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Chapter 15: Case Study – “Concussions and the NFL “

concussions and the NFL 

American football is a sport known for its violence. As the sport of football started to gain popularity during the turn of the 20th century, so did the number of football deaths and serious injuries. The sport was near the point of abolishment when President Theodore Roosevelt stepped in. He met with some of the coaches at the power schools to establish rules and a governing body to oversee and enforce sanctions on the sport in order to reduce the violence (Klein 2019). At that time, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS, now the present-day NCAA) was formed, and football began to establish some safety protocols such as the use of more uniform equipment to prevent injury. 

Fast forward to 2015 when the film Concussion made its debut. This film shed light on a neuropathologist, Dr. Bennet Omalu, who was the first to publish his findings on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American football. The film received a great deal of attention, and people within the football community and beyond became interested and then worried about the long-term impact of playing football. 

CTE is a brain disease that is frequently found in football players because of the repeated trauma to the head. The symptoms of CTE do not start to appear until years after the head trauma. CTE can affect an athlete’s mood and behavior and can lead to depression, aggression, and paranoia. According to a study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, CTE was found in 99 percent of deceased NFL players’ brains that were donated to research (Emanuel 2017). 

Since then, the NFL has employed preventative measures to assist with player safety. One of these is the Play Smart. Play Safe. Initiative, launched to continue efforts on the diagnosis and treatment of head injuries of NFL players. The initiative is organized under four pillars:

Protecting players: Making changes on and off the field to protect the health and safety of every player in the NFL 

Advanced technology: Championing new developments in engineering, biomechanics, advanced sensors, and material science that mitigate forces and better prevent against injuries in sports 

Medical research: Supporting independent research to advance progress in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of head injuries and accelerate scientific understanding of their long-term impact 

Sharing progress: Sharing what the NFL learns across all levels of football—and with other sports and society at large

Since 2002, the NFL has made more than 50 rule changes intended to eliminate the risk of injury in athletes.

2-Chapter 16: Case Study – “COVID-19

COVID-19

On March 11, 2020, the Utah Jazz were about to play the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was 12:24 p.m., and the Utah Jazz tweeted the injury report that Rudy Gobert was questionable for play due to illness. Fast forward to the warm-ups before the 7:30 p.m. tip-off, and both Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell had tested positive for COVID-19 (Hudson 2020).

This was the start of what would be the postponement for the NBA and other professional leagues in the United States and worldwide due to COVID-19, an infectious disease that can cause severe life-threatening respiratory problems. This was when the pandemic hit home for sports and created a domino effect that would be felt around the world—not only in sports, but in businesses, schools, health care, and households. Soon many people were social distancing and quarantining because there were so many unanswered questions about the novel coronavirus.

Sports disappeared; ESPN, Fox Sports, and NBA TV replayed old footage of outdated games, belly-flopping contests, and Lebron James TikToking. Who would have imagined in 2020 that we would be waking up at 5:30 a.m. to watch the only live sporting event going on, the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), with cut-outs to fans and bench-clearing brawls (Diamond 2020)?

COVID-19 rippled through every sport around the globe. No longer were children going to AAU games, Little League baseball, or the local YMCA to participate in sport and recreation. Instead, everyone was asked to stay at home, social distance, and limit outings to grocery stores. COVID-19 changed the way we look at sports. Where we once looked forward to sold-out crowds, we had a world with social distancing requirements and a constant awareness of health hazards.

Case Study 1- Concussion and NFL
Questions:

1. Since 2002, the NFL has made more than 50 rule changes that were intended to eliminate the risk of injury in athletes. List and discuss three rule changes that have had a direct impact on minimizing the risk of a concussion.
2. Review chapter 15 and discuss the role that aggression plays in football. Differentiate the different forms of aggression and how each form can potentially play a role in risk of injury.

Case Study 2- Covid 19

Questions:

1. In what month was the NBA season postponed?
2. What league was the first to play live during the COVID-19 pandemic?
3. Who was the first NBA player to test positive for COVID-19?
4. What was the socioeconomic toll of COVID-19 on people who relied on sports to make their livelihood, such as stadium workers and the local community?