| 18 October 2009
There's been a lot of discussions about concussions in football recently. We just saw Tim Tebow have a major concussion a few weeks ago and weekly it seems that another player experiences a helmet to helmet hit and the discussion comes up again. There has been new reports and TV programs that have analyzed concussions in-depth and determined that head injuries can cause Alzheimer's, brain loss, or dementia at a much younger age. I'm all for this type of analysis, but lets be realistic about one thing. The NFL is never going to stop because of concussions. Even if a player dies on the field the NFL won't stop playing. Did anyone really think that getting hit in the head was a good thing? I think it is pretty obvious that it's not the smartest thing and severe injuries and early health problems can occur from them. That's the nature of the game. That's the nature of the profession. The players put themselves in these situations and they know the risk they are going through. Of course it's unfortunate and I don't want to see any player have a head injury, but it's part of the job. Baseball pitchers are going to have shoulder problems, people who sit in front of a computer screen are going to have eye problems, people who perform physical labor are going to have back problems, and NFL players who get hit in the head are going to have brain problems. Every new study comes out and we look at all the negatives involved in them; let's start looking at the positives. Let's take this new information and use it in new technologies to reduce the risk of severe brain injuries within football. I think we all understand that it's a major problem, but the game isn't going to change anymore than it already has. There are lots of rules trying to protect against all head injuries so lets stop the NFL is going to end talk and start talking about new helmets or devices that can limit these injuries. Injuries are going to happen, it's part of the game. Let's look at trying to eliminate the injuries instead of looking at trying to eliminate the game.
