Over the last few years a controversial debate in American football has been whether or not concussions are connected with long term brain damage. Over 4,500 former players who have suffered from these medical conditions have raised awareness and actually sued the National Football League for over 765 Million dollars in settlement (DeNisco 2013). This issue in which the NFL tried to cover up for many years, has reached its climax and leagues all over the United States have amplified their research on possibly solving the issue. I am interested in this topic because I believe it is important people realize the nature of the sport and do not blame football for its potential for injury. Also I stand behind the NFL who have implemented new rules and technology to handle the situation as efficiently as possible. The values that are important to me in this topic is the fair recognition of the league's best efforts of protection from the harmful claims against the sport. The personal experience I have with this topic is I have been a football player throughout my entire life leading to college. And although I never once received a concussion, I am well aware of the symptoms, protocol, and treatment received for such an injury. I believe I am qualified to present this topic due to my avid fanatic interest and depth of knowledge of football played in the United States. The NFL is not only committed to treating this type of injury, but also have shifted their focus to concussion prevention as well and long term brain damage.

The first article I researched is called, "New technology helps identify football concussions" written by Alison DeNisco. DeNisco speaks in her article of a new technology being instilled among a High school named Newcastle in Newcastle, Oklahoma. The article addresses how as an athletic trainer or doctor it can be difficult to catch ever blow taken by all 22 players on the field every single play. But with the new technology created by Impact sports there are flat sensors located within the helmet that send levels of helmet impact to a synced IPad on the sidelines (DeNisco 2013). This allows trainers and doctors to recognize a certain player who has taken a blow and to what degree they may need to be taken out of the game and physically assessed. DeNisco goes on to address the awareness of this football condition in bringing up the 2011 sue from former NFL players in response to the league's intention to cover up the issue (DeNisco 2013). With this rise in helmet impact technology, football has been able to take a step forward in the right position and as this technology is progress to solving the big issue in the NFL. The fact that high schools are already instilling these new technologies shows the NFL's power to raise awareness to the issue and strive for a safer sport. The major values at stake here is the likelihood of the game and the protection among our youth and current players. If the NFL is willing to spend the money to invest in this type of technology, concussion risk will be exceptionally lowered and potential injuries that may have happened in the past may be avoided entirely. The bias of this article is that football leagues are taking an approach to solve this issue and technology could be a solution to this problem. Alison DeNisco is a News Editor for District Administration and writes many of her pieces on K-12 topics (DeNisco 2013). With this base of background, she was able to support the article with the evidence found by Newcastle High school in Oklahoma.

In my second article, "NFL Acknowledges Long- Term Concussion Effects" Alan Schwarz writes about the shift in NFL involvement on the issue of long term brain damage caused from concussions. The league used to try to stay uninvolved and protect itself legally from the issues that occur around concussions. Instead of this inhumane policy, the NFL has flooded funds and research into places such as the prestigious Boston University to not only prevent concussions for current players but to preserve the health of former players (Schwarz 2009). In extended efforts the NFL hopes to raise the awareness around this recognized issue and revolutionize the game and its technology to where life effecting injuries may be avoided. The major value in this article is that throughout the past the NFL has not done enough to properly protect their players. And seeing how this is a billion dollar business it should pursue an effective and civil solution to help prevent players from receiving serious brain damage. The parties at stake here are the integrity of the NFL as a whole as well as former and current players who may be impacted by such head blows. The author of this article, Alan Schwarz, presets the bias that thus far the NFL has not done enough to create an impact among the league. Schwarz is a writer for the New York Times who has grown up around sports his whole life (Schwarz 2009). He attended Duke University and played baseball where he received 3 consecutive academic athlete awards (Schwarz 2009). Schwarz has let his ambitious athletic career guide his writing career and is a very well rounded intellectual.

In the next article a team named the Congress of Neurological Surgeons conducted a six year scientific study of 650 concussion victims among the NFL (Wolters 2004). They reported that there was a direct connection with receiving an additional concussion after a player has been diagnosed with their first brain concussion. Additional studies revealed that not only is the NFL not providing enough scientific research but they are not letting victims properly heal. The rate at which a player is cleared to return to play after receiving a concussion is far more premature than these doctors would prescribe (Wolters 2004). Therefore the conclusion they came to is the NFL does not properly treat concussion victims and state that more rest time for the brain could have a direct impact on future brain damage (Wolters 2004). The major values in this article is that scientists and doctors are questioning the NFL's concussion protocol and ultimately proper player safety. The party at stake here are current NFL athletes who are being told their healthy enough to return to play and receiving additional concussions that could have been avoided if proper recovery was instilled. The bias this article has is informative and very thorough as all scientific experiments are. This article helps paint the picture that it is possible the NFL can find a treatment to strive for less frequent concussions they just may need to simply adjust the treatment and resting period. The authors of this scientific research work for Neuro Clinical Studies and were published in a book named Concussion in Professional Football (Wolters 2004). Also every author who contributed to the research is a licensed Medical Doctor and their qualifications exceed their researched field (Wolters 2004).

The research on whether or not the NFL is doing enough to prevent future generations from receiving long term brain damage is a hot topic lately. With new rules and fines being instilled within the game in the past few years, the recognition has risen and the awareness of this issue is nationwide. Also this topic was just stirred back up when Will Smith took the leading role in the new hit movie Concussion where they attack the NFL and their conspiracies to hide brain damaging concussion results. Some disagreements I have about this entire concept is the fact that concussions are simply the nature of the game. Look how far we have come in only 50 short years where players used to wear leather helmets. Technology is advancing and so is football's goal to create the safest game possible with the exception that injuries are inevitable. On the other hand, I do agree the NFL in the past has hidden concussion results and could have been doing more for their former players. But as of now, it is seen nationwide that leagues as low on the totem pole as High school are instilling new technology to help resolve this critical issue in American sports. The different perspectives from the articles do make me question my judgment but after analyzing this data I still strongly feel as if the NFL is progressing toward solving this problem. The scientific article, in specific, was rather interesting due to their claim that if teams sat their concussion victims out longer than they would be less likely to receive an additional concussion. The only revision on my research question I may need to revise is to possibly narrow the focus down to only the NFL and the debate between just their league. This in turn will give me the opportunity to narrow down data and specific analysis rather than widespread coverage of concussions at every level of youth. Therefore I made some adjustments to this draft compared to the first one I turned in to be peer reviewed.

