Tag Archives: Football

Concussion

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concussion posterFootball season is almost over. Only one game left. SuperBowl 50 between the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos in California. Hopefully, a good game with a close finish. Meanwhile, the other players go home, catch up with family and friends and nurse injuries.

Brain injuries are the issue the movie Concussion, which stars Will Smith as Dr. Owalu. Dr. Owalu is a smart, inquisitive pathologist who discovers a pattern of serious brain injuries in former pro-football players. The premise of the movie is that football is a dangerous sport. The players may willingly sign up for the knee injuries, ankle fractures and other orthopedic problems, but the players are also at risk for traumatic brain injury due to repetitive brain trauma and may not be aware. The NFL is portrayed as a corporate entity that knew some of the retired players were displaying symptoms similar to dementia but covered it up to protect profits. Broadly, the big corporation is arrayed against a little guy willing to blow the whistle on a problem the corporation is well aware of.

The movie is slow going initially, but when Mike Webster (played by David Morse), a well-loved former Pittsburgh Steeler dies suddenly, the movie finds it footing. Mike Webster’s autopsy finding lead to the discovery of these traumatic brain injuries dubbed CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). At first worried about the future of football, the NFL tries to silence Dr. Owalu. After all, dementia can’t be fixed with surgery, pills or some therapy. As one character says, “If even 10% of mothers don’t allow their sons to play football, it’s the end of pro-football.” But once another well-known player, a part of the NFL establishment commits suicide, the momentum shifts toward acknowledgement of the problem.

The NFL has made efforts to dig deeper into CTE and figure out a way to make the game safer. Who knows? These efforts may stumble on a way to diagnose dementia sooner, which may lead to treatments to slow or reverse the disease. It’s in the league’s best interest to do so. There’s less emphasis on big hits. There’s no eye rolling or other demeaning comments when a player is kept out due to a concussion. Better helmet design has received more funding. Today, news reports said Ken Stabler, former quarterback, died of colon cancer but his brain autopsy showed severe CTE. His family spoke about symptoms consistent with dementia Mr. Stabler showed in the past few years.

I don’t see football going away anytime soon, though. It’s a great game to watch, moves quickly, and provides a career for a fair number of athletes. I’ll be watching the big game Sunday and critiquing the commercials along with all the other fans. But it may be that if the number of suspected cases of CTE prove true, more mothers may say no to football.

 

Super Bowl XLIV

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New England        vs.          Seattle

The 2015 Super Bowl is over, and the New England Patriots won. Oh, well. I was rooting for the Seattle Seahawks. I find the amount of attention attached to the Super Bowl each year fascinating. Captive audience, varied demographics, a sport everyone at least recognizes even if they don’t follow or understand – an advertiser’s dream. I am old enough to remember when there was no such thing as a Super Bowl, but that’s another post.

Before the game, I went to my local Publix, got a grocery cart (they’re call buggies here but having been raised in the Midwest, I have not taken to the term) and headed into the store. I knew it would be crowded based on the number of cars in the parking lot. Sure enough, the line at the deli counter was fifteen deep. I noted that my fellow shoppers’ carts had varying amounts of food, drinks, and other items. Some were post church folks stocking up for the week, but most were game folks sent on a mission to retrieve items for the Super Bowl party. I saw a fair number of men with cell phones held to the ear, frowns on faces, looking at shelves for whatever the person on the other end of the phone had directed them to buy.

Major events and holidays in the US center on food – Thanksgiving at number one followed by Christmas, New Years, Memorial Day, and 4th of July. The Super bowl is not a holiday but an event, and food is a large part. Chips, dips, wings, sausages, pizza, soda, beer, ice cream and cupcakes – a nutritionist’s nightmare. As a nation, I think we look forward to these days, and the food associated, because they are the few times during the year where you can eat what you want in the company of others eating just as much food of poor nutritional value as you and not feel guilty about it. In fact, it’s encouraged.

The ads in the newspapers and on television for two to three weeks before the Super Bowl implore shoppers to come to their stores for whatever it takes to throw a good bash. You might buy a new TV or new furniture, but you definitely need food. Part of the reason football withdrawal happens is not only losing the games to watch, but the food that goes with it.

We were invited to a friend’s house. He typically throws a combination birthday-Super Bowl party. The main television room spectators had divided into the New England camp on one side and the Seahawks camp on the other. The emotion and trash talking associated with each score for either team kept spirits high and attention, for the most part, on the game. A close game makes for the best Super Bowl, and Sunday’s game did not disappoint. The last minute interception by New England galvanized that camp.

The food came in a close second to the game. The spread was immense, mostly Jamaican dishes – curry, jerk chicken, gumbo, fish stew, and several others with birthday cake, cupcakes, and brownies for dessert. The food was delicious, and I ate my fair share.

Today, New England is rejoicing, Seattle is vowing next year, and I’m back to watching what I eat and drink as I write this post. I’m sure I’m not alone.