Term Paper

Today I received the assignment that will be my fall final exam, a term paper.

Some very relevant words by Mr. Correa himself:

"At this point, is ought to be more of struggle to stay within the length requirements (no more than five pages), rather than a struggle to meet them (no less than 3 pages)."

With so much to talk about, keeping my paper within the length requirements will be difficult but manageable.

I spent the entire class working on my term paper. Here is a snippet of what I have so far:

Sports is an umbrella term for the wide variety of games that encompass what we know as a physical activity, a sport. Originally, I titled my thesis project as “Concussions and Sports: A Hidden Epidemic.” However, after undergoing closer inspection, I came to the conclusion that the word “sports” is much too broad. I want to clarify that I am focusing on football, only football, and the equipment/technology, regulations, and legislation concerning it. Thus, a feeling of neglect comes about from focusing on only one particular sport. Concussions do not just occur in football, I am very aware of this. In fact, according to the Center for Injury Research and Policy, more high school soccer players had concussions in 2010 than basketball, baseball, wrestling, and softball players combined (Chemi, “Soccer Concussions Are More Frequent Than You Think”). But what sport had even more concussions than soccer? Football. Once established guidelines are challenged in the biggest sport, in terms of the concussion rate and general popularity in America, than will widespread reforms come about in all sports.

I would have liked to discuss about more development in the NFL concussions settlement story that is going on right now, but I decided to focus on the term paper. So, just keep an eye out for what might occur in the next couple of weeks, if anything. This could end up being a monumental moment in the history for concussion safety advocacy. Just keep this quote in the back of your head:

"The NFL showed 765 million reasons why you shouldn't play football." - Harry Carson on the NFL's $765 million dollar settlement on concussions in the NFL.

Nov. 21

Here is the response I formulated to this question Mr. Correa posed to me:

"Isn't there a higher instance of concussions in soccer? I think it would be interesting to find information (about misinformation) about football and its connection to brain injury.

The Lebron thing is media hype, unfortunately. But you are correct in your analysis."

There is a very high instance of concussions in soccer, but it is still second to that of football. 

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-07/soccer-concussions-are-more-frequent-than-you-think

Here is actually a link that talks about how concussions in soccer are more common than people think, yet it is still not at the level of football.

Also, Hilderaldo Bellini, former Brazil Captain and World Cup Champion, who recently passed away was the first professional soccer player to have CTE. So, what I found interesting is the fact that the concussion rate in soccer is relatively high, yet only one player has shown signs of CTE (and this is still somewhat disputed, some sources are saying his death was caused by Alzheimer's disease which culminated in a cardiac arrest, I think someone out there that was reporting the story when it came out was just trying to create speculation). The way concussions in soccer are managed is much better than the way they are tackled in the NFL, but that may just be due to the nature of the game. Football players tend to neglect their health more and try to play the following week, which can be extremely difficult if a team has a Thursday night game. At least on the professional level, soccer teams tend to have an agglomerate of highly paid, well trained players. In football, we can have teams like the Raiders or the Jaguars which are primarily built on young players and rookies who haven't played at a high level. So there is less stress on soccer players to play the following week, while if someone like a Dez Bryant or Josh Gordon is to miss a week there goes the entire team's passing attack.

Also, as you probably know, Derrick Rose is now taking flak for the comments he made about his long term health. I'll talk more about this in a future blog.

I'm putting this on my blog because the question was very insightful, which forced me to respond (and since I tend to keep going on and on my response ended up being basically another blog post).

To expand on the Derrick Rose story, this is what he said that caused people to label him as "soft";

"I think a lot of people don't understand that when I sit out it's not because of this year. I'm thinking about long term. I'm thinking about after I'm done with basketball." 

His teammate, Joakim Noah, came to his defense:

"We're a group that's gone through a lot," Noah said. "Just looking at [the situation] as a teammate is just frustrating because I feel like sometimes he's portrayed as something that he's not. You don't come back from the injuries that he's coming back from without an unbelievable commitment ... just watching the league and the power that [the media] have. Sometimes you guys can really portray somebody as something he's not, and to me that's a little disappointing just because I know how much he cares about this game."

