The last major area of study I have been focusing on is legislation. This subfield has been by far the trickiest to learn about. Concussion laws enacted by each state are literally a few pages long (Mississippi’s bill, the most recent and the last state to pass legislation, is only three pages in length). My overall knowledge on this topic is not as expansive as it is in the subfields of equipment and regulations. The reasoning behind this is that I need to know more about how to make the players safer before I try to make amendments to bills that are supposed to ensure their safety. I also want to get my hands on the concussion pamphlet that is required to be given out to all athletes playing football in grade school. Surprisingly, I have not been able to find one online, so I will have to go down to a local school and ask for one. Legislation is sketchy. The way it is implemented is even more suspicious. This topic is by far the most arcane of the three I am studying, but it has the most potential to effectively save the lives of those who play the game of football.
There are many new, specific details I have learned throughout the three subtopics I have looked into. However, my mind is always set on the big picture and that photo has not changed. Dr. Bennett Omalu, the leading neuropathologist in the studies of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy), stated that he always felt as if the NFL was going against everything he said in order to maintain its pristine, civil look. I feel a similar way. Obviously not at the level Omalu felt, but similar in the sense that any glimpse of victory is marred with a pyrrhic feel. There is no cure for concussions. One argument against concussion protocols is that the players know what they are getting themselves into and that they love the game of football so much that they are willing to live with the ailments that will follow them for the rest of their lives. This argument parallels the one regarding how college athletes know what they are getting themselves into, thus needing no reason to compensate them for their work. The harsh reality is that these players have no idea what they are getting themselves into. If getting flagged for a hard hit is not worth one’s long term health, then there might just be a bigger issue with delusion in the NFL. Which makes sense when the company views its players more as objects than human beings - well, objects that are deteriorating within. But who cares? People watch what they enjoy, like Ray Rice’s beating of his wife in an elevator. What is amusing is the fact that what goes on inside an NFL player’s brain is far worse in magnitude – it just does not sell to an audience.
A large portion of my research has been focused primarily on the regulations of the game of football. Out of the three subtopics that I am exploring, rules and regulations of the game tends to be the most controversial and heated topic, which makes sense. Nowadays, a major hit near the head and neck area (emphasis on the word near) delivered by a defending player usually ends up in a 15 yard penalty for what is stated by officials as a “helmet to helmet hit”. However, it has been seen a plethora of times (specifically Rodney McLeod’s hit on Emmanuel Sanders and Brandon Browner’s hit on LaDarius Green) that the flag is thrown more as a cover up to satisfy the concussion activists. In both of those specific instances stated above, a flag was thrown when, according to the NFL’s rulebook, both tackles were legal because the defenders led with their shoulders and not with their helmets. Here is where everything gets complicated. In both instances, both Sanders and Green sustained a concussion. In both instances, the hits were unnecessary. However, both hits were indeed legal, and, in Browner’s case, the hit produced what could have been an interception returned for a touchdown. So the question arises: should some aspects of the game of football be sacrificed in order to prolong the health of the players? And to be honest, this is a question I myself cannot give a definite answer. When I saw the Browner hit live, I actually believed that Browner made a conscientious effort to avoid a helmet to helmet collision. While in mid-air, Browner shifted his head out of the way and led with a strong shoulder to the chest of Green. This impact force caused Green to fumble the ball, which was intercepted and returned for a Patriots touchdown, a crucial point in the game. However, the touchdown was overturned because of the penalty on Browner. Rarely do I ever say this, but I actually yelled at my TV: “Let them play.” I have been so adamant about using rugby tackling as a guide for tackling properly in the NFL. However, the inherent differences in the way the games are played is what leads to the difficulty in implementing these rules. No matter what, there needs to be a balance between playing the game of football aggressively and protecting the health of the athletes – a sentiment easier said than done.
To shift focus into more specific aspects of my thesis, I will begin with discussing about what I have learned about the equipment and technology involved in the sport. To the surprise of many, helmets do not actually do a great job at preventing concussions. Actually, helmet do not even do a satisfactory job. Well, to be completely honest, helmets may actually contribute more to concussions than they do to prevent concussions. Hines Ward, a two time Super Bowl champion, Super Bowl MVP, and greatest Pittsburgh Steeler receiver in history, believes that in order to prevent concussions, helmets should completely eliminated from the game (Smith, “Hines Ward: If You Want to Prevent Concussions, Take the Helmet off”). This same sentiment, of playing old-school football with just leather helmets, has been shared by many advocates, especially those in the medical field. When I brought this topic up with my father, a doctor, he said the exact same thing as Ward. Players believe that the helmets make them infallible and indestructible. This psychological belief actual leads players to go out there on the field and use their helmets as a weapon instead of as a safeguard for injuries. The NFL is not doing much to help this cause either. Instead of digging into what causes concussions, they just continually build up bigger and bigger helmets. Simple physics tells us that the more massive the object is the more force it will exert. And the fact that most football players are freaks of nature does not help in lessening the force at impact. The NFL’s dealing with the whole helmet situation is entirely erroneous. From my research, it is clear that the sentiment of returning to old-school leather helmets is more correct than it is wrong. MIPS, a Stockholm-based company, has been in the process of developing a fluid layer helmet that would protect against oblique impacts and help reduce the rate of concussions (Weiss, “Helmets Inspired by Brain Fluid to Offer Better Impact Protection”). In this case, bigger is not better. To make matters worse, the NFL has not looked into this new technology one bit. I understand feigning ignorance to these new, up and coming helmet competitors – at the end of the day the NFL is a business. However, when the NFL itself publishes a report saying how studies done on its helmets show that the helmets are not preventing concussions, some red flags should arise (“Study Shows Helmets in Use Not Made to Prevent Concussions”).
The sports world is lighting quick. It revolves around its own axis at a rate much faster than that of Earth itself. To expound, as I make progress in a particular field of study within my topic some new groundbreaking piece of information always tends to arise right when I am content with my analysis of that said sub-topic. When this occurs, I have to take into account the new information and analyze every little facet related to my thesis project. As I am writing this term paper, major news about Kosta Karageorge, a defensive lineman for the Ohio State Buckeyes (one of the best college football teams in the nation), has come out. In summary, Karageorge, 22, was found dead in a dumpster from what has been identified as a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Why would a football player from one of the best sports programs in the nation commit suicide? Without surprise, the answer may end up boiling down to the concussions he received throughout his football career. These type of stories are almost commonplace now. A football player commits suicide and, within a second, the topic of concussions becomes heavily discussed. As the story develops, concussions remain the focal point in all conversations about the incident. Then, like a flash before one’s eyes, it is over. People move on from the story and just wait for the next tragic event to occur. This cycle pains me. I am certain that within a month, maybe even two weeks, nobody is going to be talking about Karageorge. There will be no biography written about him. There will not be a suicide awareness outreach following this story like the one that followed Robin William’s death. Because at the end of the day, people will remain ignorant about the factor that concussions may have played in leading to Karageorge’s suicide. He will be looked as just another person who could not deal with his problems in life. Which is ironic, because the real issues lie within the mass neglect of a hidden epidemic that is not even trying to remain incognito.
