Where’s your head at?
The NFL made over $9 billion in 2013 and the league shows no signs of slowing down. TV ratings are higher than ever and the game has never been more exciting. Despite all of this success, there is a black cloud hanging over the sport. Research has shown that 1 in 3 people who have played in the NFL will be affected by brain trauma. These former football stars will also show signs of dementia at a younger age than the rest of the population. The game is inherently violent, but its long-term effects on brain health have not been discussed until recent years. This is a result of thousands of retired players suffering from brain injuries such as CTE(chronic traumatic encephalopathy) and banding together to sue the NFL for its long time denial of a connection between football and brain injury. Tony Dorsett is one of those retired players who sued the league for its inaction concerning ths issue. Dorsett had a productive career as a Running Back, but is now suffered from CTE. “I signed up for this when, I guess, I started playing football so many years ago. But, obviously, not knowing that the end was going to be like this. But I love the game. The game was good to me. It’s just unfortunate that I’m going through what I’m going through. I’m in the fight, man. I’m not just laying around letting this overtake me. I’m fighting. I’m in the battle. I’m hoping we can reverse this thing somehow.”
The discussion continues to evolve and many people wonder if the game should be played at all. Just last night, a promising 24-year-old Linebacker named Chris Borland decided to retire from the NFL due to concerns about his tong term mental health. Borland has received varying responses from the football world. Some are congratulating Borland for prioritizing his health over the promise of millions of dollars in salary that he would make if he stayed in the NFL. Others are questioning his “heart” and desire to compete. Mike Florio, a columnist for ProFootballTalk attempts to cast Borland aside. He used Twitter to suggest that there are plenty of people to replace Borland and that there are many jobs that are dangerous to the brains of workers. He decides to cite “jumping out of airplanes, rock climbing, working as a police officers, firefighters” as examples of jobs that present brain injury risks. But in the NFL, players subject themselves to a brain injury during every play.
These pieces of glitch art feature some of the more brutal hits in the NFL. These plays are violent, dangerous, and considered must see TV. Fans love to see a player dish out a punishing tackle. The research on brain injuries has forced NFL fans to think about the consequences of these big hits. The glitch art medium allows us to think of the image as a representation of the players’ brains. Each hit causes more damage, and eventually, the brain begins to scramble, just like the glitch art. These men are being blown away. The images force us to stop and think about the risks that come with playing football. We often focus on the amount of money that these men make to play a game. But, they’re putting their brains at risk and they only make a small fraction of the $9 billion revenue that the NFL rakes in. They retire from the game, battered and brain damaged, and visibly begin to lose cognitive function. We need to think about the risk we take when we allow our children to play football and what can be done to help former NFL players who suffer from this brain damage.
Connor Doyle
