Long Term Damage

Last post was an introduction to my blog that gave a feel to the things I'll be looking into with the NFL and such.  This post is going to focus more on the long-term effects and serious damage football does to a players body.  Concussions are becoming quite a serious problem in the NFL.  Over this past season, there has been a noticeable change in the amount of players being diagnosed with concussions than in recent seasons.  Players that suffer a concussion have to go through a variety of different neurological tests that have to be passed if they want to play in the next game.  Some notable players that suffered concussions this year are Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers, who suffered two concussions this season and is rumored to may have had another on in the NFC Championship game versus the Bears http://bleacherreport.com/articles/591601-super-bowl-2011-aaron-rodgers-ben-roethlisberger-and-latest-news-from-dallas/entry/45990-green-bay-packers-aaron-rodgers-denies-reports-of-another-head-injury, and also Brett Favre whose season and career ended because of a concussion he had near the end of the season.   It is quite evident that the NFL is definitely starting to take a much larger interest in this whole concussion thing.

A man named Bennet Omalu is someone particularly interested in this matter plus much more.  He is a doctor and researcher predominantly interested in post-concussion syndrome (PCS) cases where retired football players struggle with this syndrome everyday.  One player Omalu looked at was Steelers play Mike Webster.  Webster suffered intensely from PCS after his days playing as a center for Pittsburgh.  He had days where he forgot where he was or what he was doing.  He sometimes couldn't even remember the house he lived in.  Omalu took the information he gathered from Webster's brain and two other former players brains where he found connections between the concussions they had and brain damage received from those concussions. Omalu has researched quite a few brains and is continuing to gather up information so that he can try to persuade the NFL to look into this issue more intently.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/dolphins/doctors-study-of-brains-of-nfl-players-shows-909087.html

There is still much the league and doctors and such need to learn to help this issue of hard hits and their damage.  People like Omalu are doing a great job by researching and trying to find ways to help players out.  Hopefully the NFL will listen and contribute so that we can continue to watch the game of football.

The "Hard Hit"

If anyone watches the NFL, then they know what a year it has been considering all the fines and such being implemented due to the NFL's top dogs sudden and needed interest in the players safety.  This year, there seemed to be a lot of attention drawn to tackles that seemed too harsh and too damaging to the leagues players.  ESPN showed a number of tackles made against opposing players that looked "unfair" or that appeared to be too dangerous to player safety.  I can remember watching these highlight reels on ESPN thinking that some of these hits have gotten out of control.  The amount of information and research going on now that shows the affects these gruesome hits have had on players is overwhelming.  This new knowledge is showing players and anyone interested that these hits that cause players to have concussions can have implications to the players mind and body for the rest of their lives.

The NFL administration is implementing fines and penalties into the game so that players that give these hits will be cautioned to not do them as much.  I mean some of these tackles look ridiculously painful.  I distinctly remember the tackle Steelers Linebacker James Harrison put on Joshua Cribbs of the Cleveland Browns in week 6 of this season.  Harrison knocked Cribbs out cold.  This was not the first time Harrison was fined.  He was fined earlier in the season for a hit he put on another Browns player, Mohamed Massaquoi.  James Harrison was fined for these hits and investigated for a few other hits he did through out the season.


The league is doing what it can to fix this problem.  Now I know, these hits are a part of the game and are sometimes generally fun to see.  But you have to look at this from the players stand point.  These are people, and their safety needs to be taken into account as much as any other person even though their profession calls for them to beat the crap out of each other every Sunday.  I'm not saying that hard hits should be taken out of the game completely, but something needs to be done to make sure that we can still watch football and so that these players can live out their lives once they are done with the game of football and move on with their lives.  The NFL is doing a good job so far with the issue.  I can't wait to see what they do next.