So how are the Bulls doing this year? Oh, they are just 8-4 and 3rd in the Eastern Conference. People forget that team sports has the word TEAM right in front of the word sports. Rose's absence can almost be seen as a good thing, for Jimmy Butler has developed into an elite player putting up 21.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 3.6 apg, and 1.5 stlpg while shooting 52% from the field, an incredible leap from career averages. Media portrayal can be awful, but at least awareness of athlete's health is at an all time high. But there comes a point where awareness isn't enough to change established guidelines. And that time is now.

Nov. 19

https://www.nchsaa.org/sites/default/files/attachments/nfhs-concussion-mgmt.pdf

Here is the link to the pamphlet I was talking about.

I was mistaken. This is actually not a pamphlet that is given out to the players. This is one created by the NFHS, the National Federation of High School Associations. I looked up some information about the NFHS and it is the body that writes the rules of competition for most high school sports and activities in the United States. So, I actually do not know to whom this pamphlet is given out to. Maybe it's just something that is just on its website.

Something I found interesting in the brochure:

"For non-medical personnel, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) has also developed a tool kit (“Heads Up:
Concussion in High School Sports"), which has been made available
to all high schools, and has information for coaches, athletes and
parents. The NFHS is proud to be a co-sponsor of this initiative."

"Which has been made available to all high schools." Really? ALL high schools? What does being "made available" even mean? If putting this up on the CDC's website (actually "putting up" is a nicer way to describe it, if you don't know I actually linked the "Head Up: Concussion in High School Sports" pamphlet in another blog. The link to get to that was hidden) constitutes as being "made available to all high schools" than the Oakland Raiders may also be the best team in the NFL.

Other than that I am actually fairly pleased with what I saw. The brochure covers some of the major points about concussions and is very simple to understand. It's just the implementation of the pamphlet that is bothering me. I really doubt that the majority of schools have ever seen it before. What I do really like though is the words they use on what would be the first page if the brochure was folded up.

"EVEN SEEMINGLY MINOR CONCUSSIONS
CAN HAVE DEVASTATING RESULTS"

This is something that needs to be known to the general public. The majority of people don't know that what may seem like "getting your bell rung" can end up having a huge impact on the rest of your life. Here is my biggest problem with football. There are 53 players on each team's active roster. There are 32 teams in the NFL. We take 53 and we multiply it by 32. We get 53 x 32 = 1696. That's the amount of players in the NFL. Only 1,696 people. How many people play football at the elementary, junior high, high, and college level? Millions. We have millions of people playing this game and getting injured to a point where the rest of their lives will never be the same. I know that TIME magazine posed the question "Is Football worth it?". To me, at this very moment, it isn't. I honestly would not let my son play the game as it is right now. Neither would the President of our country. People need to be informed. Because once informed, there will be an immense amount of pressure to change the way the game is played, which, in turn, will make it safer and less violent. Because, as of this instant, the NFL isn't marketing the game of football, they are marketing violence itself.

Nov. 17

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/emmanuel-sanders-taken-out-with-violent-hit--but-was-it-illegal--195130313.html


As you can see from the URL, today I'll be discussing what happened to Emmanuel Sanders in yesterday's game against the Rams.

Sanders runs a typical fade route when the ball is thrown his direction. As he stretches out to attempt the grab, he gets ransacked by Rams safety Rodney McLeod. Immediately, a flag was thrown and the penalty was on McLeod, a 15 yard penalty for unnecessary roughness, a helmet to helmet hit on a defenseless receiver. However, after review (the penalty was not overturned or anything) it was clear the McLeod lead with his shoulder and delivered, under NFL rules, a "legal" hit.

Remember my blog post a while back about spear tackling. Well, I said that even if a player does not lead with the helmet spear tackling should be illegal anyway because it is extremely dangerous (hint hint NFL maybe that's why rugby and other sports have banned it). I believe the same should be done with hits on defenseless receivers even if the helmets never collide. McLeod could have easily just got in the way of the pass and even possibly intercepted it, but instead he decides to apply a tremendous amount of force to a player who can do nothing about it. You tell me how that's fair, because it isn't.


