Football and the Impacts on Health
In the freezing cold, the Josh Allen led Buffalo Bills were playing the Joe Burrow led Cincinnati Bengals in a week seventeen match up. Towards the end of the first quarter, Joe Burrow threw the ball to Tee Higgins on a beautiful route as a Bills defender named Damar Hamlin stepped up. Damar tried to tackle Tee but unfortunately, disaster would strike with a hit that would be heard around the world. As Hamlin made contact with Higgins to bring him down, his heart began to stop from the impact. After the hit, Damar stood up then proceeded to collapse to the ground without a pulse. All fans were in shock watching from their homes. The players begin to panic as their brother and teammate just crumbles in front of them and their thousands of fans. This “routine play” will forever be infamous in the world of football. This sport that is loved by the nation now has had its light dimmed because of the extreme and dangerous health impacts it has on the human body.
The human brain is the most important organ in the body, as it controls all motor functions as well as coordinates and controls actions and reactions. The brain has gotta be the most complex organ, it’s made up of many layers of soft tissue, and can be easily damaged by excessive contact to the head or neck area of the body. Football is one of those sports where contact to the head or neck area is inevitable. These small hits over time can generate what is called a concussion . Once a concussion happens in your brain, it will probably heal, but you’re more likely to have another concussion happen because of the hurting brain .
In September of 2024, the Miami Dolphins were playing the Buffalo Bills in a week two match up. Late into the third quarter with about 4:30 left to play, Tua Tagovailoa, quarterback for the Dolphins, dropped back to pass but proceeded to try and attempt to run with the ball. As he was tackled, he suffered a major concussion. This would be his third major concussion in the last twenty-four months. This play left many wondering if he should even ever play football again as a result of the amount of concussions can develop a larger and way more dangerous health disease called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, known and commonly referred to as CTE, is a disease caused by repeated impacts to the head or neck area . These hits to the head result in death and degeneration of nerve cells in the brain. This disease can only be diagnosed after death through the autopsy. In 2005, this disease was discovered by forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu. He reported this strange and rare occurrence after Mike Webster passed away. It was found during the autopsy of Webster after Dr. Omalu took pieces of his brain and put them under a microscope . After he looked at the pieces of Webster’s brain, he discovered dead nerve cells in the brain and it appeared as black spots while under the microscope. It had a similar appearance to something like Alzheimer’s, but that’s usually discovered in people sixty or older. Mike Webster was only around fifty years old when he died in 2002. With his age of death and the findings of Omalu had many questions that began to rise. After two years of Webster’s death, another Pittsburgh Steelers player passed away. Terry Long had a brain with a normal appearance on the outside, but Dr. Omalu had questions why this football player drank a gallon of antifreeze . When Long’s brain was put under the microscope, the same occurrence of dead nerve cells in the brain appeared similar to Mike Webster’s. The turning point that led to the discovery of Chronic Traumatic Entholpthy was the death of twenty one year old college football player Owen Thomas. He had the same dead nerve cells in his brain as Mike and Terry. Dr. Omalu came to the conclusion that it was the constant impacts to the head or neck area that was causing this to happen.
These findings created a shockwave of events to happen including the NFL moving to a new commissioner Roger Goddel. With Roger came more funding to push for player safety. He created the National Football League Player Association (NFLPA), which was set up for player safety and gave them an outlet for the players to be first. Football is America’s game, enjoyed by millions of people across the country, but these studies take away and shine a light on the problems created by the game. It created questions surrounding this “child’s game” which ask if it should even be played by a child if at all. The health risks for a large time might have outweighed the want or passion to play this game. Over the recent years, billions of dollars have been used to fund programs and rule changes regarding player safety to to help preserve the health of those playing. Football impacts the health of the players greatly as it has taken the lives of many and left others wondering if they will have the same fate themselves. As the game is being modernized and molded to player safety compared to its past versions, there will always be impacts football has on athletes health. The question is, are the risks of playing football in this new modernized game molded to the safety of its players worth it?
My health has diminished over the few years that I have attended Tallwood. The injuries have stacked up, keeping me in physical therapy which begs the question if I should have kept going? I dealt with torn ligaments throughout my ankle and knee as well as torn muscles in my back. Even a concussion has happened. Maybe sports ain’t for me. Maybe my body can’t handle the impact. Was it even worth the pain? This year, injury seemed like a theme for everyone on the Tallwood High School team. Every game we would start off great then one person would go down. Then another would go down. Eventually, the key players would be hurt leaving the team trying to pick up the slack but it would be too late. By the end of an injury riddled season, the THS team went 2-8 with at least 16-22 original starters with recurring pain.
