Finley suffered injuries to his head, neck, and spinal chord, which for two days enabled him from being able to have feeling in any of his extra extremities. Finley's career will probably be over because of this one play. Despite this injury being so serious however, this is already the tenth career ending injury in 2013 in both the NFL and NCAA, which begs a couple of questions for players, coaches, and spectators of the league.
Personally, when rules were first introduced to the NFL and NCAA about hitting zones on quarterbacks, as a fan I was very disappointed to hear this. I had always loved the physicality of the game, especially the bone crushing hits on quarterbacks. Too many injuries were happening, and spectators and coaches weren't noticing it. The rule changes were very controversial at first, however over time people began to realize that it was for the betterment of the game and for the players playing it.
So some questions I am left with are both dealing directly with the rule regulations in football, and questions concerning American needs in entertainment. First, do you all think that football is a game worth playing if over 85% of athletes that play in the NFL sustain injuries that stick with them their whole lives? And second, what is it about the sport that draws Americans towards it so much, even if it means watching players risk their bodies, and potentially lives?
2 comments:
As someone who was never good at football, I can't say I quite understand the risk of your body for a game. But you are right- Americans LOVE football. We bond over it. You say "we" when talking about your team because you feel proud when they win. It's patriotism for your city.
And football makes a ton of money. The NFL franchise is worth billions of dollars. And players get paid millions. There will always be people who are good at football who won't think twice about playing because of the mindset that "it will happen to someone else, but not me" (injury)
Aidan, I agree with Billy's thoughtful comment that you are on to something when you START relating football to essential American values. Can you push that farther: winning, violence, etc.? It'd also be nice to analyze the language of the link you offer -- perhaps even the official NFL response to the preponderance of evidence linking "hits" to traumatic brain injury. You might also be interested in the recent documentary, League of Denial.
MOST OF ALL, THOUGH,WHY ARE THERE SO FEW BLOG POSTS?
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