At least 1 in 4 NFL players has CTE. Can you still love football?
A new study found that at least one in four former NFL players had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) at their time of death. This raises questions about the morality of being a football fan, given the substantial harm the sport inflicts on players.
Intelligence analysis by Llama
A study found that at least one in four former NFL players had CTE, leading to questions about the morality of being a football fan. The sport inflicts harm on players, but also creates shared rituals and civic pride.
Imagine you're playing a game with your friends, but every time you get hit, you get a little bit of brain damage. That's basically what's happening to football players. They're getting hit a lot, and it's causing problems with their brains. It's like getting a little bit of a concussion every time you play, and it adds up.
Analysis
The NFL's Brain Damage Problem is Even Worse Than We Thought
The NFL's brain damage problem is a ticking time bomb, and a new study has just made it clear that the situation is even worse than we thought. The study, published in the journal BMJ, examined the brains of 235 former NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021. It found that at least one in four of those players had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) at their time of death.
CTE is a progressive, degenerative brain disorder caused by repeated blows to the head. It can be debilitating in its advanced stages, with symptoms including memory loss, confusion, depression, erratic behavior, and personality changes. Researchers have long linked CTE to the recurrent head trauma common in football and other contact sports. But this study offers one of the clearest estimates yet of just how widespread the disease is.
It's not a freak occurrence confined to an unlucky few - it's a significant occupational hazard, akin to black lung disease in coal miners. Federal regulators have intervened to protect coal miners and other people in hazardous jobs, of course - but they've stayed on the sidelines when it comes to sports. Football is an American institution, after all. And regulators have few obvious ways to make the game safer.
Last year, the Trump administration proposed formally excluding from standards enforcement hazards that are 'inherent and inseparable from the core nature of a professional activity.' (That proposal has not been finalized yet.) Is danger inherent to the 'core nature' of football? And, if it is, how do fans reconcile their love of the sport with the substantial harm that it inflicts?
'Part of what makes football interesting is that it refuses to resolve itself morally,' the cultural critic Chuck Klosterman told Vox earlier this year. 'It doesn't let you land comfortably on one side or the other.' Klosterman, who recently published a book about football, is one of these people who believes that danger is inherent to the sport: Remove it, he said, and the stakes diminish - the whole game gets less meaningful.
At the same time, football arguably does a lot of good, too: It creates shared rituals and civic pride; it gives millions of people a sense of belonging in an otherwise atomized world. So where does that leave fans? Somewhere uncomfortable, I suppose. But we can draw a couple practical conclusions: Kids should not play tackle football. And both the NFL and college football programs should keep working to improve helmets and cut down on contact, especially in practices.
The study's findings are a stark reminder of the need for action. The NFL and college football programs must take concrete steps to reduce the risk of CTE and other head injuries. This includes improving helmets, reducing contact in practices, and providing better support for players who have suffered head injuries.
In the meantime, fans must confront the reality of the sport they love. They must ask themselves whether the thrill of the game is worth the risk of brain damage and other injuries. And they must demand that the NFL and college football programs take action to protect the players who make the game possible.
Key points
- A new study found that at least one in four former NFL players had CTE at their time of death.
- The study highlights the need for the NFL and college football programs to improve helmets and reduce contact in practices.
- Kids should not play tackle football, and parents should steer their kids away from the sport.
- The NFL and college football programs must take concrete steps to reduce the risk of CTE and other head injuries.
The NFL and college football programs are taking steps to improve helmets and reduce contact in practices, which could help reduce the risk of CTE and other head injuries. Additionally, the study's findings could lead to increased awareness and education about the risks of football and the importance of player safety.
The study's findings are a stark reminder of the need for action, but it's unclear whether the NFL and college football programs will take concrete steps to reduce the risk of CTE and other head injuries. If they don't, the problem could continue to worsen, leading to more players suffering from brain damage and other injuries.
