I stumbled upon this article for Salon.com and by Steve Almond regarding the professional (and extremely popular) sport of football:
The article follows some inflammatory statements ex-Quarterback Danny Kanell made in response to an editorial published in the New York Times by Dr. Bennett Omalu, a forensic pathologist who first identified chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in many ex-football players:
The war on football is real. Not sure source but concussion alarmists are loving it. Liberal media loves it. Doesn’t matter. It’s real.
“Concussion alarmists”.
It’s an interesting choice of words and echoes the same (to me) ridiculous arguments against the validity of climate change.
Look, I’ll be the first to admit it: I really like watching football. I wish my team (the lackluster Miami Dolphins) were in contention.
Having said that, Mr. Omalu’s studies (which are the subject of the upcoming Will Smith movie Concussion), I believe, point out something that by now should be obvious to anyone: Football is an extremely violent sport that breaks down its participants’ brains and bodies and, in many cases, leaves them with a future of pain…and worse.
How could it not?
Running back Reggie Bush stated playing through a single professional football game was akin to experiencing several car crashes and the body (and mind) needed time to recover.
This point was driven home to me when a little over a year ago, while driving with my wife, younger daughter, and her friend, we slowed and stopped at a red light and the person behind us, going no faster than 15-20 miles an hour, didn’t realize we stopped and rear ended us.
The damage to our car was minimal (we needed to replace our car’s rear bumper). The car that rear-ended us, however, had its front end crumpled and blew out its radiator. Given the age of the car (it was an older model Civic, if memory serves), it was probably a total loss. The couple that rear-ended us were fine. My wife and I, as well as my daughter’s friend, were also fine.
My daughter, however, happened to be sitting with her back against her seat and looking to her right, at her friend, when the car hit us. Because of this, she experienced whiplash and, in the days and weeks that followed, some at times very intense headaches. We sent her to a doctor and then to physical therapy to help her. Fortunately, after a while -and through the therapies, which were very effective- her symptoms faded and she recovered completely.
In light of that, think about the hits that professional football players receive in the course of a full game. Not just one “hit” like what my daughter experienced, but potentially several dozen during the course of a game.
Remember, we’re talking players who are in peak physical shape running at full speed -and colliding!- with each other. We’re talking about hits that make the relatively minor car accident my daughter experienced look like a walk in the park.
How does the human body cope with all that trauma, only to experience it again the very next week?
For that matter, think about the hits football playing high schoolers and college students receive as well. At least the professional player is being paid for their participation in the game. High Schoolers and University players? Not so much. And very, very few of them reach the pro’s and receive a paycheck.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love watching football but I think the sport will not survive in its present form for very long.
I believe that, contrary to Mr. Kanell’s pronouncements, the medical data will eventually prove overwhelming and, as popular as the game of football is, who will want to send their kids to participate in something that slowly but surely kills you?