Sounds ludicrous, doesn’t it? How can I even think this in light of the way
our team is playing right now, and the very strong fan support that the
TigerHawks have had this year and last? It
is almost impossible to imagine this in our school district because of the
success that our players have had on the field over the past twenty-plus
years. But is it? The common sense part of me says that the
game is too entrenched in American culture, and the culture in our community to
disappear, but the skeptical part of me says that with all that has happened
recently, it is possible. Of course,
nearly anything is possible, and from what has happened in the past few years,
it is worth watching. So what is going
on!
The primary issue has to do with recent studies that
have drawn a direct correlation to concussions in football and significant
brain trauma that leads to a condition common called CTE, or chronic traumatic
encephalopathy. In essence, brain tissue
starts to degenerate and there is an accumulation of tau protein. Individuals who suffer from CTE experience
symptoms of dementia, such as memory loss, aggression, confusion, and
depression. These symptoms tend to
emerge several years after the trauma.
There are still a lot of unanswered questions, but the reality is that
many football players who have suffered numerous head injuries have experienced
less than productive lives in middle age, many of them experiencing depression
and choosing to end their lives. But
those are professional players, and maybe a few college players. That’s different than high school and youth leagues. Well, apparently parents throughout the
country are taking notice of this as the participation numbers in youth and
high school football are dropping dramatically, and have been over the past
three years. Parents are making choices
and many have decided it is just no worth the risk.
At this point, I want to make it clear that I love the
game of football. I played and I coached
the sport, and my son has played. Few
things give me as much joy as watching high school and college football
games. There is no question that people
associated with the sport are taking steps to make the game more safe, and
manufacturers are working on helmets and equipment that do a better job of
protecting the player. Some college coaches would argue that because
of the changes in the game that have resulted in spread formations and a lot of
passing – some people call it basketball on grass – the game is not as physical
as it once was and thus is safer. In our
community, we have a lot of people committed to the sport and passionate about
the game. There is tradition and
passion. But is that going to be enough?
The reality is the football costs a tremendous amount
of money. It does generate revenue, yet
will it be able to cover increasing costs that may in fact increase due to
changes in rules and a greater emphasis on safety. For example, right now we pay a little over
$300.00 for each helmet. Technology is
at a point that there are helmets coming with sensors and other advances that
are an improvement over the ones we currently use, yet the cost for those
helmets may very well be twice the cost of what we currently use. Can public schools afford that cost? Can a school afford to not put their players
in the best and safest equipment? The
other concern is that since we live in a very litigious society, when is that
lawsuit coming over a head injury suffered by a player in Iowa, or somewhere
else for that matter, and insurance rates increase to the point that schools
simply cannot afford the risk.
This might be an example of crying wolf, but from this
perspective, the fact that multi-million, possibly billon-dollar lawsuits are
pending by football players who’s lives have been ruined due to injuries they
suffered from playing the game, one has to wonder whether the game can
survive. Some futurists say that the
game’s days are numbered, except at the highest levels where the money can
insulate it to a large extent. Others
say that because of the huge risk of permanent physical damage, parents will
simply not let their kids play, and eventually there will simply not be enough
kids to play. We have seen a lack of
interest in the sport result in schools drop the sport in Iowa in the past five
years. The number of youth football
players has dropped significantly the past three years, as has the number
playing the game at the high school level in Iowa and other states. One has to wonder what a Friday night in
October would be like without the game that so many love.
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