What Can the NFL Do?- Conclusion

Over all, humans are known to like a little bit of action mixed with some violence for their entertainment, which is what the business of the NFL likes to offer.  Fans pay money to watch some good contact football for entertainment.  The problem is that now that the NFL has done some research on head injuries and realizes the need to keep their players safe, the league also doesn’t want to make the fans unhappy because the fans are one of the main factors that makes this business work.  The National Football League can help keep their players safe and keep their fans happy by implementing some new technology and ideas, and also by enforcing some rules already in place.  The NFL can do this by creating and implementing a new helmet, upgrading testing technology and procedures, enforcing the penalty on the field, and designing a governing system to handle punishment.  All of these ways will both help with players safety, but also keep the people who spend their money on the sport happy and entertained.

  The new helmet that was created this year, plus the new testing technology and procedures will help to get the players back on the field faster, which will make the fans happy.  Fans are starting to understand the seriousness of this issue, so they will not be as upset with the penalty strongly enforced on the field to help protect the players, especially if the penalty is fair and called correctly.  Also, the fans will like the idea of a panel to review the hits and determine punishment because they would then know that many opinions were used to enforce correct punishment, not just one man’s opinion.  Bottom line here is that the game itself will always be played at a vicious and fast pace that will still lead to big hits (especially because a big hit can be made without causing a concussion) and spectacular plays, which is what the fans want.  All in all, concussions and head injuries can lead to many problems down the road for football players and the issue needs to be addressed and taken care of, but at the same time, the game itself should not change too drastically so that the fans continue to spend their money and keep the business rolling.  

What Can the NFL Do?- Part III

What the NFL Can Do

The NFL has done a lot of research now on concussions and how much they actually affect the players who play the sport of football.  The problem the NFL has, though, is that they make roughly $9 billion dollars in profits and they do not necessarily want to hurt that by changing the game too much.  If they change the game too much they will definitely lose out on fans, which in turn hurts their profits significantly.  The fans are the people who make sure the NFL as a business keeps running; they pay for the tickets, merchandise, concessions, and even the TV contracts.  Overall, the fans are a major component to making this business work, and the NFL does not and should not want to change the game to a level that would make them lose fans.

There are many ways the NFL can handle this situation so they do not lose out on their profits and their fans, yet still protect the players.  The different things that can be done include; creating and implementing a new helmet, upgrading testing technology and procedures, enforcing the penalty on the field, and creating a governing system to handle punishment.  All of these things would both improve protection, and keep the fans somewhat happy.

(espn)

There is no helmet that can completely eliminate concussions, but as time progresses, there is always more and more technology being created to increase protection.  This new technology has already been designed by a company called Riddell.  Riddell is a football equipment company that makes the protective equipment for the NFL.  Riddell has created a new helmet, called the Riddell 360, which is supposed to redefine protection of a player’s head.  As stated before, an average player receives 950 hits to the head during one season, so the main source to improve head safety would be to improve the helmet.  Brittany Sauser said, Riddell has now created this new helmet to help reduce the impact a hit has on the front of a players head.  The helmet does this by the use of a newly designed facemask, made of carbon steel and another flexible material, according to Sauser.  This new facemask is able to flex and reduce the amount of impact on the rest of the head.  Sauser claims research shows that 70% of hits to the head are in the front of the head, so now this helmet protects that area much more.  This new helmet is supposed to go into effect next football season.  According to Sauser, Riddell has gathered statistics on head injuries using its own HIT technology, a system that employs sensor-equipped helmets to measure the location, magnitude, and direction of hits experienced during a game or practice.  Over all, this new helmet will not eliminate head injuries, but it definitely will help transfer the force of impact off of the front of the head and help to reduce concussions.

The next area that needs to improve is the technology on the field to help read the impact of collisions and to test the level of damage to the head on the field.  According to Dr. Chirban, “A main focus of the NFL's research this season has involved impact testing; specifically how they can effectively measure the impact a hit has on a player's brain at the time of the injury.”  The NFL has now looked into putting sensors into uniforms, specifically helmets, to record the impact of a hit, because no player wants to come out of a game if they do not need to, Dr. Chirban also said.  The NFL can also use this information for more research on head injuries.  The NFL plans to put this system into place as early as next season.  There will also be a new system of procedures to evaluate a head injury on the field to see if a player can come back in.  Gary Mihoces claims that the new procedures are called "Sports Concussion Assessment Tool 2" or "SCAT2."  This new system will consist of a checklist and a list of tests to help analyze whether or not a player has a concussion or not, according to Mihoces.  This new system with sensors in uniforms and a set of procedures to evaluate a player will help determine if a player can come back into the game or not, which makes the fans happy.

