The Disease That Is Changing The Game

By Jaylin James

Football is known to be one of the most dangerous and fast-paced sports in the world. From sore legs to cuts and bruises to broken bones, injuries are always probable when on the football field. The main concern of injuries currently is the continuous amount of concussions that appear in athletes. To be able to understand and develop more research and findings about head trauma and concussions, will help for the sport of not only football, but all contact sports.

Research has shown that athletes that have suffered several concussions overtime, can develop chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is defined as a progressive degenerative disease found in the brain of athletes (and others) with a history of repetitive brain trauma. An individual who suffers from CTE ends up with significant loss of mass in the brain and the brain begins to deteriorate. CTE has many affects and the symptoms to tell if an individual has obtained it are a list of life-changing effects.

Symptoms such as loss of memory, difficulty controlling behavior, impaired judgment, difficult with balance and more than can change your day to day choices. Most athletes that suffer from CTE find it hard to live and many have passed away at a relatively young age or possibly even committed suicide. Though this has affected many athletes today, retired athletes are the main source of CTE findings. Retired players have also had plenty to say about the CTE findings. Bo Jackson stated to CNN news, “If I knew back then what I know now, I would have never played football. Never. I wish I had known about all of those head injuries, but no one knew that. And the people that did know that, they wouldn't tell anybody.”

The brain disease was first found by doctors Bennet I. Omalu, M.D. and Julian Bailes, M.D. out of the Brain Injury Research Institute. A recent movie called “Concussion,” is based on a true story starring Will Smith as Doctor Omalu. The movie focuses on how Doctor Omalu found CTE in a retired player by the name of Mike Webster and how the brain disease has killed professional football players causing a spark in research to find out more about the disease. The National Football League (NFL) has been accused of hiding concussions and covering up the real damages of CTE. When asked if Doctor Omalu watches football, he responded, “No, no, I don't watch football. The last time I tried watching was the last Super Bowl. The problem I have is, you know, the graphic nature of my imagination; when I watch and see them meeting head onto head, helmet onto helmet, what flashes through my mind is what's going on in their brains. It's like torture to me.”

The scary part of this whole situation is that CTE does not just start with adults. Children and young adult athletes can obtain this disease as well and it has changed many people’s views on football and whether the sport is too dangerous.

“Scary thing about it is we don’t know much about it yet. All we know is a lot of former football players get it,” said University of Northern Iowa head football trainer, Travis Stueve.

“Does it take multiple concussions to get it or just a lot of little impacts over a lifetime of playing football? Who is at more risk,” questioned Stueve.

Stueve had one overall statement, “CTE combined with concussions is changing the sport.” The changes being made to the sport of football are changing all the time. Rules and equipment are adjusted every year to try and make football safer for athletes but injuries are just too tough to control.

This nasty brain disease can only be diagnosed after death and it seems to be that more and more retired football players are passing away with CTE found in their brains. In 2015, a study done on deceased NFL football players was done to find which athletes had CTE. A total of 87 out of 91 former NFL players had tested positive for CTE and a total of 131 out of 165 who, before their deaths, played either football professionally, semi-professionally, in college or high school were found CTE positive. For NFL players, over 95 percent were found with CTE. Only four of the 91 players tested, had not been diagnosed with CTE, 

Players are not the only ones affected by the dangers of football, but loved ones suffer watching players put themselves through so much pain. Suicide has become a main concern of athletes that are diagnosed with CTE. According to a study done by Love and Soloman, “Between 2011 and 2013, suicide was a cause of death in 6 football players diagnosed with CTE,” In Indianola, Iowa, 24-year-old Zac Easter shot himself in the heart on December 19 of 2016. He had been keeping a notebook of information about his daily struggles and what he thought was happening to his brain. At Easters’s request, his brain was sent to Doctor Omalu. Easter had shot himself in the heart for others to help develop a better understanding of the disease. The Easter family was proud of Zac and his sacrifice but it was still very tough for them to realize what Zac had gone through. 

Junior Dareece Fountain at the University of Northern Iowa plays football for the Panthers CTE has caught his attention as well.

“It’s true. It’s real. It’s dangerous. It’s scary thinking about it every time I get on the field, but hey, what isn’t nowadays,” said Fountain.

CTE has changed how players view football as well. They are becoming more aware of the dangers of football and want answers to what they are putting their selves into. Well known players such as Calvin Johnson, Marshawn Lynch and Jerod Mayo all retired before their 31^st birthdays simply because their bodies had been put through enough already. 

  

The concern of athletes from retired players has also influenced individuals today. They question whether the pain and suffering is really worth the rewards in the long run and most people are realizing it is not.

 It is clear to notice that CTE has changed the way football is viewed by individuals and how the sport has tried to avoid an increasing issue. There is no denying that this brain disease has surfaced and that it is not real. CTE is real and it has stirred up many controversies in the NFL, college, and youth sports. CTE is not even close to being fully discovered, in fact we barely know anything about it. Research is being done and athletes are being examined but until the world knows what CTE really is, you can expect it to be hidden and in the shadows for quite a bit longer. 

Photos: Flickr