Article by Owen Pustell

Concussions Shock Football World

A brief look into footballs concussion crisis and how people are reacting

By Owen Pustell

The final notes of the National Anthem fade out as the last fans filter into Foothill College Stadium, an electric feel pulses through the air, and players finish strapping up their gear and prepare for opening kickoff. A dull thud sends the ball flying off the tee and into the night sky. It stays suspended in the air for a brief moment before plummeting back towards the field and into the waiting arms of an armor clad returner. Helmets crack and pads clash as he dashes into the sea of flying bodies, hoping to find an opening. Yet, a member of the opposing team quickly wraps him up and drags him down. The crowd full of students, teachers, and family members roars its approval and settles into their seats, anticipating a competitive and entertaining night of high school football. The fans keep the energy level high through the game until, deep in the fourth quarter, a player collapses after taking a hit. The cheers lull and players take a knee. He is down for 15 minutes while trainers check him for signs of a concussion or other more serious head and neck injuries. He is strapped to a gurney and wheeled into a waiting ambulance to a light applause from the fans. It’s a relatively small amount of time for people to be waiting, and the stoppage is soon forgotten as the tension of the fourth quarter takes over. For the injured player, however, the effects could last a lifetime.

It’s moments like these that threaten to bring America’s most popular sports to its knees. Data released over the past decade reveal the true dangers of football, in particular stories of concussions, broken limbs and players crippled for life have scared parents into banning their kids from the sport. Concerned parent Emma Jones (name changed to protect anonymity) says that even with new equipment and rule changes she is still hesitant to let her son play. The truth is that football is a dangerous sport, and the main reason behind the recent decline in youth participation is the fear of injuries that hangs over the heads of players and parents. In the early and mid 2000’s, data about the true extent of injuries in the NFL was released and the effect on the game’s lower levels were felt immediately, from 2009-2014 youth tackle football participation has dropped almost 18%. Even more shocking is the decrease in non-contact football: in 2009, around 3,000,000 kids lined up to play touch football, but in 2014 almost a third of them had moved on. Only 2,032,000 participants remained.

Even NFL players have retired prematurely due to the fear of Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disease that affects people who have sustained repeated hits to the head. CTE was first discovered in football players in the early 2000’s when an autopsy was conducted of longtime Steeler center, Mike Webster.

Despite his relatively small size, Webster was known for being aggressive in his playing style, utilizing his head to batter opponents. He was found dead in his car at age 50 after decades of drug addiction, aggressive outbursts, depression, paranoia and chronic pain.

Originally no link was drawn between Webster’s years in the sport and the destruction of his mental state in the years following his retirement. However, an autopsy conducted

by Dr. Bennet Omalu revealed tau protein build ups in his brain. The proteins had been seen before in boxers and soldiers as a result of repeated head trauma but never documented in football players.

Since then there have been hundreds of former football players diagnosed with CTE prompting an extensive investigation into the effects of the sport.A comparison of brains with and without CTE The results were shocking, a study conducted

by Dr. Ann Mckee found that out of the 111 former NFL players studied all but one of them had CTE. The subjects’ age at death varied from 23 to 89, every position on the field was included (except long snappers), and players came from all eras of the game. One of the most famous accounts of CTE was documented in Junior Seau, the star linebacker played for 19 seasons during the 1990’s and 2000’s. In May of 2012 Seau would tragically take his own life. After struggling with his deteriorating mind, Seau intentionally shot himself in the heart in order to preserve his brain for scientific investigation. Despite never having a reported concussion, Seau would be diagnosed with CTE at the age of 43 years old.

The Seau case sent the football world into shock; it seemed crazy that someone only 2 years removed from the league would suffer so badly that they took their own life.

However, cases like this are more common than one would expect.

Unlike Seau, Daniel Te’o Nesheim was not a standout in the NFL. His 4 year stint had him bouncing on and off practice squads, and he totaled just five sacks.

However, just like Seau, he would soon be facing a much tougher competition than any NFL field had to offer. Nesheim’s behavior after being drafted confused his friends and family. After years of hard work he had finally reached his goal of playing in the NFL, but still, things were not right. His journal held the answers; when opened, it revealed the punishment that is NFL life. During solitary offseason workouts, he documented a Labrum tear which continued to hurt through Daniel Te’o Nesheim during an NFL game the preseason and bone spurs that shredded his ankle. Even more concerning was “During his the treatment offered by the team: he was pumped full of rookie season Indocin and given cortisone shots to suppress the pain. he would record During his rookie season he would record more surgeries more surgeries than starts. He was sent down to the practice squad just before the season opener but was picked up by Tampa Bay later in the year. Things turned around for Daniel with the Buccaneers during his third year. He was reunited with college teammates and appeared in every game, recording a career high of 4 sacks. But despite his breakout season, he still remained disconnected from family and largely inaccessible. His journal showed numerous injuries piling up, including chronic headaches, his first signs of CTE. During his fourth and final year he once again made an appearance in all 16 games but failed to capitalize on the previous seasons success as he recorded 26 fewer tackles and 0 sacks.

The prescribed drugs continued to increase: he was given Ativan, Percocet, Adderall and Vicodin to fight pain in his ankle, shoulder, neck, finger and head. After going unsigned as a free agent, his life began to go even further off the rails. He became increasingly paranoid, forgot purchases that he had made and remained distant with family which only worried them more. After years of staying in hotels Te’o returned to Hawaii to coach his high school team. He still struggled with chronic pains all over his body and was battling memory problems. He visited a doctor in 2017 to check him for injuries from football in order to file for a disability check. The doctor reported serious damage in his neck, shoulder, ankle and bicep and recommended that he apply for the benefits. Soon after Daniel Te’o Nesheim would be found dead at a friends house, the next day his benefits application was denied because he was not hurt enough from football to qualify. His brain was donated to Boston College where it was studied, they found severe damage consistent with that of CTE.

With stories like these coming out the future of the game is at risk. Former players like Lucas Okuma are expressing their regret to playing sport by saying that if they could go back they would not have played high school football. Okuma, currently the athletic trainer at Los Altos, also says that the sport being played in high school is “hard to justify” and the main reason for its continuity is the following it has developed. Former NFL player John Broussard disagrees, saying that the opportunities football has given him have allowed him to improve life for his family, open his own business, and even attend Harvard online at the expense of the NFL. Contradictions such as these make it nearly impossible for parents to accurately weigh the risks and rewards or letting their kids play the sport. On one side there is the life after football in which athletes who once performed before audiences in the tens of thousands are confined to wheelchairs in their forties or even dead from mental problems while the other side boasts figures who have taken the skills learned in the NFL into a successful post football career.

“The Sport being played in high school is ‘hard to justify”

Owen Pustell is a Junior at Freestyle Academy with a focus in film and also attends Los Altos High School where he plays varsity football. The inspiration for the article was derived from the film Concussion which focuses on the story of Dr. Bennet Omalu (played by Will Smith) and his path to exposing the NFL’s injury crisis. In the future, Pustell hopes to remain involved in football through coaching Pop Warner teams and continuing his avid enthusiam for the sport.