Everybody that watches football, knows about how violent of a sport it is.  Americans enjoy seeing huge, game changing plays, but we don't realize how detrimental the hits can be to the players that endure them are. Throughout high school, I was an athlete, playing soccer, hockey, and baseball.  I have suffered concussions, but I know I have never reported them, because that's what athletes are pressured to do.  They are pressured to be tough and to stick in the game for the team rather than be selfish, when in reality, they could be ruining their future every time they do that.  My research question is going to be why has the NFL not taken accountability for the later-in-life issues that players suffer.  Any other employer in the world would be liable to pay for an injury sustained on the job.  Why should the NFL be above this?  Why do they get to skate along the outside of the issue while making billions of dollars off of these players that have a multitude of issues after retiring?  

First, lets talk about what a concussion is.  Concussions are characterized as a traumatic brain injury, which is scary when it is said in terms like that, but it is what is is.  People down play concussions and they say "Oh, he will be alright, hell be back", when in reality, that player just suffered a traumatic brain injury.  The brain is one of the most important parts of your body because it is the control center. It controls every single thing you do, whether you know it or not.  When football players endure concussions, their lives, and sometimes personalities are changed, usually being for the worst.  According to a study, in the NFL alone, there were over 200 concussions and those are just the ones that were reported.  That's a large portion of the NFL and too big a portion of our population that is put at risk to suffer depression and other mental illnesses without having the help to properly deal with them.  The chemical make up of the player's brain is affect every single time they take a blow to the head, let alone a concussion.

The Forbes source talks about a Seattle based company named "VICIS" which is Latin for "Change" is trying to use the new technologies that we have in the world to create a new, safer helmet that they believe will help prevent concussions.  VICS believes that the concussion problem is an equipment issue, not a football issue.  Though my paper is mostly about the way we can combat concussions, I think this is a good place for the NFL to start implementing changes into the equipment. VICS believes that it is the traditional helmets that are causing all of the concussions in the NFL, because they think that the current or traditional helmets are like two 70s' cars hitting head to head.  They say that the cars will hit and not crumble but just bounce off, as opposed to the new cars of today that will hit and stick together and crumble.  The cars todays are sacrificed for the benefit of the people inside of the car, and that's what VICIS is trying to do with football helmets.  VICIS believes that we are seriously behind the ball with football helmets and that we are not utilizing all of the technologies we have available to us.  VICIS knows that it is impossible to prevent all concussions, but they want to at least prevent the ones that can be prevented.

The New York Times source focuses on the facts behind the issues regarding concussions in football and how the NFL seems to be doing little to no research on concussions.   The NFL has just recently came out acknowledging that CTE which is chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a real thing.  This was groundbreaking because the NFL had never said such a thing.  Though they admitted this fact, that's all they did.  They did not take responsibility or claim liability for CTE happening to their employees, rather they merely admitted it was a real thing.  An employer should be responsible for their employees injuries' that are suffered on the job.  If an employee for a electric company suffers a debilitating injury, that company will pay that person sometimes even for the rest of their lives.  The league needs to be held accountable for these dangerous wounds they encourage players to give to other players.  They know that the bigger the hits, the more the money. 

The USA Today source talks about the frightening fact that in youth sports, we like to avoid such problems as concussions.  They say the research behind what happens to our kids brains when they suffer concussions in any sport is traumatizing and extremely scary.  We shake our heads in disbelief when we hear about a terrible, unfortunate, traumatizing story that has to do with concussions, and then just carry on like nothing happened.  It's time for the NFL and owners, to step up and assume responsibility. It is wildly believed that parents are beginning to not let their children play football because of the high percent of concussions in the sport.  After the unfortunate suicides of multiple ex players, parents get to thinking about whether this sport is a sport they want their children playing.  It is reported that over 20% of high school football players have suffered a concussion at one point in their life.  That is a scary high percent and the NFL needs to be the first in combatting the issues that come from concussions.  If the NFL is going to continue to operate at the level they are, they need to take responsibility for the issues that come from the job.  They leave their employees in the dark after they're gone.  It's not a fair situation all around, and it needs to be attacked.

