Long-Term Effects of Football

Real Sport with Bryant Gumbel is my new favorite show.  I never took the time or was interested in this show before this class but with all the dicussion about sports in society I cannot get enough of Mr. Gumbel.  I recently watched an episode about footbal and the impact daily hits have on the brain.  The show displayed evidence about the change in a player's brain at the beginning of the season to the end of a four month season and the results were estonishing.  The brain visibly shows lower activity in the frontal lobe, which controls memory.  They interviewed past college and pro football players that have suffered long term effects from playing football to demonstrate the severe consequences the game can have.  Because of the severity of the results almost all levels of football have changed their hitting policies to one hit day per week, besides game days, except the NCAA.  They continue to run daily hitting practices.  I find this ironic because these athletes are in college to play football and get an education but sufficient evidence shows a decrease in brain activity from graduating college athletes.  Coaches and administration believe college is when a player must establish their hitting skills and its a way to build their game and character up.  This is the NCAA's excuse to not decrease the number of hitting practices and I think it is unfortunate that they promote game winning characteristics rather than preparing these college athletes for life after sport. 

Watch the show, it was very interesting!!

Real">http://www.hbo.com/video/video.html/?autoplay=true&vid=1290073&filter=real-sports-with-bryant-gumbel&view=null">Real Sports 188: Concussions

Posted by: Nicole Floyd KIN 2231