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Column: "Concussions have become the new global warming"

What is it with the extreme right-wing and their seemingly strong case of Einsteinophobia (yes, my new term for fear of science). Just yesterday, I read an article where Texas Senator Ted Cruz compared himself to Galileo and compared climate-change alarmists to "flat-Earthers," even though logic would dictate that climate-change deniers are the flat-Earthers in this scenario. Then today, I read an article written by a Fox News guest columnist, entitled, "So Long, NFL: San Francisco 49ers' Chris Borland is no hero," where Dylan Gwinn starts his "piece" by saying this:

"Don't look now, but concussions have become the new global warming: a debate where 'consensus' trumps evidence, and heroes and villains are determined by their stances on an issue where the science is bogus at worst and murky at best."

Gwinn finishes the article with this paragraph:

"What we know for sure is that, as with the climate-change debate, the media will feed us nothing but a steady diet of fear and angst. And the facts that show football isn't killing people will be an inconvenient truth."

First thing's first, 97% of climate scientists agree that humans have caused global warming (or climate change). So, if Dylan Gwinn really wants to cast doubt on the dangers of football, namely concussions, he may want to make a different comparison. Then again, to him, "evidence" trumps consensus - you know, evidence like rising temperatures, melting ice caps, rising sea levels, more intense and damaging storms, etc. When it comes to climate change, much to Gwinn's dismay, it appears that there's near consensus because of the evidence. So, right from the outset of Dylan Gwinn's column, he appears to be less concerned about consensus or evidence (which resulted in the consensus) and more concerned with the consensus of one person, himself, and the evidence he's decided to pick and choose in an attempt to prove his point.

Now, I for one, love football. I enjoy watching coaches battling wits, as if in a chess match of sorts. I enjoy watching great execution by the offense and defense - seeing eleven players perfectly in sync with one another to pull off the perfect play, much like watching poetry in motion. I enjoy the improvisation and players finding a way to trample the odds. When his offensive line didn't do their job and he appeared to be bound to lose four or five yards, it amazed me to watch former running back Barry Sanders juke, dance, spin, and hurdle his way for an almost mathematically-impossible touchdown. I enjoy upsets, of seeing a team that's clearly over-matched finding a way to pull off an incredible victory. I enjoy seeing the passion of the players and coaches, of people being brothers and fighting for each other, regardless of age, race, creed, or orientation. Like a great movie, I enjoy the unpredictable plot twists and breathtaking climaxes of some games as well. So, if anyone doesn't want to see football end due to concussions and the fear of a shorter life due to the game, it's me. However, even for as much as I love football, I'm not going to be naive about the dangers involved in it, especially with regard to head injuries. Now, Dylan Gwinn is right about one thing in his article - the science/evidence regarding concussions in football is still quite murky. We're really in the beginning stages of researching the matter and it will take some time to be as confident about the NFL's ultimate impact on players' livelihoods (in relation to head injuries) as we are about  humans' impact on climate change.

It may just be a PR campaign by the NFL at this point, but as more retired players report back about how head injuries have impacted them in the long-term and as more research is being done on the matter, the more changes the league has made in an attempt to decrease the number of concussions. To this point in the research, there appear to be definite reasons to continually make such changes. Out of 79 former NFL players whom donated their brains to the nation's largest brain bank after their eventual deaths, 76 were shown to have "degenerative brain disease." Also, in a study conducted by the NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health), it was found that NFL players are over three times more likely than other men of contracting ALS and Alzheimer's Disease, and slightly more likely to contract Parkinson's Disease. Again, the research is still in its early stages, but to this point, it appears to be trending in the direction of football historically having a significant impact on players' health in the long-term. Hopefully the league can make enough adjustments and outright changes to slow this trend, and even reverse it, before an increasing number of players, like Chris Borland, decide to take their talents elsewhere, the talent in the league decreases, and with that, the entertainment value does as well. Chris Borland may not technically be a "hero," but most people respect his decision, and unless football fans, such as myself, want this to be the start of a trend, we'll be highly supportive of making proper changes to the game in order to decrease the odds of players getting concussions and suffering the ill consequences of those head injuries further down the line.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/25/fox-news-concussions-global-warming-climate-change_n_6939490.html

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/03/23/so-long-nfl-san-francisco-4ers-chris-borland-is-no-hero/

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