I also looked into Mississippi's youth concussion law bill (link here for reference).

My general reaction: shocking and worrisome.

This bill is literally 3 pages long. One of my college essays is of the same length. Actual scratch that, the font used and spacing in the bill probably makes it the same length of a supplement in Common App. This is honestly appalling. This was my biggest concern: that legislation is weak and, most likely, ineffective.

I do not think I linked this in one of my recent blog posts, but I found (but at the moment can't find the link) an actual pamphlet that schools give to football players and their parents about concussions. I'm also thinking about going to Highland Park High School and just asking if I could have the one they give out. This is because they are under a different school district and it would be interesting to see what they put on their pamphlets. While I'm at it, I might also go down to the middle school and see if I can retrieve their concussions pamphlet as well, that way I can compare the too.

I will also check out this Saturday Night Live skit that Adrian told me about that parodies the new rule changes in tackling in football.

Nov. 13

Huge news in the world of sports. Mainly because it deals with the Tim Tebow of basketball, LeBron James.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11866239/lebron-james-says-kids-allowed-play-football
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/lebron-football-house/story?id=26872603
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/nov/13/lebron-james-not-let-sons-play-football-safety-fears

Let's just say that there is way too many articles on such a brief statement. What did "The King" say?

"No football in my house."

Interesting, yes. Surprising, yes. A big deal? Absolutely not.

When asked whether the reason for his decision was the health dangers related to football, James replied, "Yes."

People have begun to berate LeBron for his comments.
Some comments I found amusing:
"So basically no real sports in his house?"

"Makes sense since you can't flop in football."

"Pussy Bitch"

Standing at 6'8 and 250 lbs, LeBron is anything but that last comment. LeBron has even stated that his first love was the game of football, but he stopped playing because of a broken wrist he suffered as a junior in high school. I'm not going to sugarcoat anything (that's the NFL's job), but those comments pissed me off. How does not letting your children play football make you any less of a man? If anything, it makes you a sound parent that cares for the safety of your children. Don't get me wrong, letting your child play football isn't bad parenting. But the way we as a society label people who don't play football because of the fear of injuries is just repulsive.

I've said this before and I'm going to say it again. The biggest problem with all that I'm doing in my thesis is the preconceived notions people already have in their minds. Whether it be, "Football is a man's game", "Getting hit is part of the game", or "Walk it off", all these ideas that football is not for the "weak" are just annoying and erroneous. Berating one of the greatest athletes to walk this planet because he believes that his children shouldn't play football is just plain stupid.

I'm going to reiterate this because I think it needs to be said. Injuries in football are just different from those in most sports. Yes, you can tear an ACL playing almost any sport. However, you cannot develop CTE from most sports. Injuries to the head and brain cannot be seen physically in the same way as a broken arm or sprained ankle. Yet, these head injuries tend to be some of the worst that can possibly be sustained. LeBron is just looking out for the long term health of his children. And if you think that he is just being a "pussy bitch", then you need a shot of reality. Maybe even two.

Nov. 11

Some more news on the Jahleel Addae accident that occurred 2 weeks ago:
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer/jason-la-canfora/24792216/focus-turning-to-pressbox-spotter-in-jahleel-addaes-concussion-probe
Someone is going to get fired over how the Chargers handled the situation, which is good news because there should be no toleration to this behavior.

I was watching the Cowboys v. Jaguars game this weekend and one play in particularly got me extremely agitated. Towards the end of the 3rd quarter, game pretty much in the books, Bortles throws a short pass to WR Allen Hurns in coverage. Hurns catches the ball and is in the process of being immediately tackled when, out of nowhere, Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens delivers an unnecessary blow to the head. Hurns immediately fell to the ground and stayed there for a solid 2 minutes. Hitchens was later flagged for a 15 yard penalty. Reason? "Blow to the head." Am I happy he was flagged for 15 yards and that the referee gave a no BS description of why? Yes, extremely. Should it have even happened in the first place?  Absolutely not. The blow was extremely unnecessary, Hurns was already going down to the ground!

