Why I stopped watching football
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Published 2022-01-19
Are you a football fan? So was I. But a few years ago, I learned some things that totally changed my mind. Football fans everywhere are prepping for the Super Bowl - the Big Game - but I’ll be sitting on the sidelines for this one and I can’t bring myself to participate in the NFL festivities, even if it can be very fun. The reason? I discovered so many awful truths about football (and contact sports in general) and their relationship with concussions, dementia, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. It was enough to turn me off of football, even as a native Wisconsinite and huge Packers fan. I hope you’ll hear me out and make up your own mind. And be warned that this episode contains some heavy stuff, including depictions of serious bodily harm and discussion of injury and death.
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Sources:
Cantu, R.C. “Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy In The National Football League.” Neurosurgery, doi:10.1227/01.neu.0000255514.73967.90.
Casson, I.R., et al. “Twelve Years of National Football League Concussion Data.” Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach, doi:10.1177/1941738110383963.
Moser, R., et al. “Neuropsychological Evaluation in the Diagnosis and Management of Sports-Related Concussions.” Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, doi:10.1016/j.acn.2007.09.004.
Omalu B.I., et al. “Chronic traumatic encephalopathy in a National Football League player.” Neurosurgery. doi: 10.1227/01.neu.0000163407.92769.ed.
Smith, D.H., et al. “Chronic Neuropathologies of Single and Repetitive TBI: Substrates of Dementia?” Nature Reviews Neurology doi:10.1038/nrneurol.2013.29.
Tagge, C.A., et al. “Concussion, Microvascular Injury, and Early Tauopathy in Young Athletes after Impact Head Injury and an Impact Concussion Mouse Model.” Brain, doi:10.1093/brain/awx350.
“What Is a Concussion?” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. www.cdc.gov/headsup/basics/concussion_whatis.html.
“What Causes Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)?” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/tbi/conditioninfo/causes.
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