Many people have been debating the topic of banning college football. It has come to people's attention that college football is a major medical and educational threat for the players. College football fans get their entertainment and excitement, but on the other hand, the players don't get anything other than a scholarship. One thing they don't realize they are receiving each and everyday as an outcome of taking brutal hits from practice and games are the long term effects it brings.
Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling New Yorker writer said on May 8th during the Intelligence Squared debate on banning college football at the New York University's Skirball Center, "It's not the hard hits that each player takes, but it's the thousand of tiny hits that they take." A hard hit once in a while may lead to a concussion, but the thousand of tiny hits that Gladwell is referring to can lead to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE. CTE is a condition that is found in athletes and recently in football players. CTE leads to memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, and eventually, progressive dementia. There are college football players of 18 years out there with CTE.
Education is one of the biggest factors in a person's life. It contributes to everything you accomplish in the future. This doesn't seem to be true for college football players. Football seems to be more important and something more valuable than education. Buzz Bissinger, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Friday Night Lights said during the debate, "Players get the option to go to class, if they want to, I bet most wouldn't". The number of hours a college student uses for studying had decreased from 40 to 13 as a result of college football. Football is a distraction. Bissinger said, "Football. It sucks all the air out of the room."
College football has to be banned. It is time to realize that it is cheating on us for the lives of many young adults. Their lives are being threatened by their own inspiration. Something have to be done and banning college football is the perfect solution. We can save the lives and education of college students before it's too late. We can live without football, but we can't survive without an education. Football won't kill you, it'll just destroy and corrupt your brain. Football is an enemy, not a friend.
Showing posts with label CTE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CTE. Show all posts
Monday, June 4, 2012
Football has no place on a college campus
Football does not belong in college. It hurts players physically, and is highly detrimental to their studies. Many college players suffer traumatic injuries that ruin their lives. Others fail to compete in professional level sports and enter the world deprived of any skills gained from college.
Despite objections from proponents of college football, it is quite obvious that most players do not learn much from their classes. The high level of stress from their commitment to the team and the hours of play and training required for such an intense sport simply do not leave much room for academics.
Tim Green, former NFL player and lawyer, said in an Intelligence Squared debate that college football players are graduating at a higher rate than other college students, but as recent studies by the University of North Carolina reveal, college players are actually graduating at a lesser rate than non-athlete male full-time students. Evidently, football takes away from students' academics.
Aside from the harm done to the players’ studies, there is the undeniable physical pain players suffer. Repeated contact injuries and concussions during games cause irreversible damage to players. An increasing number of players suffer from CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy), a terrible brain disease that leads to early Alzheimer’s disease, loss of memory, and dementia.
Because CTE can only be diagnosed with a postmortem autopsy, the statistics for its occurrence are rare. But it is hard to believe events like the suicide of University of Pennsylvania football player Owen Thomas were not influenced by CTE. The 21-year old, who never showed signs of depression, hanged himself in April 2010. Brain tests showed definite signs of CTE, making him the youngest player to be diagnosed with the condition. Numerous NFL players have been diagnosed with CTE also.
Football may produce money for colleges, but it hurts athletes far too much to justify its benefits. After all, colleges are not-for-profit organizations created to educate students, not recruiting centers for the NFL that exploit students by overuse and compensation of little value.
Despite objections from proponents of college football, it is quite obvious that most players do not learn much from their classes. The high level of stress from their commitment to the team and the hours of play and training required for such an intense sport simply do not leave much room for academics.
Tim Green, former NFL player and lawyer, said in an Intelligence Squared debate that college football players are graduating at a higher rate than other college students, but as recent studies by the University of North Carolina reveal, college players are actually graduating at a lesser rate than non-athlete male full-time students. Evidently, football takes away from students' academics.
Aside from the harm done to the players’ studies, there is the undeniable physical pain players suffer. Repeated contact injuries and concussions during games cause irreversible damage to players. An increasing number of players suffer from CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy), a terrible brain disease that leads to early Alzheimer’s disease, loss of memory, and dementia.
Because CTE can only be diagnosed with a postmortem autopsy, the statistics for its occurrence are rare. But it is hard to believe events like the suicide of University of Pennsylvania football player Owen Thomas were not influenced by CTE. The 21-year old, who never showed signs of depression, hanged himself in April 2010. Brain tests showed definite signs of CTE, making him the youngest player to be diagnosed with the condition. Numerous NFL players have been diagnosed with CTE also.
Football may produce money for colleges, but it hurts athletes far too much to justify its benefits. After all, colleges are not-for-profit organizations created to educate students, not recruiting centers for the NFL that exploit students by overuse and compensation of little value.