Some important notes from the CDC's overview of concussions in sports:
• Athletes who have had a concussion, at 
 any point in their lives, have a greater 
 chance of getting another concussion.
- this is why a big deal is made about repetitive head trauma. This is also why players who are easily concussed (Ryan Grant, Wes Welker, etc.) have to contemplate retirement because the chance for another concussion just gets higher and higher.
• Young children and teens are more 
 likely to get a concussion and can take 
 longer to recover than adults.
- yet the biggest focus is on the most athletic, healthiest, adults in the world? Not enough is being done to protect the children from the risks of concussions in sports.

Interesting thing I found in TX's Concussion Law:
A student shall be removed from an
interscholastic athletics practice or competition immediately if
one of the following persons believes the student might have
sustained a concussion during the practice or competition:
(1)coach;
(2)physician;
(3)licensed health care professional; or
(4)student’s parent or guardian or another person
with legal authority to make medical decisions for the student.

How often does #4 occur? I believe that the majority of the parents are not educated enough to make a medical decision related to concussions. And I also think parents think that pulling their child out of the game is "weak" and would "embarrass" him/her in front of his/her friends.

Nov. 6, 2014

http://www.cdc.gov/concussion/pdf/HeadsUpOnConcussionInSportsPolicies-a.pdf
General overview by the CDC on Concussions in Sports

http://www.cdc.gov/concussion/pdf/RTP_Implementation-a.pdf
General overview by the CDC on Implementing Return to Play

https://vine.co/v/OhJlmMLZqmq
Video of Jahleel Addae's brain short circuiting on live TV. He later returned to the same game.

I like to keep bouncing around between the three main aspects of prevention that I'm trying to find out about. So today I've been looking into the legislation aspect of concussions. Two states that I want to look in depth at are Texas (because it is where I currently reside) and Mississippi (because it was the very last state to implement a concussion law).

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2011-08-18/news/student-athletes-suffer-the-stings-of-concussions-while-lawmakers-fail-to-help/
This is an article from 2011 about Natasha Helmick, a talented soccer star who suffered multiple concussions throughout her career forcing her to give up the sport for good. At the time of the article, Texas had not implemented any concussions laws. However, thanks to her activism, the law was conjured up and passed and was named under her for her support towards the necessity of the bill.

http://theconcussionblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/tx-bill1.pdf
Here is the actual bill that passed for Texas

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/football-high/attention-players-parents-coaches/#damap
Frontline PBS page on Head Injuries and Legislation guidelines for every state

http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2014/pdf/HB/0001-0099/HB0048SG.pdf
Mississippi's recent bill

https://www.nchsaa.org/sites/default/files/attachments/nfhs-concussion-mgmt.pdf
Example of  a concussion brochure given out to high schools

Next class I will look more in depth in all my sources from my past couple of blog posts that why I can explain in detail the importance of each piece of information.

Nov. 4, 2014

I'm now shifting my focus on finding out more about the rules and regulation in football. Also, I have decided that I needed to change the title of my thesis. No longer is it Concussions and Sports: A Hidden Epidemic. It is, and should have been, Concussions and Football: A Hidden Epidemic.

Right now I'm looking into spear tackling. Spear tackling is illegal in all sports in which tackling is a part of the game - except in the NFL. A spear tackle is a tackle in which the tackler runs full speed without any tackling technique in mind, ramming the shoulder into the chest of the opposing player. The NFL did make it illegal to spear tackle helmet-first. Which is funny because that should never have even come up in the conversation. The helmet should be used to protect the head, not as a weapon.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/spear-tackle/
Here's a video featuring former Chargers CB Quentin Jammer to showcase the dangers of spear tackling.

I believe in the total decimation of this rule. Spear tackling should be completely eliminated from the game, with a bigger emphasis on "Seahawk" tackling. In rugby, a perfect tackle is one that is technically perfect, one that uses safe, effective, tactful techniques. In the NFL, it seems as if the "perfect tackle" is one that knocks the wind out of the opponent.

Next class hopefully I can find the 60 minutes on "A Blow to the Brain"

http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/dave-duerson-the-ferocious-life-and-tragic-death-of-a-super-bowl-star-20121002?page=2
Putting this link here so I can read the article on Dave Duerson.