Steelers' center Mike Webster, who was 50, when he committed suicide. Dr. Omalu made the bold statement that football is the reason that Webster had mental issues, and ultimately the reason for his death. There continued to be a trend of NFL players passing at a young age due to mental health issues, and Omalu was certain that all of it was because of football. He examined the brains of these players and found correlations in their brains that suggests that the repeated blows to the head they received during their career caused severe damage. As you can imagine this discovery was a huge threat to the NFL as people and players saw this evidence and couldn't help but be scared about the outcome football has on an individual. The NFL basically just tried to cover up clear facts stated by Omalu, but eventually it became to evident to ignore. This movie made a large issue in the NFL apparent to many people and creating a film to do so was a very effective platform for displaying it. To make a long story short, since this discovery in 2002, there has been a drastic change in player safety rules, concussion protocol and guidelines, and strictness of teams to follow such protocol and guidelines. In

Was, and is , the NFL in some sort of denial of the fact that football and concussions are linked. I do believe the NFL is scared. You might ask, “Why would a multi-billion dollar organization be scared of some new test results?”, I’ll tell you, it is not because the NFL is scared of these people who are suing them right now, they are scared of the parents of the next NFLers. Bennet Omalu, discoverer of CTE said this “If 10% of mothers in this country would begin perceive football as a dangerous sport, that is the end of football.”. That is why the NFL has hidden facts and proof of how dangerous the sport is, for years possibly decades. So, is it really unfair for an ex-NFLer who has been cheated, lied to and

The School Board should not offer middle school tackle football. There is a high risk of injuries including concussions, primarily in middle school children. These injuries can have long lasting effects, especially if repeated. Therefore, offering tackle football in middle schools poses a huge risk for middle schoolers, although there are few benefits, would do more harm than good.

Though this NFL conduct is in the light, it is unnecessary because the U.S. criminal justice system has the ability to end the professional sports careers of society’s worst criminals. Everyone asked themselves how could such a successful, talented person throw their opportunity away like this? Crimes from the past always catch up and come to light in the justice system. The NFL from now on is trying to prevent incidents like this from happening from making their off field standards stronger, and making consequences stronger that come with