Football: A gladiatorial sport
Brendan Monroe
Issue date: 10/30/09 Section: Opinions
It was an otherwise ordinary October day when Ryne Dougherty, a 16-year-old linebacker at Montclair High School in northern New Jersey, tackled the opposing team's ball carrier. The tackle itself was not anything special-it was not replayed on ESPN, or even noted on the team's post-game report-except for one thing. Dougherty, a junior at the small school of 2,000, died after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage from the hit.
"It's unreal," said Malika Miller, a Montclair High junior and classmate of Dougherty. "Someone sitting next to you a couple of days ago is just gone like that."
"Gone like that" is a good way to describe the health and lives of many football players who inevitably develop complications from years of hard hits and jarring blows. The truth is that Dougherty's case, while tragic, is not at all unique. There have been hundreds of football related deaths, and that is just in this decade. Take last week, for example. On the evening of Oct. 20, offensive lineman Erick Gutierrez was taking part in a full-contact practice at his Marion County high school, when he collapsed to the turf after a play. Despite his teammates' and coaches' best efforts, the young man could not be revived and was pronounced dead when medical authorities arrived. Gutierrez is the second high school student in Georgia to die as a result of playing football in the last six months, after Cook County running back Roy White died in similar manner after a tackle during a practice drill.
In professional football, Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett sustained a life-threatening spinal cord injury in his first game of the 2008 season, and New York Jets running back Leon Washington suffered a comparatively minor broken leg on his first rushing play on Sunday, Oct. 25, requiring season-ending surgery. A bad back and aching joints are minor consequences, however, in a sport where an increasing number of former players end up developing dementia or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, CTE for short. CTE is a progressive neurological disorder that works similarly to Alzheimer's disease and is inextricably tied, at the very least, to a shorter life expectancy and brain and functionary problems. Whether an individual has played football for two years or 20 matters little in the face of such crippling and increasingly common neurological disorders.
"It's unreal," said Malika Miller, a Montclair High junior and classmate of Dougherty. "Someone sitting next to you a couple of days ago is just gone like that."
"Gone like that" is a good way to describe the health and lives of many football players who inevitably develop complications from years of hard hits and jarring blows. The truth is that Dougherty's case, while tragic, is not at all unique. There have been hundreds of football related deaths, and that is just in this decade. Take last week, for example. On the evening of Oct. 20, offensive lineman Erick Gutierrez was taking part in a full-contact practice at his Marion County high school, when he collapsed to the turf after a play. Despite his teammates' and coaches' best efforts, the young man could not be revived and was pronounced dead when medical authorities arrived. Gutierrez is the second high school student in Georgia to die as a result of playing football in the last six months, after Cook County running back Roy White died in similar manner after a tackle during a practice drill.
In professional football, Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett sustained a life-threatening spinal cord injury in his first game of the 2008 season, and New York Jets running back Leon Washington suffered a comparatively minor broken leg on his first rushing play on Sunday, Oct. 25, requiring season-ending surgery. A bad back and aching joints are minor consequences, however, in a sport where an increasing number of former players end up developing dementia or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, CTE for short. CTE is a progressive neurological disorder that works similarly to Alzheimer's disease and is inextricably tied, at the very least, to a shorter life expectancy and brain and functionary problems. Whether an individual has played football for two years or 20 matters little in the face of such crippling and increasingly common neurological disorders.
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