Injuries in the Nfl

National Football League Injury Controversy In America sports are important but football seems to be vastly more important and more widely known as a specifically American sport. The overwhelming topic on any sports network such as ESPN and the NFL Network are the growing number of lawsuits against the National Football League concerning head injuries and lack of concern that the leaders of the NFL had about the risk players were being put in.

Both sides of the lawsuits are passionate about their ideas and making sure that they are not only heard but that action will take place to resolve the situation as a whole. George Orwell states that “one can choose – not simply accept – the phrases that will best cover the meaning, and then switch around and decide what impression one’s words are likely to make on another person”. (115) The power of words can make or break an argument; the words surrounding the NFL Controversy are no different inevitable, permanent and intentionally misleading players putting them at serious health risk.

Inevitability is the strongest stance that the leaders on the National Football League have against the concussion controversy. Football is one of the most barbaric, brutal sports played in America it is a high contact sport that is known for the big hits during crucial moments in a game. Because of the nature of the game there has always been protective equipment that the players are required to wear, one of the most important being the helmet.

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Players are signing contracts with various teams knowing that they are involved in a contact sport and that there is a guarantee that they will be hit. (Rovell) There is no way to stop a player from the opposing team that is running at their full speed to just stop on a dime and not make contact with a player, it simply goes against physics. Rules have recently been put in place fining players for helmet to helmet contact but you cannot knock out the contact entirely without changing the dynamics of the entire game.

The NFL choses to use the word inevitable to describe there is not a clear answer to stop contact all together, the players know how the game is played and what risks are involved, thus proving that the players must have had prior knowledge to the issue and the potential risk to serious injury. The entire controversy began as more and more ex-players were being diagnosed with permanent debilitating neurological disorders. (Anderson) The NFL says this is typical udging by the age range and the regression of the brain as we age, but now there are ex-players in their late 50s and early 60s being diagnosed which is out of character. So it is more or less being swept under the rug as something that is human nature and out of their hands. Most neurological problems can be treated and progression is slowed but the issues are ultimately incurable. Getting a diagnosis of a permanent injury is unimaginable. To most it would be seen as a form of a death sentence, just biding your time before the disorder takes over and your life is cut short.

Psychologically one would begin to question the life they have lived and attempt to adjust to your new normal because the fact is simply there is no going back. Ex-players and family members are using the word permanence to push the feeling of the final stage, and to realize that you’re at your peak and there is nowhere but down. Using this particular word in this context brings up a morbid feeling of looming illness and finally death do to the carelessness of the NFL.

The main point in the case against the National Football League is that they intentionally mislead players and put them at a serious health risk later on in life, by not having the players properly evaluated after suffering from a head injury. Treatments were not regulated and initial baseline testing was being cheated by players so if they did suffer a head injury they would have a larger margin of error and could continue playing. Coaches needed star players so a debilitating injury like a concussion that has a long recovery time was not an option.

Owners and coaches knew sitting a player for weeks on injury reserve would most likely cost them the season and in some cases their jobs and lively hoods so reports would be scrubbed and false information would be recorded to insure the player would return the following week. Using the phrase intentionally misleading players leads one to believe there was prior knowledge of possible serious complications with repeated blows to the head that went untreated.

The power of words and make or break an argument just as it is in the NFL injury controversy. The use of words and phrases are “designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind”. (Orwell,116) Language allows the audience to pick a side of the argument, align themselves and share the same ideas with one side or the other. Having the power to use these trigger words keeps an ongoing chain of support, they are words that are relatable something for an individual to grab onto and run with.

If you are arguing a point you are trying to get someone on your side and to believe that you are saying so you want to appeal to their logic, emotion, and purpose in the most strait forward way which would be the use of language. Work Cited Anderson, Paul D. NFL Concussion Litigation. 2013. Web. 31 Jan. 2013. Orwell, George. “politics and the English Language. ” The McGraw-Hill: Issues Across The Disciplines. 11th edition. Ed. Gilbert Muller. New York: McGraw-Hill,2011. Print. 106-116. Rovell, Darren. ESPN NFL. League files to dismiss lawsuits, 2012. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.

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