Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner, has been under a lot of scrutiny for the past couple years for his attempts to change the rules to decrease and pretty much get rid of violent hits to the head and neck to protect the players. These rules are under scrutiny because there are many people that are saying these rules are making the game of football a “soft game” and ruining it in a sense. Football has been a game that since its beginnings has always praised and celebrated toughness and violent hits. Now these rules are making it frowned upon. These rule changes drastically started popping up before the 2010 season.
There are a couple big events that have pulled concussions to the forefront of concern in football. One of the biggest ones is the Concussion lawsuit that was brought against the NFL by4,500 members of former players families and even former players themselves. The lawsuit was just settled last Thursday that will cost the NFL $765 million. Much of that money is going to players and families to compensate for all the medical treatments. Also some of it will be going to baseline testing for retired players, and $10 million will fund research and education for concussions.
Another big event that has been occurring over roughly the past 10 years has been many ex NFL players such as Dave Duerson, a former Chicago Bear, who shot himself in the chest after struggling from “chronic headaches, blurred vision and memory loss. ” Before he died, he left messages to his family requesting that his brain be donated to a lab where it would be studied. He was only 50 years old. There are many like this including Andre Waters, 44, and Shane Dronett, 38, who both also committed suicide in the past six years.
The Essay on Problems Amongst Families Big Daddy
Problems Amongst Families Dysfunction and volatility is common amongst families. These families dislike their kin and often resent them. In the play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, by Tennessee Williams, the Politt family does not function as a normal family. Brick, Maggie, and Big Daddy are three members of the family that have the most problems that affect the whole family. Brick, Maggie's alcoholic ...
All 3 men were diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which you get in part from multiple hits to the head. The NFL players are not the only ones that are being affected by CTE. Doctors found the CTE in 21 year old linebacker Owen Thomas, who played for the University of Pennsylvania, after he hung himself in his dorm room in April 2010. There are so many precautions to the game now days. In high school you are only allowed to practice in full pads before the season for the last 2 weeks of August. Then in season the rules are not as extreme as in college and not even close to the pros.
The college rules are even more different. Teams are only allowed to have just about 2 weeks of camp before the season starts and only 3 two a days where just 5 or 6 years ago that’s all that camp would be. Also the coaches for all teams in college are only allowed during the week to have players do football related stuff for 20 hours a week and you can’t go over. Also the practices during season are different. There is only 1 day of full pads, which is Tuesday. Then on Wednesday and Thursday it is only top pads like helmet and shoulder pads. Then the last day before the game is a helmets only walkthrough.
Then in the NFL they only can have 1 day of pads and contact. These rules are all occurring because of the new rules of player safety and how the rules committees are taking this stuff very seriously. There are many types of feedback that the NFL is receiving from its fans and players. There is a split almost half and half among NFL fans that they were asked what to do about the concussion problem. Half of NFL fans argue that hard hits need to be minimized to minimize the amount of injuries, specifically concussions, and the other half say hard hits are one of the things that make the NFL a great game.
The new rules and how the game is changing have received a lot of negative feedback. There are some people that really like the new rules, mostly people that have never played the game, but the majority doesn’t like them because of how they think that the new rules are making the game “soft”. Former players and current players believe these new rules that are designed to protect players are ultimately “hurting the sport they grew up with”. There are many different ways that people can perceive these new rules such as the individuals that disagree with the rules.
The Essay on Concussions and Football
... shows that 61% of game concussions results from helmet-to-helmet hits (Vergano). When deciding to become a football player there was an obvious ... a forceful hit to the head. So changing the rules to the game is not the only place changes need to be ... getting ready to go back to school, football season is ready to ignite. The NFL professionals have been practicing for a little ...
Players such as Ryan Clark, safety for the Steelers, have said such things like “we’re going to eliminate the tough guy from football. ” Even hall of famers have started to critique the new rules Marshall Faulk asked “Why aren’t we, as current players or former players, on the Competition Committee if it’s about making the league better? ” “Don’t you want input from the players? ” Faulk, as others, have been very outspoken of their dislike of a new rule implemented this year that doesn’t allow the running back to use the crown of his helmet when running with the ball, like how a defender can’t use his crown to hit a defenseless player.
Concussions that have become a big story when it comes to playing football and how it can hurt children has really caught the attention of parents because they see what happens in the NFL and NCAA and they know that those same things can happen to their sons. A “Outside the Lines” survey finds that 57 percent of parents on a online survey of more than 1,000 people conducted by ESPN Research in early August “said that recent stories about the increase in concussions in football have made them less likely to allow their sons to play in youth leagues.
” Some of the NFL’s former players including Kurt Warner and New York Jets linebacker Bart Scott have said that they don’t want there boys to play football. In another survey, about 94 percent of NFL fans said that they think that concussions are a serious problem in the NFL. For some, it even causes some to not even want to watch it on TV with “about 18 percent saying the concussion debate has made them less likely to follow football or watch it on television. ” This is how concussions and the rules are affecting the NFL, how it is played and how people perceive the game.
