Concussion concerns threaten football's dominance

This post was published in the Wilson Times Nov. 10, 2019.

Last weekend provided a cup overflowing with televised football games — Thursday and Friday night games between high school and college teams, more college games on Saturday with ever-expanding networks to broadcast or stream games between even obscure schools with minuscule followings; and National Football League games nearly all day Sunday, plus a smattering of weeknight games.

Through ticket sales, merchandising and generous television revenue, the NFL is bringing in about $16 billion this year. In little over half a century, the NFL has become by far the dominant professional sports league, and college football retains its hold on collegiate sports culture, challenged only by men’s basketball.

You’d think American football was a sure bet, but America’s love for football and its college and professional leagues face existential challenges resulting from the recognition that CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) threatens the mental functioning and even the lives of football players. Concerns about CTE have led to rules changes that limit the dangerous collisions inherent in a sport that involves very large boys and men hurtling at each other at top speeds. Medical research has found playing football can result in brain injuries (CTE) that might not show up until decades later.

Fewer children are participating in high school football, long the “major sport” in U.S. high schools. You can hardly blame the parents who don’t want to sacrifice their sons’ brains for ephemeral glory and a long-shot opportunity to earn big contracts in professional football. It is a sport where young men can be maimed or killed, and old men lose their memories and reasoning powers.

I played high school football in another era, 50 years ago, and I played for a losing team in a lower competitive level. My first year on the team, I was listed as a 110 pound center. It was a time when no player was held out after “getting your bell rung,” as head injuries were known then. Those injuries were treated with smelling salts and a return to action. There was no concussion protocol, not even the acknowledgement that a concussion occurred. I recall the tackle to my right in the offensive line asking me, “who do I block” after being briefly knocked out on the previous play. He never missed a snap.

A Boston University study found that the risk of developing CTE increases 30 percent for each year of playing football. I played three years, and that is frightening to me now. My son did not play football in high school, but he enjoyed throwing the football around and playing backyard games. None of my five grandsons has shown much interest in playing football in high school, and that’s fine with me.

Last Sunday’s Raleigh News & Observer spotlighted the dilemma with a front page cover story headlined “Can Football Be Saved?” Participation in high school football is down 25 percent since 2010, the N&O reported. Without players, there can be no football. The very long article highlighted a high school coach in Apex who has minimized brain injury risks by eliminating full-speed contact in practices and teaching blocking and tackling techniques to avoid concussions in games. Saving football, it appears, might require drastic changes in how the game is played and practiced. The amazing shows of strength, speed, balance and athleticism may have to be curtailed for football to survive.

But I haven’t stopped watching football on television and, occasionally, in person. The athletic competition, the excitement of the game, the teamwork, the combat-like strategies all appeal to me. It is with a sense of guilty pleasure that I watch football, knowing that the men and young boys playing are risking their health for my (and millions of others’) enjoyment.

It seems inevitable that football will lose its perch atop the popularity of spectator sports. The hidden dangers of CTE will turn off parents, players, fans, and politicians to the point that football recedes into an archaic past in much the same way boxing did.

If football fades away, gone with it will be a testing and maturing opportunity for teenage boys, as well as a cohesive pride that brings communities together. Just look at what Fike High School’s state championships did for Wilson or look at the “Friday Night Lights” TV series. But young people’s health is worth more than community pride.