My topic on my research paper will be on whether or not concussions can be life threatening. I will specifically be focused on the NFL and case studies that were done on retired football players that were diagnosed with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is a fairly new diagnosis. It is when a person has been exposed to thousands of hard hits to the head that lead to problems later in life. These problems include memory loss, depression, insomnia, anger problems, and extremely bad headaches. Several retired NFL players have committed suicide and when their brain was examined, it was found that they had CTE. I am interested in this subject for a number of reasons. First, I love football. I love watching the game and playing the game with my friends. Second, I saw the movie "Concussion" that just recently came out in theaters. When I finished the movie I still had a lot of questions. I wondered how much of that was exaggerated, how much of it was true. Also, how many people have been affected by it, and what steps have the NFL, college and high school football teams have taken to prevent this from happening. I am very interested to do more research on the topic and really answer these questions to figure out the real truth on concussions in the NFL. 

The main claim of my first source is that all levels of football need to have the same concussion protocols that the NFL has put into place. In the NFL, when a player receives a hard hit to the head and the training staff thinks that they may have a concussion, they are required to give the player a full examination and must be cleared by team doctors before reentering the game. Also, when a player does have a concussion there are a series of tests that the player must pass before deemed eligible to play again. The major values associated with article is that kids should be protected just like the adults in the NFL are protected. Concussions are just as serious in the high school, middle school, and Pop Warner leagues as they are in the NFL, and concussions that occur to a younger player can have a very negative long term effect on them. The author in this article seems fairly credible, as he graduated from the University of California, however, he is clearly biased in the fact that he wants a major change in concussion protocols in younger football leagues.

The second source is more of an informative essay, explaining the link between football players and CTE. This article described what exactly happens to players who suffer from CTE, and explains exactly how it is proven from scientists examining the brain of the football players. It explains the cases such as John Grimsley and Mike Webster, which were groundbreaking cases for the doctors and scientists involved in the study. The author of this article seems very credible and not biased and he includes quotes and information from many different scientists. 

The third source is an article I found on the internet published by Time Magazine. Its central claim is that all levels of football needs to require helmets that have a "hit count". A hit count would mean that every hit that a player receives that is considered hard would be recorded by the helmet. And there would be a rule that says once a player receives a certain amount of hits then they would no longer be allowed to play in the game. The values associated with this article is that all levels of football need to be held responsible for the long term effects of concussions. Not only do players start playing football at an incredibly young age, but their young bodies and heads need to be protected just like the NFL players do. The author of this source has been a sports writer for many years, but he did not cite much evidence in his article and it was very opinion based and bias towards his idea of a "hit count" in football.

My research question is very arguable because there are many people that claim that concussions are not life threatening. There are also a lot of people that say the long term effects of concussions have only been proven in a hand full of studies, which makes these effects one in a million to suffer from CTE. So far, the sources that I have considered have all been on my side. I have not read an article yet against concussions, however, all three of my articles have been very different. The three articles included one that was very informative and explained exactly what CTE is and how it affects the players, another which explained why we need a hit count in football. The last one that explained why concussion protocols need to be the same throughout all levels of football and not just the NFL. Reading these different articles gave me a different look on the concussion problem in the NFL. Although I think the time magazine article unrealistically wanted all levels of football to install technology into every player's helmet to make sure they are not having unnecessary amount of blows to the head each week, it does have a point in that something needs to be done to protect the players. Also I agree that concussion protocols should be the same in all levels, because not just the NFL players need to be protected. 