(google)

Another area the NFL needs to improve to help make players safe on the field would be their rules and officiating.  One of the major things the NFL could do to keep the players safe would be to simply strongly enforce the penalty on the field.  On many occasions last season, players had helmet to helmet collisions with other players, which cause head injury, and there were no flags thrown.  An example of this would be when James Harrison knocked two Cleveland Brown players out of the game with concussions on helmet-to-helmet hits, and neither of the hits was ever penalized on the field, but both the hits ended up getting Harrison fines up to $75,000.  The referees simply throwing the flags on illegal hits to the head sends a strong message to the players, because no player wants his team to have to give up 15 yards for his hit on another player.  The NFL has developed rules to protect players from getting hit in the head, yet in some cases the refs did not even penalize the players on the field.  Greg Easterbrook suggests the NFL should eject players from the game for malicious hits to the head, because that would even send a stronger message to the players. (Easterbrook)  Taking away a player’s actual playing time, even if it were for one quarter, would send a very stern message and the players would take the hint about how serious the NFL is.  When the NFL fines players for hits they make on the field, it just fires the players up, which in turn makes the fans not happy.  So if the NFL simply enforces the penalty on the field and/or suspends the player for a game, it would send a very strong message and the players will change the way they hit other players.  Not one player wants to do something that will jeopardize their team, so with both of these punishments dealing directly with that thought will reduce the amount of dangerous hits on the field.  Fining a player only hurts that one player, whereas these two punishments hurt the whole team so it will be more effective.  Overall, the referees need to enforce these penalties and rules on the field so that the players receive the message that the NFL is serious, because they do not necessarily need to do it by fining the players for their hits.

When the NFL does face a situation where a player needs to be fined or suspended for either multiple offenses or a malicious hit to another player, then they should listen to an idea thought up by one of their own players.  Troy Polamalu, a safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers, has been on record suggesting that the NFL use a governing system to dish out the punishment for these types of hits.  "There needs to be some type of separation of power, like our government," Polamalu said.  "I don't think it should be based totally on what two or three people may say that are totally away from the game. It should be some of the players that are currently playing." (Walker)  Polamalu has created a good solution to this punishment problem.  The NFL should create a panel of former and current players, coaches, and/or managers to debate on the hits and figure out an appropriate punishment for a player.  As of right now, according to James Walker, the commissioner has too much power when it comes to deciding punishment for the hits, and this has led to unhappy players and fans.   A governing body or panel to review the hits and decide punishment would be a lot more effective than to just have one or two men decide the penalty.  Polamalu believes it should be set up like a democracy, since that is what our country runs on, and this is our country’s most popular sport.  Evidence that suggests Polamalu’s proposal will work better than the current system can be seen in the Judiciary branch of the US Government.  Obivously it would be on a lot smaller scale, but the NFL could base this system off of the court rooms, and specifically the jury part.  I am not suggesting that the NFL should hold hearings for each dangerous hit; what I am saying is that if the NFL made a panel to review the hits, it could act like a jury would in the court system and make a decision on the correct form of punishment that should be handed out.  In conclusion, this idea that Polamalu had, would help to tone down the harsh punishments, but still hand out effective punishment for the players who decide to hit other players that way.

What Can the NFL Do?- Part II

The Concussion Epidemic

(Google)

               In this past NFL season (2010-2011) there was a major rise in the number of concussions reported, which has sparked the NFL to try to slow down the rise.  According to the NFL and Kevin Baumer, the number of concussions just through week eight was up 21% from the previous year.  That is a very significant increase, and that is what has made the NFL finally realize that concussions are a major problem for these players.  The reason for this increase is debated by many.  Some people believe that it is just because more people are actually receiving concussions, but the more likely reason is the fact that more players are actually reporting their concussions.  Kevin Baumer said, “The NFL believes the rate of injury is not necessarily higher, but teams are more aware of head injuries now and are being more conscientious about keeping the league abreast of their players' injuries.”  It is believed that previously, players would just not tell any medical staff about a head injury and try to play through it, which would lead to many more problems down the road.  According to an AP survey conducted in 2009, 30 out of 160 players had hidden concussions during their careers.  This stat is an alarming one, and that is why the NFL has finally realized that something needs to be done.

                Concussions in football have been a part of the game all the way back to the days with leather helmets, or no helmets at all.  According to Wharton, “Football historians report that President Theodore Roosevelt called representatives from Harvard, Princeton and Yale to the White House in 1905 and said he would ban the game of football if they didn't stop the brutality which, in that year alone, had caused 18 deaths and more than 150 severe injuries.”  But just recently, the NFL has finally decided to devote time and research to help prevent injuries like concussions.  The recent flare up of news about concussions in the NFL and how they were dealing with it came after week six of the 2010 NFL season.  On October 17th, 2010, three players made tackles that were very violent, which resulted in a total of $175,000 in fines handed out to those players for what the league said were helmet to helmet hits.  Some of those hits were not even flagged on the field, which made some fans and players very angry.  Although these players make a lot of money, many do not believe that their personal income should be taken away from them for playing the sport at a high level.  Many people were very angry with how the NFL decided to handle these hits on the field, especially when they stated that they would suspend players for these types of hits.  The NFL needs to find a ways to protect players from these head injuries without turning themselves into the NFFL (National Flag Football League). 



