“I’ve been fuzzy-headed a lot. You use your head a lot, and at the end of my career, I’ll probably be talking like Muhammad Ali.”

Former NFL Offensive Lineman Jason Smith

NFL Football is America’s new national pastime. According to Samford.edu, “It is clear that NFL fans are more engaged with their sport’s teams than the MLB, thus making their teams more valuable. While the MLB and baseball had a good run as “America’s Pastime,” it may be time to turn the reigns over to football.” The age old tradition of getting together with a group of friends to grill out and consume your favorite alcoholic beverage while watching your hometown team compete for victory is ingrained in our American culture. The rush that comes from watching your team score a late touchdown to seal a game or the elation from securing a playoff spot is second to none in the sports world. While these breathtaking moments rule television sets and sports outlets nationwide, there is a darker side of American Football that isn’t covered in the media, where players suffer traumatic brain injuries which in many cases lead to lifelong complications.

Imagine this scenario, your favorite NFL team’s star quarterback is sprinting down the field attempting to pick up a first down. As he tries to make a defender miss, he slips and collides helmet to helmet with an opposing player. While the announcers exclaim about the huge gain on the play, the quarterback stumbles off the field, seemingly disappearing from the game. A few plays later, the same quarterback returns back to the field as if nothing had happened. After the game, it is reported that this player had suffered a concussion and was taken into the concussion protocol program, but had been deemed healthy enough to return to the contest. While there are many programs put in place in order to ensure players are checked on after large collisions, they don’t halt these head injuries. Player safety has been improved over the past years, but the number of reported concussions have been mostly stagnant. Should a sport with data this alarming be allowed to continue to operate?  Proponents who call for a cancellation of NFL Football cite that the sport can lead to brain trauma, and that advancements in player safety haven’t had as many positive effects on the game as intended. The opposing viewpoint, those who believe that professional football should continue, claim that the sport has never been safer, and that new technological improvements in equipment and further research into preventing helmet to helmet contact have protected players like never before.

Football has never been safer: Let the sport continue:

With the arrival of data and information detailing the deadly effects of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy), the NFL has rushed to make the sport safer, and to find ways to reduce harmful collisions between players. Writer Gregg Easterbrook of The New York Times details many of the advancements that the league is making in order to make football safer. Concussions, one of the controversies at the forefront of football, have been reduced according to reports from the NFL. In 2019, the number of concussions reported in the NFL were at a low, reaching only 214 cases compared to 2018’s report of 281 concussions. One possible reason for the reduction in cases could be attributed to various rule changes such as limiting both the opportunity for kick returns in games and contact between players in practice. Easterbrook also calls for an additional rule change, banning the three and four point stance, which in today’s game are unnecessary. By furthering his argument, Easterbrook attempts to reason with his audience by introducing the odds of an NFL player receiving a concussion: only one in ten.

“Would you accept a 1 in 10 chance of concussion in return for $2.8 million, the average N.F.L. annual salary? Maybe yes, maybe no. An adult can grant informed consent regarding that choice — in turn, audiences can enjoy the games guilt-free.”

Gregg Easterbrook, writer for The New York Times

Through informing his audience about the fact that there is only a ten percent chance of a player receiving a concussion, Easterbrook asks his readers if they would risk this miniscule chance for almost three million dollars, a very enticing deal to ponder.

Former Super Bowl champion Marvin Washington writes for The New York Post and details how football, in his words, “is safer than it has ever been.” Washington recognizes that this claim may be contrary to popular opinion, and in doing so details the lengths that the NFL has gone to to make the game more safe. By respecting the fact that there is another viewpoint to the topic, Washington builds his ethos with his audience. In detailing the new measures to support player safety, Washington informs how there have been thirty nine rule changes in the past few years (the article is from 2016). Some of these rules include kickoffs being moved to avoid the opportunity for kick returns, medical experts being implemented on sidelines, and penalties for striking a defenseless player. Washington explains that CTE is a monumental issue in the NFL, but is one that can be solved by further research and development into technology. He calls out to his audience and asks them to, “demand more from the NFL.” Washington would also like the NFL to lead research instead of looking for it, and to be ahead of the curve. Washington is effective in his argument by attempting to reason and communicate with his audience, acting as a leader for a movement that is getting closer to a positive result.

Both Easterbrook and Washington contend that the NFL should be allowed to continue by demonstrating that advancements in technology and rule changes have made the game exponentially safer. To strengthen their arguments, both writers try to reason with their audience through the use of logic.

Football is deadly and therefore should be banned:

When the 2015 film Concussion debuted in theaters around the country, decade long secrets that the NFL had been trying to shelter had come to light. The case of former Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Webster, the first player to have been discovered as having CTE, shined a light on the disastrous effects of head to head contact in football. While prior to the movie many were in fact aware that football wasn’t particularly safe, it wasn’t public knowledge about the extent that the brain disease affected players and the alarming frequency at which it has been found in former athletes’ brains.

“In 2017, Dr. Ann McKee performed autopsies on 111 former NFL players. An astonishing 110 revealed CTE—over 99%.”

