Sunday, December 20, 2009

Concussions And Such

I played football for nine years. Five years at the high school level. Four years at the NCAA Division III level. I was never completely knocked out. The only injuries I was ever treated for was a broken wrist, a broken finger, and a broken leg. But I did get my bell rung a number of times.

One time in high school we were going through our mid-season "hell week." We were 0-4, and the coach thought we needed to beat the shit out of one another to get better. We were doing this drill where one guy plays the fullback and one guy plays an unblocked defensive end. The full back gets a 5-7 yard running start and tries to knock the defensive end (who gets a couple of yards) off his feet. I went through the first time and knocked the defensive end down. I was woozy, and the second time I think the defensive end got me. I probably did the drill another four or five times. I was woozy throughout, but I certainly couldn't say anything. I would have probably been chastised for not having enough air in my helmet, and told to "suck it up."

During my first practice in college, we were doing a chute drill, I had almost no air in my helmet because we're in shorts, and a senior intentionally missed the bag and put his face-mask right into my face-mask and knocked me silly. I wasn't right for three or four days. This was my first college practice, and I certainly couldn't have said anything.

The point of these stories is that concussions and football have gone together for a long time and occur at all levels. New helmets will help, but football players and coaches have to change their behavior if anything is really going to change.

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