The Price Of Negligence In Football

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Michael French Anwar Jamison ENGL 1010 2 December 2013 The Price of Negligence When you hear the word concussions today I would venture to assume that quite a few things may float through your mind. You may think about someone being knocked unconscious and possibly losing their memory. Maybe you think about the tragic deaths of many sports stars who have been linked to having brain trauma caused by concussions. Chances are good, due to the uproar in recent years, that you will think about the NFL and the concern many have about the safety of its players. Those concerns have raised many questions which have still yet to be answered. Many former players, and families of former players who have since passed away, have placed the blame on…show more content…
I remember when Hall of Fame quarterbacks Steve Young and Troy Aikman both were forced into retirement after suffering several concussions. When I first heard about the reasons why they were retiring I didn’t get it. I had never considered concussions a big deal and wondered why this was forcing them out of the game. I had no idea just how serious concussions are. It is people like me, who had no idea just how serious a concussion could be, who are now wondering why the NFL hasn’t done a better job at educating its players and the families of its players on the potential dangers, risks and long term effects involved with suffering football related concussions. Reporting on the lingering effects of concussions, Jason Shoot says “severe concussions can leave victims struggling with nausea, blurred vision, emotional instability and a host of other debilitating symptoms weeks and months after the injury was suffered (Shoot). The question should then be asked, just how emotionally unstable can concussions cause people to become? If you listen to the families of a few former NFL stars, unstable enough to lead them to take their own…show more content…
Evidence, including a recent PBS documentary titled, “League of Denial”, does seem to support the claims that the league had for years hid their knowledge of knowing about the severity of concussions in their sport. “PBS investigated those truths, and through great journalism revealed just how bad the denial of the NFL was. For quite some time, the NFL was not willing to reveal any type of information that could hurt viewership, no matter how severe the scientific findings were” (Beers). It can’t be denied however that the NFL has recently taken drastic measures to protect the safety of its players. Promoting increased awareness of the dangers of concussions, donating money for research, as well as changing rules to protect players seem to be steps in the right

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