Research Paper
Andrew Okita
Dr. Feuerstein
ENG 100
4 April 2014
NFL Concussions and Their Long-Term Effects On May 2, 2012, the National Football League lost one of its elite players to suicide: Junior Seau. Seau played for the Chargers, Dolphins, and the Patriots during his professional football career and was a 12-time Pro Bowler before retiring in 2009. Three years after his retirement however, Seau committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest with a gun. This greatly shocked the football world and its image of Junior Seau as a person, but it soon realized the cause for his action. Shortly after Seau’s death, researchers examined Seau’s brain and found that it contained a disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy which is formed by repeated blows to the head; a very common disease among former football players (Football Brains). The Seau family then filed a lawsuit against the NFL claiming that the league held back information from the players about the danger of continuous blows to the head (Seau’s Death on Brain Injuries).
Since the formation of the National Football League in 1920, the popularity of the sport has grown tremendously over the years. It seems nowadays that more and more people are getting interested in the NFL, whether it is talking about their favorite team at work or at school or watching them play on game day. However, on the flip side of all the amazing catches and touchdowns, there is a dark side to the NFL known as the concussion problem. This problem has grown so much over the years that there have been more than 4200 lawsuits by former and current players against the NFL stating that the NFL has been trying to cover up the detrimental long term effects of concussions and also relied on NFL doctors to feed them the information they wanted to hear while rejecting the studies done by researches showing the long term effects concussions have on the brain (Junior Seau’s Death Keeps Spotlight on Brain Injuries). In order for the NFL to
Dr. Feuerstein
ENG 100
4 April 2014
NFL Concussions and Their Long-Term Effects On May 2, 2012, the National Football League lost one of its elite players to suicide: Junior Seau. Seau played for the Chargers, Dolphins, and the Patriots during his professional football career and was a 12-time Pro Bowler before retiring in 2009. Three years after his retirement however, Seau committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest with a gun. This greatly shocked the football world and its image of Junior Seau as a person, but it soon realized the cause for his action. Shortly after Seau’s death, researchers examined Seau’s brain and found that it contained a disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy which is formed by repeated blows to the head; a very common disease among former football players (Football Brains). The Seau family then filed a lawsuit against the NFL claiming that the league held back information from the players about the danger of continuous blows to the head (Seau’s Death on Brain Injuries).
Since the formation of the National Football League in 1920, the popularity of the sport has grown tremendously over the years. It seems nowadays that more and more people are getting interested in the NFL, whether it is talking about their favorite team at work or at school or watching them play on game day. However, on the flip side of all the amazing catches and touchdowns, there is a dark side to the NFL known as the concussion problem. This problem has grown so much over the years that there have been more than 4200 lawsuits by former and current players against the NFL stating that the NFL has been trying to cover up the detrimental long term effects of concussions and also relied on NFL doctors to feed them the information they wanted to hear while rejecting the studies done by researches showing the long term effects concussions have on the brain (Junior Seau’s Death Keeps Spotlight on Brain Injuries). In order for the NFL to