PBS Frontline aired a devastating documentary, League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis, outlining an issue that could have the potential of halting the unprecedented growth in the NFL. The documentary details the science of head trauma that NFL players are incurring while playing the game and it's affect on the players long term health. In addition, the documentary documents the timeline to which the concussion was discovered and the NFL's position on the issue.
Mike Webster
The incident that started the discovery of the concussion controversy in the NFL was the death of Mike Webster. Mike Webster was a member Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s. He had earned a reputation as a hard hitting center that help win 4 Super Bowls during his playing days. His autopsy results sent of a chain reaction when it was found that his brain showed signs of a neurological condition called CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy).
The ramifications of this discovery are vast. The implications was that playing NFL football could have long term effects to the brain and ultimately the mental health of players. Mike Webster's results were just the start. There were a number of other former players such as Terry Long who was also a member of the Steelers that committed suicide by drinking anti-freeze. He too had CTE.
"If 10% of mothers in this country would begin to perceive football as a dangerous sport, that is the end of football"
As evidence was building on the linkage of head trauma to the occurrence of CTE, the documentary looked at how the NFL organized and emphatically denied any linking.
The NFL is an extremely popular and powerful sport. The NFL is a $8 billion dollar business that consistently produces the highest rated TV event on the planet, the Super Bowl. ESPN only pays $2 billion dollars a year for the right to broadcast NFL games.
The NFL denies any correlation with concussion while playing football and the long term effects of head trauma. In fact, the NFL sought to discredit the doctors and medical professionals that originally brought this issue to light.
Of those person was the story of Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian born neuropathologist that did the autopsy for Mike Webster and Terry Long. During a discussion with the NFL, Omalu recounts the reaction of a representative official that states to Omalu the importance of perception of the sport of football and if it is considered dangerous, than football would no longer exist. The NFL has questioned Omalu's research and work in this area.
"diving a car 35 mph into a break wall, 1000 to 1500 times a year"
The issue is not just about concussions. It would seem logical that players receiving multiple concussions could be at higher risk to suffer from long term disability associated with head trauma and brain injury. However, the research revealed that it isn't just the catastrophic blows that cause concussion that could be devastating and thus lead to CTE, but the constant head hits throughout football that has a cumulative affect on players.
Ann McKee, a brain research from Boston University, has been studying the brains of former football players. To this day she has studied the brains of 46 former player with 45 of them exhibiting signs of CTE. One of the most revealing finds was that of Owen Thomas, a 21 year old who committed suicide. Thomas has never been diagnosed with concussion before, yet even at 21 there were signs of CTE.
"No one under 14 should play tackle football"
The effects of head trauma appear to be cumulative which then opens the debate on how young is too young to play football. Not only are players exposed to football hits at the pro level, but also in their college, high school and also pop warner careers.
To combat the growing concern of head trauma for concussion and hits, the NFL is taking an active approach to changing how the game is played and also highlighting safety measures that the league is taking.
They have agreed to settle the longstanding litigation with former players to a record $765 million dollars to assist in the care of former players. The league has agreed to also fund more research into the study of head trauma in football.
However to this day the league has denied the linking of playing football to the long term effects on the brain. Even in its recent $765 million settlement with former players, the NFL has no admission of guilt on the issue.
FTSB says: Fantasy sports take a step back from the reality of sports and virtualizes that relationship to the game. It is true, that fantasy football owners do not care about how hard the hit is as it doesn't directly impact the statistics of the game. Injuries do though. However that does not mean that we do not care about the players that play the game. A health sport in turn produces health players and then a health industry for fantasy sports.
