(Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick Tock) With the hands of time ready to make its move he lies hopelessly waiting for the end to come; as the head throbbing and heart pounding intensifies with each passing second all that was once known slowly begins to fade into the darkness. Michael Lewis Webster, Pittsburgh Steelers 4x Super Bowl Champion and Hall of Fame inductee was announced dead on September 24, 2002 at the age of 50 said due to a sudden heart attack cause by the deterioration of his brain. With his death being the first of many deaths to come due to brain damage I would like to present my compelling argument for why negligence in the NFL continues to be swept under the rug? You must first understand that this has been a practice in the NFL
…show more content…
We are the ones who support the NFL and consume to keep its business running. That being said if we technically have all the power then why is it so hard for us to stop the negligence? In the CBS article which discusses “How Can NFL Fans Not Feel Guilty In Light Of Brain Disease Revelations,” Ryan emphasizes that the first problem that many football fans share is that we see football only as entertainment and nothing more. “It’s easy to forget that behind the facemasks are real people with real families, with children who need functional fathers.” (Ryan Chatelain, CBS) That is where our problems as fans lie and unless we decide to make a change ourselves we can only hope that the NFL and the medical community have made and will continue to make real strides that drastically improve the safety of the game – and therefore the long-term outlook for players. However if we as the fans choose to take matters into our own hands in reshaping the NFL what can we do? “If we sincerely care about both the sport and its players, we fans can use our voices –perhaps through the power of social media — to make sure the NFL and teams know that we’re not OK with that any longer.” (Ryan Catelain, CBS) This being the most obvious solution, requires the fans, consumers, and customers to band together and continuously demand what we want. The more people we have to fight for what we want, the faster the results will come, and as long continue to demand for a better balance between entertainment and safety the NFL will continue to grow in the right direction. Though we the fans may be the first and foremost reason why negligence is now becoming a growing problem in the NFL, we must remember that we are also the best solution if we want to fix this
We are the ones who support the NFL and consume to keep its business running. That being said if we technically have all the power then why is it so hard for us to stop the negligence? In the CBS article which discusses “How Can NFL Fans Not Feel Guilty In Light Of Brain Disease Revelations,” Ryan emphasizes that the first problem that many football fans share is that we see football only as entertainment and nothing more. “It’s easy to forget that behind the facemasks are real people with real families, with children who need functional fathers.” (Ryan Chatelain, CBS) That is where our problems as fans lie and unless we decide to make a change ourselves we can only hope that the NFL and the medical community have made and will continue to make real strides that drastically improve the safety of the game – and therefore the long-term outlook for players. However if we as the fans choose to take matters into our own hands in reshaping the NFL what can we do? “If we sincerely care about both the sport and its players, we fans can use our voices –perhaps through the power of social media — to make sure the NFL and teams know that we’re not OK with that any longer.” (Ryan Catelain, CBS) This being the most obvious solution, requires the fans, consumers, and customers to band together and continuously demand what we want. The more people we have to fight for what we want, the faster the results will come, and as long continue to demand for a better balance between entertainment and safety the NFL will continue to grow in the right direction. Though we the fans may be the first and foremost reason why negligence is now becoming a growing problem in the NFL, we must remember that we are also the best solution if we want to fix this