Ban college football
Whether or not college football should be banned is a very controversial topic. Although college football does provide universities with great revenue and allows many companies to advertise, it destroys the players. Everyone knows that football is one of the most brutal and harmful sports. In an eight year period, study by sagepub.com, it was discovered that a total of 175 head and neck injuries were found in 100 players not to mention all the abnormalities found amongst freshmen on the team. These football players should dedicate the time they spend playing to studying and maybe enjoy the sport during their free-time.
The reason colleges encourage students to play sports is because it generates a huge amount of profit. Not only do universities receive money from the sale of tickets, but they also get it from advertisements and merchandise. Companies, such as Dish Network, Ford, Coca-Cola, etc, pay thousands of dollars to colleges as endorsements. The University of Tennessee’s football team receives 750,000 dollars from corporate sponsors. Most of the top universities pay their coaches about one million dollars, but the people who are performing out there cannot get paid?
Football is renowned for having injuries to the head. Many football players suffer from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE, which is a degenerative disease of the brain. It causes the person who is suffering to lose memory, concentration, and attention. CTE is a result of many traumas to the head. Furthermore, hints of brain damage or injuries to the head can only be found our after death.
In football, players receive beatings to the head and even with helmets they get concussions. Mike Borich, former college wide receiver and later football coach for the Chicago Bears, died of a drug overdose at the age of 42. After his death an autopsy was performed and it was found that he suffered from CTE. Borich was the first college wide receiver to ever be diagnosed with CTE.
With college football there is a slight chance that the player might get into the NFL, but that is going to require sacrifices. They may not receive a good education, therefore if they do not get drafted, there is no other option. Furthermore, with college football there is a huge probability that the player may get a head injury. Knowing that the head is one of the most crucial parts to a person, a blow to it may cause problems throughout the body. Now the only thing that is left to do is ban college football.
The reason colleges encourage students to play sports is because it generates a huge amount of profit. Not only do universities receive money from the sale of tickets, but they also get it from advertisements and merchandise. Companies, such as Dish Network, Ford, Coca-Cola, etc, pay thousands of dollars to colleges as endorsements. The University of Tennessee’s football team receives 750,000 dollars from corporate sponsors. Most of the top universities pay their coaches about one million dollars, but the people who are performing out there cannot get paid?
Football is renowned for having injuries to the head. Many football players suffer from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE, which is a degenerative disease of the brain. It causes the person who is suffering to lose memory, concentration, and attention. CTE is a result of many traumas to the head. Furthermore, hints of brain damage or injuries to the head can only be found our after death.
In football, players receive beatings to the head and even with helmets they get concussions. Mike Borich, former college wide receiver and later football coach for the Chicago Bears, died of a drug overdose at the age of 42. After his death an autopsy was performed and it was found that he suffered from CTE. Borich was the first college wide receiver to ever be diagnosed with CTE.
With college football there is a slight chance that the player might get into the NFL, but that is going to require sacrifices. They may not receive a good education, therefore if they do not get drafted, there is no other option. Furthermore, with college football there is a huge probability that the player may get a head injury. Knowing that the head is one of the most crucial parts to a person, a blow to it may cause problems throughout the body. Now the only thing that is left to do is ban college football.
Should college football be banned?
Football is one of the most popular sports in the United States;
it’s played everywhere and by people of all ages. College football is a level
below the biggest stage in football, the NFL. Although college football is
widely accepted by fans and players, some people feel that football has an
overall negative effect on players’ physical and academic progress.
Even though college football can help college students
succeed in sports and have the opportunity to attend college because of scholarships, it does cause
students to consider football over academics. Football exploits players for
their school's selfish purposes, but one of the main reasons for banning college
football is the amount of head injury players receive during their football
playing career and the negative impact there is on their future. Malcolm Gladwell, a Canadian author and journalist, spoke in a nytimes.com article about
the pictures he’s seen of people’s brains and how it looked like they were run
over by a truck. “I’ve seen pictures of the brain scans of people with C.T.E.,”
he said, referring to the trauma-induced disease, “and it looks like someone
drove a truck across their brain.” Gladwell is concerned about how football negatively
affects a player’s brain in the long run to a point where the brain can no
longer function properly because of the amount of hits they take.
College football should be banned because players that don’t
make it to the NFL end up finishing college with mediocre grades and have to give
up their football dream. In the long run the former football players will develop conditions like Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) because of the hard hits received to the head. Overall
playing football for four years in college isn’t worth the amount of pain you’ll
receive in the future when the players start noticing the affects of their concussions.
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