Michael Dong, writer for Medium.com

Writer Dave Bry for The Guardian lays out his reason for why football should be abolished, by comparing fans of the game to the likes of “Roman citizens cheering as gladiators fight to the death in the Colosseum”.

NFL team owners, who make money from the spectacle, are more on a level with Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained.

Dave Bry, writer for The Guardian

In developing his case, Bry details the year-long argument he had experienced with one of his friends about whether the NFL should be allowed to continue. He explains that his friend contends that NFL players are adults and professionals who can make their own decisions on if they want to risk their health to play and that if professional football should be banned, then shouldn’t other professions such as police officers and firemen have the same fate? Bry acknowledges that his friend’s argument contains some good points, but that it is flawed. Bry refutes his friend’s claim by explaining that we pay to watch these athletes go out and ruin their bodies and deteriorate their minds. He compares this enjoyment of the physical contact to a primal urge that we have inside of us. Bry additionally says that professional football isn’t necessary for society to function, unlike police and firemen who have a job to keep society organized and safe. Although Bry and his buddy disagree on virtually every point, there is one where they find a common ground: the abolishment of helmets. Bry and his friend cite that helmets have caused more damage than prevented it, and that if helmets were taken away then players would be less inclined to attempt dangerous hits as it would render players unconscious. Bry’s acknowledgement of the counterpoint to his argument and reasoning with the other side is a sign of strength in his writing and persuasion. The way he uses an everyday experience of a debate with his friend until they find a common ground helps to strengthen his points and build a relationship with his audience by relating to them and their experiences. Bry uses an informal, yet informed and persuasive tone to contend his views.

Writer Michael Dong for Medium.com explores why professional football should be outlawed through the mediums of statistics and studies. First detailing CTE and it’s detrimental effects on the brain, Dong builds his logos. Dong also investigates first hand accounts of brain trauma and how former professional players have died very young as a result of the disease.

“It is no longer debatable whether or not there is a problem in football — there is a problem.”

Michael Dong, writer for Medium.com

In an attempt to strengthen his claim that Football is unsafe, Dong informs that both Dr. Bennet Omalu’s research which found the first case of CTE in a former NFL player and Dr. Ann McKee’s studies were questioned and criticized by the NFL. Dong wants his audience to know that the league has tried to keep CTE a secret, and that if not prompted to, would have never done anything to combat it. He informs us that this is because they are more concerned about money and viewership than player safety, and that if the NFL had not intervened with and delayed data about CTE, the professional game would be steps ahead of where it currently sits right now. Dong does acknowledge that there have been some beneficial attempts made to make the game safer such as, “New helmet technology, improved player education, and rule changes”, but that they are too little and too late. Dong takes the stance that it is all up to the NFL and calls them out to make a change now before it becomes too late.

What makes Dong’s argument effective is different from Bry’s. While Bry attempts to appeal to his audience by relating to them and posing his argument in an everyday situation by using pathos, Dong takes a more scientific route and investigates and analyzes studies and numbers, taking a logical stance. Both arguments are effective and detail why the NFL should be banned and explore different reasons as to why. 

NFL football is one of America’s most polarizing topics. The debate on whether players should be allowed to risk their mental and physical wellbeing for large sums of money is one that has been heated for the past decade. One side contends that the sport has become very safe, and will become even more safe as time goes on. With new safety measures imposed on the game, it will allow for the game to flourish and continue for decades to follow according to proponents of professional football. Contrary to these beliefs is the viewpoint that the league has been reluctant to make changes and conduct further research, and that the game won’t become any safer unless the sport is changed completely (i.e. no helmets, new tackling techniques, etc). The debate comes down to whether you enjoy the professional game enough to watch players suffer brain injuries each week. Should a sport this dangerous be allowed to continue? Or should it be up to the players themselves on whether they want to play? 

Works Cited:

The Associated Press. “NFL Players’ Quotes about Concussions.” Fox News, FOX News Network, 18 Nov. 2009, http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2009Nov18/0,4670,FBNHidingConcussionsQuoteBox,00.html?cmpid=prn_foxsports.

Bry, Dave. “American Football Is Too Dangerous, and It Should Be Abolished | Dave Bry.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 4 Jan. 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/04/american-football-is-too-dangerous-and-it-should-be-abolished.

Dong, Michael. “Football’s CTE Problem Is Real- Divulging the NFL’s Dismissal of the Disease and Downplaying of…” Medium, Medium, 5 Nov. 2019, medium.com/@michaeld830/footballs-cte-problem-is-real-divulging-the-nfl-s-dismissal-of-the-disease-and-downplaying-of-3287f8b21863.

Easterbrook, Gregg. “Football Is Here to Stay.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Sept. 2019, http://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/07/opinion/sunday/nfl-football.html.

Freeman, Nate. “Is Football Now America’s Pastime?” Samford University, 3 Jan. 2018, http://www.samford.edu/sports-analytics/fans/2018/Is-Football-Now-Americas-Pastime.

Washington, Marvin. “Football Is Safer Than It Has Ever Been.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Feb. 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/02/05/is-it-wrong-to-watch-football/football-is-safer-than-it-has-ever-been.