It happens every autumn Sunday. Some poor receiver running a crossing route over the middle of the field goes up to catch a pass only to take a shot to the head from the nearest safety or linebacker. While many fans get excited over plays like these and for years plays like that were just considered hard-nosed football, nowadays the players, fans, and league are increasingly aware that these hits are causing irreversible damage to the players that take them and occasionally the ones that deliver them. Sadly, for years the league knew of the effects these hits could have and for years they swept that knowledge under the rug to avoid player and fan backlash. Now, the league is drastically increasing the rules to ensure player safety, forbidding any types of blows to the head of defenseless player and most recently forbidding use of the helmet while tackling. Football is obviously an incredibly violent sport and many fans of big hits argue that all these rules should go away because the players know what they’re signing up for, but it is the league’s job to ensure player safety to the best of their ability and head injuries are their number one concern.
Paragraph 1: Summarize a brief history of the NFL CTE cover up controversy. Timeline, important figures in both the cover up and the exposing of said cover up. (Pretty much a summary of the movie concussion.)
Paragraph 2: Science behind the concussion and cte issue and what preventative measures are being taken by the league and the players.
Paragraph 3: Opposition from owners and fans to rule changes as well as argument as to why this opposition is not only wrong but borderline sadistic.
Paragraph 4: Closing as to why it is the National Football League’s duty to protect its players to the best of its ability and make sure they limit the long term mental effects of the game.
Conclusion: Summary of argument and closing statements on the matter.