Written by: Logan Ulrich ~
Late in the first half of a tight game against Florida State, North Carolina running back Elijah Hood took
the handoff and plowed into the teeth of the defense like he had so many times before. A defender put
his helmet right into Hood’s chest, knocking the ball loose.
Several Seminole defenders stampeded over Hood in a dash for the football. Someone’s knee hit his
helmet as he lay defenseless on the ground, and Hood, who’s played football since he was five, suffered
his first concussion.
A voracious reader, Hood already knew a lot about the concussion controversy the sport of football has
found itself embroiled in for more than a decade. Personal experience sharpened the lesson. The
former Eagle Scout could tell something was amiss. The brain he previously had such command of
seemed gummed up and inefficient.
“You can just tell, everything is just off,” Hood said. “You do things repetitively because you forget you
did them. Someone said I walked in a circle and didn’t notice. You do some wacky stuff.”
Given this, it’s possible to understand how for the first time since the early 20th century there are
questions about the long term viability of football. Increased concern about head injuries like
concussions have parents questioning whether the sport is safe for their children.
“I think it’s well understood that there is a black cloud over the sport of football right now,” Kevin
Guskiewicz, noted concussion researcher and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UNC-Chapel
Hill, said.
“There are serious concerns about whether or not the game should exist, certainly should
exist in the way in which it’s played today.”
* * *
Dr. Bennet Omalu discovered a link between concussions and brain damage in 2002 when he examined
the brain of a deceased former Pittsburgh Steeler, Mike Webster. He found concentrations of a
particular protein in areas of the brain which were similar to patients with Alzheimer’s. The condition,
called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), seemed to be caused by the repeated blows to the head
Webster experienced as a football player.
It took seven years for the NFL to acknowledge the link between concussions and CTE. Since then, there
has been a movement to reform the game. The NFL shortened the kickoff distance to cut down on kick
returns after identifying most catastrophic injuries occurred on that play. The NFL has also emphasized
penalizing most helmet-to- helmet hits to defenseless receivers, and the NCAA took it a step further by
ejecting players who commit such hits.
The league has also instituted a concussion protocol to better protect players suspected of having a
concussion from staying in the game or returning to the field too soon. In the past, players would just
play through “getting their bell rung”—a mentality the league is trying to eradicate through education.
None of these reforms has made the problem go away. Though the reforms extend all the way down to
the youth football level with U.S.A. Football’s “Head’s Up” program teaching proper tackling technique,
it still hasn’t been enough to satisfy the worried mothers of America. From 2010 to 2015, participation
in youth football dropped from 3 million to 2.1 million, according to data collected by U.S.A. Football.
And after Omalu’s story became the movie Concussion in 2015, the concern about the frequency of
concussions in football reached a crescendo. Several players have retired early from the sport, citing
concern about the long-term effects playing football will have on their bodies. The NFL has also settled
a billion-dollar lawsuit alleging it hid research about concussions from players.
Television rating have fallen by double digit percentages, though ESPN president John Skipper says he
thinks the NFL and football, which makes up a significant portion of his network’s programming and
revenue, will continue to thrive.
“ESPN without football is pretty unthinkable,” he said.
There are a number of factors at play behind the ratings drop, including competition with one of the
most intriguing elections in history and an increased number of consumers “cord cutting” and watching
TV through non-traditional means. NFL football remains America’s most popular sport by far, with
millions of viewers and billions in revenue.
But for the first time in a long time, there are cracks in the NFL’s shield.
“I think we’re reaching a point…if you just think about the way the federal government has gotten
involved, there’s these Congressional hearings around this, that I could see a day where football is
banned,” Guskiewicz said.
* * *
This isn’t the first time the future of the sport has been questioned. In 1905, President Theodore
Roosevelt assembled a committee of Ivy League coaches and athletic directors to reduce the brutality of
football. That year alone, 18 players died playing the game, mostly from internal injuries, head trauma
or broken necks and backs.
Football looked little like the modern version in 1905. There were no helmets or shoulder pads, and the
game was more akin to rugby with scrums of players fighting for a watermelon sized ball. Facing a social
and political movement to ban the sport led by the president of Harvard University, the committee
instituted the forward pass to spread players out on the field. It also initiated the practice of stopping
the game when players fell on the ground to eliminate the crushing pileups that claimed so many
victims.
By 1920, leather helmets were being used, and those developed into the hard-shelled helmets used
today. Shoulder pads and other protective equipment was also added, and other rule changes like
eliminating spear tackling — using the head as the first point of contact, which places enormous stress
on the spinal column and can result in catastrophic injury and paralysis — were added in later years.
“It is a safer game today than it’s ever been,” Guskiewicz said.
Rule changes to protect players are consistent with the history of the sport. Yet there’s pushback from
traditionalists who think the new rules are making the sport soft, or making the game less exciting.
Guskiewicz — himself a fan of the game who let all three of his sons play youth football — acknowledges
that sentiment. Change is hard, but he believes it’s necessary.
“We have to be proactive,” he said. “These leagues have to get smart about trying to preserve the game,
even if it’s going to dramatically change the game.”
There’s still much to be done in the field of concussion research, Guskiewicz says. He cautions that the
media have sometimes reported ahead of the science when it comes to concussions, and that his goal is
to make the sport as safe as possible. But he doesn’t sugarcoat the reality that drastic changes are in
store for football.
“It’s going to be a different game, I will guarantee you, than what it was 15 years ago,” Guskiewicz said.
“It’s going to be a different game than what it is today in probably 15 years from now. Some would
argue or question whether it’s going to exist 15 years from now.”
That leaves players like Hood and others with a decision to make. Chase money, fame and the ability to
play a game for a living while hoping you make it out with enough unscrambled brain matter to enjoy
the fruits of your labor? Or walk away and wonder what could have been?
“You have to take risks when you come out to play,” Hood said. “It’s like anything, you’ve got take risks
to have success in anything. You’re not going to be successful if you don’t take risks.”
At least for now, Hood’s decision is clear.
“You got to do what you got to do,” he said. “You have to lay it out there like anybody else.”
