I am interested in this research question because I am a huge fan of the NFL and they are under a lot of heat and pressure from the player union due to the high appearance of CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, in the former players that were tested for it. CTE is caused from constant sub-concussive hits to the head and is a brain degenerative disease that can lead to dementia and premature death. I do not believe that this is the fault of the NFL because they have implemented rules, fines, and suspensions for hits that target the head or use the head to target other players within the game. The NFL has also done extensive studies to improve the helmets of the players to best protect players from traumatic head injuries while in play. This research question affects my values in the fact that the players know the risks of playing the sport before they decide that they have weighed the risks and the money that they make is enough for the risk of concussions and CTE. My personal experience regarding this is that I played football in high school and took many hits to the helmet while playing, and also suffered a concussion while playing my junior year. After receiving my concussion, I changed helmets and continued to play, knowing the risks of playing the sport. 

The NFL is rising in the number of concussions diagnosed. The result of the higher amount of concussions is medical complications later in the lives of former NFL players. In studies done, 79% of football players that played at the high school, college, and professional levels showed evidence of possible CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

The major values and interests at stake in this article are that the NFL are not protecting their players nor are they informing the players of the risks that they are taking when participating in the game. The players are forming brain problems when the players are older and out of the game that are a result of the injuries taken in the time that they played.

The author of the story was Julie Beck. She is a sports writer that is argumentative in the sense that the players are not protected enough from the NFL regardless of the rules, fines, and suspensions that have been put in place to attempt to protect the players.

In the 2015 season there was a record high diagnoses of concussions among the players. Despite all the rule changes that have been implemented in the past 10 years, the concussion rates are still climbing, many of which were from violations to the newly instated rules. Other than concussions, record high injuries were reported for ligament tears of the knees of the players.

The major values and interests at stake in this article are that there is a constant increase in the injuries of the players in the NFL, both brain injuries and other injuries, such as ligament damage in the knees of the players. The article is arguing that football is a physical sport and the players know that the game is dangerous and can cause injuries, but the NFL is constantly updating and changing rules and the helmets and pads that the players wear to better protect them from injury.

The author of this article is Bob Hille, an informative author that presents the facts and presents both sides of the facts to give the reader the chance to decide for themselves what side they were on. The article was written at the end of the 2015 season to allow a full injury report for the whole season.

NFL is a dangerous sport and it exposes its participants to possible life changing injuries later on in life. The constant contact between the player's heads and the tackles that are targeted at or with the head of a player are causing injuries that lead to CTE, a dangerous brain degenerative disease that leads to an abundance of mental health issues later in life. CTE is caused by frequent sub-concussive blows to a person's head. The NFL has imposed rules and fines for blows to or with the head, but it isn't working so some have introduced an idea to remove the facemask to lower the possibility a player will target with his head.

The major values and interests at stake in this article are that the players are taking a lot of unnecessary hits to the head that are causing sub-concussive injuries to the brain that lead to later damage to the brain and can lead to CTE in life later on. The rules and regulations implemented are not enough to protect the players and stronger actions need to take place.

The author of this article is Sean Gregory, who is a TIME Magazine writer that specializes in obtaining and writing articles on sports, mainly football at the professional levels. The writer has bias because he is not a former player that is writing articles on the damages to players from football and using studies that were one sided to present and argue his point.

This topic is definitely arguable. There are two distinct sides to the issue, one that says that the players are not properly informed and that the NFL is at fault for the injuries that are sustained as a result in the league. The other side is that the players are aware of the occupational risks that are involved in playing this contact sport and have decided that the risk of brain injury is worth the reward of the substantial income. Some agreements and disagreements of the sources are that the players of the NFL are in fact, taking injuries to the head that cause complications later on in life, but the disagreements are who are at fault. The NFL is taking the necessary actions to protect players, but the players need to understand that the sport is dangerous and can cause these complications later on in life and it isn't up to the NFL to be at fault.
