maintain, so the National Football League needs to create policies and other regulations to be able to ensure players’ health in the present and the future. CTE has been found to be linked with the deaths of many former NFL players. The first CTE linked death was former player Mike Webster. This became a turning point as “the results of Webster’s brain examination provided the first evidence of a link between the long-term neurodegenerative consequences that are associated with CTE and the exposure to repeated mild traumatic brain injury associated with football” (Abreu, 2016). There’s a relationship between former NFL players that have committed suicide and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy because of how it diminishes their psychologic and cognitive capabilities. It was noted that even family members and friends “noticed cognitive impairments such as memory loss and psychological consequence like increased depression, irritability, aggression, and suicidal thoughts before the former NFL players committed suicide” (Abreu, 2016). People notice when somebody is not acting like their normal character; some former players say they cannot control their temper and that they need help. With the increased research of multiple concussions and head injuries, CTE is more known than ever. The number of cases continues to grow larger and it is becoming a large concern. It is time the NFL becomes more responsible for their lack of action. If people see what has happened to other former players, parents won’t want their kids to get started in football and quite possibly kids themselves won’t want to play. It is getting more difficult to deny that CTE is not at all related to the sport of football. Although football is a sport that is popular for the hard contact and big hits, it is important that people know what could possibly happen down the road later on in life. It is no longer a question if football and CTE are related, because there is a clear connection. There have been proven studies, and numbers clearly show that there is a relationship between football and CTE. The condition can heavily affect a person’s brain for the worse, so it should be discussed in order for people to understand it. The NFL needs to take more responsibility in taking care of those who suffer from CTE because despite it being a sport, the players still work for them: “Treating football players like the workers they are means that we must find a balance between risk and regulation” (Finkel, 2018). Everybody’s health should be maintained as much as possible because it is the most important aspect of life, and football players’ health should be no different.
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