Sports injuries that could be fatal or damaging to the athlete's wellbeing is the topic of the upcoming yearend holiday movie "Concussion." The National Football League (NFL) would surely dislike this film, starring Will Smith as neuropathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu, because it portrays the sports association as villains.
In the film, Omalu discovers Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in the brains of two NFL player who eventually commit suicide, reports 247 Sports. One of those who took his life was Mike Webster, an NFL Hall of Fame awardee.
Because football involves so much physical action, it is inevitable that players experience head butts which damage their brains despite wearing protective gear such as helmet.
With his finding, Omalu goes on a one-man mission to get his work acknowledged by the NFL. However, his plea falls on deaf ears and blind eyes because NFL, ultimately, is big business. Rather than hear his findings which the league insists "comes from nowhere," the doctor is threatened to drop his crusade or else he would be the next corpse to undergo autopsy.
But he insists on the NFL protecting the sport's "warriors" against CTE. A few years ago, medical experts found that a football concussion could result in a permanent head trauma. In response, the NFL put in place several regulations to enforce safety of players. The measures include stricter penalties on unnecessary roughness and moving the kickoffs to the 45-yard-line to increase touchbacks.
However, despite these measures, there were still injuries in the current NFL season which 247 described at a "frenzied pitch."
On Week 9, Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Marionat sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee due to a low hit by Olivier Vernono, defensive end of the Miami Dolphins, during a 38-10 loss on Oct. 18, reports USA Today.
Besides Marionat, other injured players were Sammy Watkins of Buffalo Bills WR who has an ankle injury, DeSean Jackson of Washington Redskins WE for hamstring injury, Vincent Jackson of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers WR who suffers a knee injury, New York Jets player Brandon Marshall who hurt his ankle and toe, T.Y. Hilton of Indianapolis Colts WR for foot injury and Ryan Matthews of Philadelphia Eagles RB who sustained a groin injury.