Has the most popular contact sport in the United States run out of steam?
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Despite the NFL being the most popular sports league in America, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the league office have had to work extremely hard to maintain the image of their brand.
Last summer, the NFL had to try and manage the Ray Rice story that became one of the biggest national stories all year.
Now, the NFL appears to be heading toward another issue that is damaging their credibility and appeal.
Last week, 49ers rookie linebacker Chris Borland retired from the NFL at the young age of 24. Borland justified his early exit from the league by stating, “”I just honestly want to do what’s best for my health,” Borland told Outside the Lines. “From what I’ve researched and what I’ve experienced, I don’t think it’s worth the risk.”
“I’m concerned that if you wait till you have symptoms, it’s too late. … There are a lot of unknowns. I can’t claim that X will happen. I just want to live a long healthy life, and I don’t want to have any neurological diseases or die younger than I would otherwise.”
Borland is not alone. The man he replaced after six games last season, Patrick Willis, shocked the football world when he retired at the age of 30, an age that used to be considered a player’s “prime.”
What is most shocking to football loyalists is that both Boreland and Willis were players who were notorious for their aggression and hard-hitting. It would be much different if a punter or long snapper were to retire, but to see two gladiators who play the same position on the same team retire within days of each other reveals the fragile nature of the sport.
Could early retirement become a trend in a league that has made its money on bone-crushing hits?
It’s not just players from the San Francisco 49ers who are retiring. There were countless jaw-dropping retirements from young talent and players who appeared to still be in their prime.
26-year-old Tennessee Titans quarterback Jake Locker, 27-year old Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Jason Worilds, and 31-year-old cornerback Cortland Finnegan retired earlier this month.
The NFL released a statement today, saying it respected Borland’s decision while reiterating the improved safety measures that the league has taken.
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This is not the first time the NFL has had to address the issue of players experiencing Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).
On May 2, 2012, Hall of Fame linebacker Junior Seau committed suicide at his home in Oceanside. It is largely speculated that Seau was suffering from symptoms of CTE.
A year earlier, former NFL safety Dave Duerson shot himself in the chest and left a suicide note asking that his brain be studied for brain trauma.
According to ESPN, more than 70 former players have been diagnosed with progressive neurological disease after their deaths, and studies have indicated connections between the repetitive head trauma associated with football, brain damage and issues such as depression.
In August 2013, the NFL agreed to pay a $765 million settlement over concussion-related brain injuries among the over 18,000 retired players.
Numbers in Pop-Warner football have steadily declined and it has become more popular for parents to not let their children play football.
With the President Barack Obama, LeBron James and countless other public figures stating that they would not let their kids play football, is football in a real danger of going extinct?
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Photo: Flickr/A.J. Guell
Sure it’s doomed. Now that everyone knows how dangerous it is, no one would ever volunteer to take part in such a hazardous activity. And no one would ever encourage a man to do something so life-threatening. A person would have to be a total idiot to keep playing it or supporting it.
Just like how, now that we know how dangerous warfare can be, men have stopped volunteering for military service, and war will soon cease all over the world. Any day now, people will stop going to war and stop making money off of war. Any day now….