College Football Research Paper

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“I’ve seen pictures of the brain scans of people with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and it looks like someone drove a truck across their brain” (qtd. in Jost). This is the scary reality of the impact playing football can have on a player’s brain. I think college football should be banned for three reasons. First, it is too dangerous for the players, and the short term and long term medical effects of playing are not healthy. Secondly, illegal behavior is not properly handled because universities are trying to protect their football programs and coaches. Finally, many universities are spending too much money, which should be spent on academics, on their football teams. Obviously there are some problems with this, but after comparing the…show more content…
Football is more than a contact sport; it is a collision sport. “The concept of permanent brain damage and dementia following repeated blows to the head is a very well-established and generally accepted principle in medicine” (qtd. in Jost). In football, players will suffer from repeated blows to the head during games and practices. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is also a growing problem is football today. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is defined as a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma. “Chronic traumatic encephalopathy can only be diagnosed definitively by tissue analysis at the cellular level using specialized proteomics technology” (qtd. in Jost). Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is especially common in college football players. “Studies found that more than three-fifths of college football players suffered concussions during careers; three-fourths of those say they were not held out of play after injury” (qtd. in Jost). The effects of these hits to the head the players are experiencing can have an immediate impact on the player’s health. The damage of one hit is bad, but what is even worse is when the hits are repetitive. They add up and can result in terrible long term damage on a player’s brain. A typical four-season college football career could, in light of this research, result in significant damage for some…show more content…
“When a child sex-abuse scandal at Penn State led the university's Board of Trustees to summarily fire legendary head coach Joe Paterno, along with university President Graham Spanier. Paterno, a revered figure on the State College campus, had come under intense scrutiny for failing to follow up a report from an assistant that his former second-in-command, Jerry Sandusky, had been seen in 2002 sexually molesting a young boy in the locker room shower” (qtd. in Jost). This is outrageous! Both Joe Paterno and Graham Spanier knew that Jerry Sandusky had molested a young child, but they did nothing about it. They did not want their football team to be affected by it, so they just let Jerry Sandusky get away with molesting children. It is unbelievable how a person could get away with sexually abusing a young child just because the abuser is an important football coach for a college
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