IS THE GREY CUP (SUPER BOWL) HEADED FOR EXTINCTION?

IS THE GREY CUP (SUPER BOWL) HEADED FOR EXTINCTION?

I am fearlessly predicting that the Grey Cup in Canada and the Super Bowl in the USA are headed for extinction. The reason is fairly simple: there will be no players willing to participate in a few years. Why you ask? Parents will no longer allow their children to begin playing football at an early age and consequently the pool of talent will become non existent. Let me explain!

A neuropathologist has examined the brains of 111 deceased N.F.L. players — and 110 were found to have C.T.E.. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma, often athletes in sports such as football, hockey, boxing, wrestling, and rugby. These sports lend themselves to repeated blows to the head, which is not really a healthy practice, no matter the context. 

The brain floats on its stem in fluid inside your skull. When the skull stops suddenly, twists violently, or takes a blow, the floating brain can smack or rub against the rough inside of the skull. At this point researchers believe that the brain tissue can become damaged and a protein called tau can become present. As time goes on this tau protein spreads and begins to interfere with the proper functioning of the brain. This is the nightmare known as CTE.

Symptoms of CTE, which occur in four stages, generally appear eight to ten years after an athlete experiences repetitive mild traumatic brain injuries. First-stage symptoms include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as well as confusion, disorientation, dizziness, and headaches. (Not to be confused with symptoms of Old Age)

Second-stage symptoms include memory loss, social instability, impulsive behaviour, and poor judgment. Third and fourth stages include progressive dementia, movement disorders, speech impediments, sensory processing disorder, tremors, vertigo, deafness, depression and suicidal tendencies. In days of yore, when former boxers exhibited some of these symptoms, they were said to be punch-drunk.

The only way to lessen your risk of CTE is by reducing the number of times you take a hit to the head. This obvious conclusion will result in every parent in Canada and US preventing their child from playing football: ergo no more CFL, NFL, Grey Cup or Super Bowl. This persuasive evidence should be enough to convince any parent.

In reality however, a total of 1.23 million youth ages 6 - 12 played tackle football in 2015, up from 1.216 million the year before. This data confirms that there are almost 2.5 million stupid parents currently breathing without assistance. How can any parent who reads and understands the risks of brain trauma continue to support a contact sport that might permanently affect and ultimately damage their child?

How can people not understand that repeated blows to the head, whether minor or very forceful, is a bad practise and can cause severe brain damage? Are they the victims of CTE themselves? I just shake my head! (gently, of course!)

PS After completing this blog, I read where Donald Trump did not think that he would let his son Barron participate in football for the reasons I have outlined. I am currently spinning my mental wheels trying to decide if Trump's support of my caution is good news or not. Even more troubling is the notion that Donald Trump and I BOTH agree on something. That is very scary!