By Miles Park ’16, Sports Editor

Football players are modern-day gladiators. It’s a common comparison as both please thousands of spectators while inflicting harm on opponents and their own bodies. I wonder if anyone ever told that to Evan Murray. On Friday September 25^th, Murray, a 17-year-old student at Warren Hills Regional High School in New Jersey and the quarterback of that school’s football team, died after being hit in the course of a game against local Summit High School. Tragically, he is not alone. Murray was the third American High School student that month to lose his life playing football after 16-year olds Tyrell Cameron and Ben Hamm tragically died earlier in September. There has been nothing but an outpouring of positive reactions and support in the wake of these tragedies, but the sport of football remains the same.

Still, while direct deaths from football like these are overwhelmingly tragic, they are not a regular occurrence and perhaps the more grave concern for the sport of football and the National Football League (NFL) are concussions and sub-concussions. According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, a concussion is an injury to the brain that results in temporary loss of normal brain function, usually resulting from a blow to the head. Sub-concussions are less severe brain injuries that may not show any signs or symptoms but can still cause neurological damage. Although the NFL has instituted player safety rules such as the banning of helmet-to-helmet hits, most football players still have the potential to sustain several blows to the head over the course of a game and even more on the practice field. In 2014 the NFL reported 202 diagnosed concussions, but there were likely many more that went undiagnosed. Yet while a concussion can be a very serious injury in the short term, its effects can stretch long beyond the point when the player is cleared for football. Many current and former NFL players have reported memory loss, migraines, mental instability, Alzheimer’s disease, and other mental issues as well the relatively newly discovered disease: Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain primarily found in athletes (and others) with a history of repetitive brain trauma. This trauma triggers progressive degeneration of the brain tissue which is associated with memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, and, eventually, progressive dementia. A recent study published by the Concussion Legacy Foundation revealed that a whopping 87 out of 91 former NFL players who donated their brains to science tested positive for CTE. While it is important to note that the sample consisted of players who had concerns about their mental health, the numbers remain staggering. So how has this new information changed the perception of football?

“The next hit could kill me” – Green Bay Packer’s rookie wide receiver Adrian Coxson on why he is retiring from football after suffering a Grade 3 concussion during training camp[4]. Just months earlier, at 24, Chris Borland seemed destined for every football player’s dream: NFL stardom. Borland, a 3^rd round pick by the San Francisco 49ers out of the University of Wisconsin, racked up 107 tackles, 2 interceptions, and 1 sack during his stellar rookie campaign while playing in relief of injured stars NaVorro Bowman and Patrick Willis. And then he retired. Borland, who still “loves football” and is “as sharp as ever” describes his retirement as “a pre-emptive strike to preserve [his] mental health” [5]. Many Americans echo the sentiment of Borland’s shocking retirement as a recent study put forward that 62% of college educated Americans and those with annual salaries upwards of $100,000 would not want their kids to play football[6]. Yet, although he has suffered a concussion himself, quarterback Eli Neibart ’16 believes he has learned a lot from football and would “definitely want [his] children to play”.

The most tragic and paradoxical element of football’s violence is that it is a driving force behind the sport’s extreme popularity. People wanted to see gladiators fight to the death and they want to see football players hit each other as hard as they can. Football captain Joe Sokolowski ’16 notices that “there is something intoxicating about playing football” which is why he will be sad when his playing days are over. The intoxication Sokolowski describes is a major factor that drives thousands of Americans to play, watch and love football. A big hit is one of football’s most celebrated, intoxicating, and exciting plays and it is tragically likely that the fans and players cheered wildly after the hits that ended the lives of Murray, Cameron, and Hamm. Yet even amidst all of the concerns over the dangers of football, the NFL generated a record setting $12 billion in estimated revenue [7]. So while injuries and lawsuits have threatened the NFL, the sport of football rolls on, $12 billion and one concussion at a time.

[1] http://www.aans.org/patient%20information/conditions%20and%20treatments/concussion.aspx

[2] http://www.bu.edu/cte/about/what-is-cte/

[3] http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/18/health/nfl-brain-study-cte/

[4] http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13602937/former-green-bay-packers-player-adrian-coxson-retiring-says-next-hit-kill-me

[5] http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13463272/how-former-san-francisco-49ers-chris-borland-retirement-change-nfl-forever

[6] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sports/football-high/poll-wealthy-college-educated-less-likely-to-want-kids-to-play-football/

[7] http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/20/news/green-bay-packers-revenue/