What Can the NFL Do?- Part I

Concussions

           Before we can look into what the NFL can do to protect both aspects, we have to look at concussions themselves and how serious they can be.  Like found on WebMD, a concussion is a brain injury that is caused by a sudden blow to the head.  When the blow occurs, it causes the brain inside the skull to shake, which leads to the brain not working right temporarily.  (WebMD)  These concussions are nothing to mess around with, because your brain is one of the most important components in making you function properly and if that gets messed up you get messed up.  Some of the symptoms include; passing out, short term memory loss, acting confused, being light headed, having trouble standing, or throwing up.  (WebMD)  These symptoms are just what can happen after suffering a big blow to the head area.  I found on WebMD that the time it takes to recover depends on how severe the blow was; it can take anywhere from a day to multiple weeks.  Concussions by themselves are nothing to mess with, but then you have to think about how in football, one can suffer multiple concussions, which leads to worse problems.

(audreyhalpernmd.com)  

          When an athlete is playing in a game, whether it is youth sports or professional sports, it takes a lot for them to exit the game due to injury.  Many athletes try to play it off and act like they didn’t get hurt, so they stay in.  This usually leads to the injury becoming worse and it ends up hurting them more.  This definitely comes into play with concussions and the NFL.  Players in the NFL are known for trying to be tough guys and not leaving the game, especially after receiving a head injury.  When players receive multiple hits to the head in one game, it tends to add up over time to even more damage.  Brittany Sauser claims, “The average player sustains an estimated 950 impacts to the head during a season; these hits could result not only in concussions but also long-term brain damage.”   This means that it is possible to suffer brain damage with repeated blows to the head, without having a concussion.  According to, Stephanie Smith, all of those hits put more and more damage on the brain, and that damage has a name: chronic traumatic encephalopathy.  (Smith)  Smith went on to say; in research done at the Boston University School of Medicine, they found that in six former NFL players’ brains they examined after their death, CTE was found in all six.  (Smith)  Retired NFL players usually deal a lot with depression, which can lead to suicide, which was the case with Dave Duerson, who recently committed suicide and left his brain to science.  Many doctors and examiners believe that the thousands of hits to the head a player takes over a course of his career can lead to many problems down the road, like suicide.  Stephanie Smith also said; one former player named Ted Johnson said for two years after he retired, he could only muster up enough energy to walk around for about fifteen minutes, and he spent most of his time in bed, with curtains closed, and lights off; he said that he dealt heavily with depression, sleep disorders, and mental fatigue.    Stories like Dave Duerson’s and Ted Johnson’s make the NFL now realize that something needs to be done about this concussion epidemic; there is no way the NFL can go on without trying to protect their players more.



What Can the NFL Do?- Introduction

All throughout time, humans, for some odd reason, have liked activities that deal with action and violence.  You can see examples of this from ancient Rome and gladiators all the way to the sport of boxing.  As a human it is a weird feeling, but for some reason we get excited to see things like this, and would even pay money to see it, as was the case in both of those examples.  Humans get a certain entertaining vibe from actions like fighting or collisions that we like and we can not necessarily explain it.

                One of the major activities that we as humans like in the present day would have to be the sport of football.  American football is a sport that involves a lot of violence and that reason is why so many people enjoy watching it.  The main point of the game is to score points by getting the ball across the goal line, and as a defender, you try to stop the person who has the ball by getting him to the ground.  When these hits that get people to the ground occur, many people get excited because of the impact of the collision.  Although the collisions are very entertaining to watch, that is not the only thing that attracts fans and gets them excited; many people watch the game for the athletic capability of the player. 

                The problem that comes into play with these exciting collisions on the football field is the injuries the players sustain from taking part in this action.  One of the worst injuries a player could sustain would definitely be a head injury, otherwise known as a concussion.  Concussions are serious problems that occur on a game to game basis in the sport of football.  The even bigger problem that comes into play here is that the fans of the sport pay to see the violence in the game, but at the same time, the governing body (which is the NFL or National Football League) needs to protect its players from injuries like concussions, so they might have to change the game a little.  This thought does not sit well with the fans of the game, and even some of the players, so something has to be done to protect the athletes, but not take away from the sport that brings in billions of dollars.  The question that needs to be answered here is how can the NFL protect its players from head injuries and themselves without hurting their product?

What to Look For Next Week...

Next week, I will be diving into the topic of concussions in the National Football League and what the NFL can do to fix the situation without hurting their product.  I want to look at this issue from a Sport Manager's point of view by trying to figure out how to deal with this issue with out making the fans too angry, and losing out on money.  I will be breaking my research down into different parts; each part will contain a different aspect of my research.  I will be looking forward to reading all of your comments on the issue and any suggestions to go along with my research.  Make sure to tune in next week to read about the concussion epidemic; the first part will probably be done by Tuesday.

Most Improved Goes to...

Kevin Love is the winner of this year's NBA Most Improved award.  This award is given out to the player that obviously has improved the most since last season.  I think this was a good call and he definitely deserved it.  Love averaged 20 points per game and 15 rebounds a game.  His rebounds per game led the entire NBA, even beating a man named Dwight Howard.  Although his team only won 17 games, he himself had a career year posting 53 consecutive double doubles, and he even had a 30 point 30 rebound game this year.  Congrats to Kevin Love, the 2011 NBA Most Improved Player.