Term Paper (continued)

Write a 3-5 page essay (3 pages minimum) in which you synthesis and reflect on what you have learned in your field and through the thesis process thus far.

This is what I worked on today. 

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”).