Football, Worth it or not?

This article is very interesting! I played football through my senior year of high school and most likely had undiagnosed concussions. While I think it is a problem, the NFL has aggressively combated it with rule changes and significant advancements in helmet technology.

Looking at the facts laid out, concussions are a serious issue. I agree, the NFL and other professional sport leagues have taken action to limit the ability of players to play with concussions, but this is a new medical diagnosis that we are seeing. For the first time concussions are being seen as serious and treated as such. Only time will tell what our reaction and regulation regarding them will be. It's especially relevant as football is one of the premier money making and entertainment institutions.

Wow! This is a great article with tons of relevant information from a variety of sources. This is an important issue that needs to be addressed in our society. Clearly our culture places a high emphasis on football. Being from the state of the green and gold, I am well aware of this.

I took a neuroscience course last semester and our professor talked about this issue in class. She noted that stricter legislations for football are in the process of being enforced, not only in the NFL, but also for high school and younger football teams as well.

I mentioned this to my roommate and found that he was somewhat displeased by the idea. He feels that although it would protect players, it could also reduce the "tough it out" mentality that we typically see in football. I think many people have the mindset that football has to be a "macho" sport, but if we cannot protect our players as well, then there is a serious problem. How terrible it is that we are willing to sacrifice their well-being for the sake of the sport's "image."

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for football, but I think that personal safety is much more important than any competition. We simply need to find ways to keep our players safe. Firstly, we need to update helmets and protective equipment and research more effective materials to protect players from injury. We also need to focus on efficiently diagnosing concussions and head trauma on the sidelines. Legislation should be made to ensure that injured players cannot be played until they are fully recovered. All players should undergo regular assessments for brain injuries (maybe once per month during the season), and players should be checked up on even years after their careers to ensure that their brains are still functioning properly. Perhaps new rules could be put in effect that would make personal contact on the field less dangerous. We also need to show our society that protecting players’ health is more important than the game of football itself. Maybe even a commercial or two showing the effects of brain injury on NFL players could be shown during games. I think if the NFL emphasized these precautions, the general public would emulate them, and it would trickle down to high school and junior high teams as well. Lastly, how ‘bout dem Packers?

Looking at all the facts regarding the serious injuries that can come from playing football makes me wonder whether it's really worth it. Many of the friends I grew up with played football for a large part of their lives, and a majority of them ended up with a concussion or two. I don’t think enough precautions are taken when it comes to these types of injuries. Although the NFL has begun to take action, I believe we need to focus more attention on educating high school teams and supplying equipment to combat these injuries.

This article really caught my eye because I played football in high school and this past year they were really taking concussions more seriously than ever. My best friend was the quarterback and he got blind-sided in one of our conference games. This caused him to have a concussion and it was a very scary moment for all of us. Because of that one concussion our conference had rules set-up that he was not allowed to play the remaining final three games of the season because of scare of further complications. I'm glad someone blogged about this because it is pretty serious and scary, and the points you make are great.

This article really caught my eye because I played football in high school and this past year they were really taking concussions more seriously than ever. My best friend was the quarterback and he got blind-sided in one of our conference games. This caused him to have a concussion and it was a very scary moment for all of us. Because of that one concussion our conference had rules set-up that he was not allowed to play the remaining final three games of the season because of scare of further complications. I'm glad someone blogged about this because it is pretty serious and scary, and the points you make are great.

This is a very interesting blog that you wrote. I also played football growing up, I know I had concussions during some of my games but I also chose to keep playing in some of them and not tell the trainers or coaches. One of my good friends got so many concussions that he was forced to stop playing. I really liked how relatable your blog was for me. great work

Nice blog! Other sports have problems with concussions too. People who play sports should know the dangers, and then decide to play or not. It would then be their decision, and they could not blame others for their decision to play and then recieving a concussion. People should know their limitations and learn about concussions before playing. If you want to play dangerous sports, maybe everyone should go to a class on the dangers of concussions. More regulations should be made, and the extent of those regulations should be made by professionals.

You bring up a very good point. Indeed, football injuries have been a big turning point in many people's lives. One of my good friends from high school has been playing football and hockey since he was really young. By senior year, he had a total of 5 concussions and had to sit out of many of his games. These concussions occurred from both football and hockey, which brings up my perspective that its not just football that causes these injuries. If you took football out of the picture, I think there would be a huge ordeal about other unsafe sports that can lead to these lifelong consequences.

This is a very interesting topic Sports injuries are becoming extrememly severe these days and I believe that more precautions need to be taken in order to prevent such detrimental injuries from occuring as often as they do. It seems silly to me to risk such serious brain injuries for a sport even though for many people it seems to be a lifestyle. You made some very good points and I agree with the fact that society needs to question this very carefully.

Unfortunately, given the fact that we seem to enjoy this sport and that the Super Bowl is one of the most viewed television events out there, I find it hard to believe regardless of how many concussions and suicides may occur that we will shy away from the problems that lie in front of us. I'm a football fan myself, but I'm appalled after reading this, it really comes down to if we as Americans want to enjoy a few hours of watching football 4-5 months a year rather than potentially saving many peoples lives or memory.