9/28 vocab

This week I have read from page 161-244 in the book, Concussion, by Jeanne Marie Laskas.

Seminal (162): : Containing or contributing the seeds of later development
Accelerometers (165): An instrument for measuring acceleration or for detecting and measuring vibrations
Reverberates (165): To become driven back
Obstinate (167): Stubbornly adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course in spite of reason, arguments, or persuasion 
Perilous (168): Full of or involving peril
Parishioners (169): a member or inhabitant of a parish
Naira (168): the basic monetary unit of Nigeria
Caftan (169): A usually cotton or silk ankle-length garment with long sleeves that is common throughout the Middle East
Petrial (195):  Occurring or existing before a trial
Whizbang (195): One that is conspicuous for noise, speed, excellence, or startling effect
Marginalized (198): Relegated to a marginal position within a society or group

9/26 analytical

In the latest section of the book, Concussion, by Jeanne Marie Laskas, the NFL and their true motives have shown through. Back in the 70's and 80's, football was not known to give people severe head and brain injuries, and people did not worry about it all that much. Once the late 90's- early 2000's came along, Dr. Bennett Omalu brought the subject to attention. Most people would think that the NFL would be very concerned about this because it is in regards to the players in their league. These are the players that provide the entertainment that makes the NFL so much money, so the NFL would have it in their best interest to keep them safe right? Wrong. When Omalu released the information he had about CTE and how people playing football have a severe chance of getting it, the NFL dismissed it. They told the world it was a flawed experiment and the data was invalid. This did not stop Omalu from pursuing on though. Every dead NFL player would have his brain examined by Omalu, and pretty much every player he examined had CTE.

At the release of his second paper, Omalu had over ten brains he could use as evidence, and multiple esteemed co-writers in the field of neurology. When the NFL saw this they were infuriated and attacked Oamlu publicly, calling him a fraud and all the work he does to be invalid. Even with ten brains, all football players in the NFL, all diagnosed with CTE, and many extremely esteemed doctors backing Omalu up, the NFL dismissed the case all together. This is crazy to me that the NFL would do something like this to its own players. It was released years later that the NFL had known about this and knew what Omalu was saying was true, but they didn't want to admit it because they thought it would put the NFL out of business, therefore them out of a job. These people working inside the NFL were so selfish and worried about money, that they put the lives of every player in danger, and they should be held responsible for the deaths of the players who died of CTE. Overall, the NFL is a business, and as shown by the CTE scandal, they will do whatever they can to keep making money and being successful.

(Picture links)
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CADEAF_enUS816&biw=1366&bih=623&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=c7mrW9uYM4O7ggeBp4-wDw&q=nfl+cte+meme&oq=NFL+CTE+&gs_l=img.1.0.0j0i30j0i8i30j0i24l7.573173.576098..578129...0.0..0.75.559.8......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i67j35i39j0i10i24.0_qPIlk_JXE&safe=active&ssui=on#imgrc=Ql0AdKr8KRPAxM:

https://www.google.com/search?q=bennet+omalu+and+the+NFL&rlz=1CADEAF_enUS816&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjoxPXwkNndAhVFmuAKHTjjBRQQ_AUIDygC&biw=1366&bih=623&safe=active&ssui=on#imgrc=58woTSBcHxfxyM:

9/25 quick burst

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcfVWxhWcDM
0:00-2:02
This is an interview with Bennet Omalu, the man character in the book, Concussion. In the beginning of this interview, Omalu expresses his motive behind pursuing the motives of the NFL. This video stood out to me because he explains his motives, and they are all for the families of the victims of CTE and the NFL.

9/24 quote blog

In the next 100 or so pages in Concussion, by Jeanne Marie Laskas, Dr. Bennett Omalu makes significant progress in his brain studies. He continues to test Webster's brain, and finally founds what hes looking for, wrinkles. There are discolored wrinkles in the brain tissue that are only exposed under a certain stain. When tested, it is found that these wrinkles are a sort of protein that attempts to re-wire the brain, explaining Webster's insanity. After he finds this, Omalu tests many other dead ex-NFL players brains for this protein, and finds it in many. He composes his findings into an official document and gets it read and signed by many esteemed officials in the field of brains, and sends it to the NFL. The NFL makes it a public shame, telling Omalu he doesn't know what he is talking about and needs to pick a new profession. Omalu is infuriated, confused, and ashamed, and he does not know what to do next.




"He felt he was learning something very ugly about America, about how an $8 billion industry could attempt to silence even the most well- intended scientist in the most preposterous ways" (Laskas 161).


This is a quote from Bennett Omalu after the NFL dismissed his paper on CTE. They told Omalu and the world that his ideas were stupid and didn't have enough science backing them up. This quote sheds a light on how much the NFL was trying to cover this up. They were afraid that if people knew the dangers of football on ones brain, they would stop playing and watching. They were willing to put everyone who played the sport at risk just for their personal gain. It is disgusting to me that an esteemed and well known organization like the NFL would do something like that. It was said that the NFL could have known about the severity of concussions even 10 years before it was made public. In defense of themselves and their paychecks, the NFL cost neurosurgeons and others in the field 10 years of valuable time to study the brain in football and help to make the game safer.




This quote stood out to me because it proved that everything in this world seems to be driven by money and getting payed. I would love to think that the NFL would release this the second they knew about it because it pertains to the safety of their players, but no. They decided to keep it a secret until someone else found it out and when someone else did find it out, they told the world it was false when they knew it was true. This angered me so much because I play football, I love football. My dad played, I play, and one day I would love for my kids to play, but how can I really know that my kids will be safe, that I am safe. If the NFL thinks it's okay to keep the dangers of concussions a secret, what else are they hiding? It makes me question the integrity of leaders of organizations such as the NFL, and if what they tell us is true, or if its protecting their paychecks.

9/19

In the book, Concussion, by Jeanne Marie Laskas, the main character, Bennet Omalu, repeatedly shows his selfless, caring attitude. Bennet Omalu is a neurosurgeon that immigrated to America from Nigeria. He came to America with little and made a successful life with a good career in the medical field. Omalu is a truly selfless person, sacrificing his well being for others on multiple occasions. In the instance of Mike Webster's brain, he shelled out thousands of dollars of his own money to figure out what happened to Mike. The morgue he was working for wouldn't pay for extensive research on Webster's brain, but Omalu knew it was necessary. He paid thousands of dollars to keep researching and testing the brain until he found what he was looking for, and finally provide closure for the family of Mike Webster.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrEwVr_K6Rb60cAHHs2nIlQ?fr=yhs-Lkry-SF01&hsimp=yhs-SF01&hspart=Lkry&ei=UTF-8&p=bennet+omalu+and+mike+webster%27s+family&fr2=sp-qrw-corr-top&norw=1

 Another instance of Omalu showing his selfless character is when he helps out a woman he meets at church. This woman immigrated to the US from Nairobi, and she also has a job in the medical field. Omalu immediately takes a liking to her, and helps her out whenever he can. He takes her out to run errands, helps her get to and from work, and even lets her sleep at his house when she needs to get to work early the next morning. Bennet Omalu is a hard working man that truly cares about his contribution to society. He saw that there was something wrong with Mike Webster's brain, and he made it his mission to find out why. When he saw a struggling woman, he turned her schedule into his schedule so he could help her out. Omalu was never asked to do these things, he was even advised not to do some of these things. His selfless and attitude that he always has is a true testament to Bennet Omalu's character, and I believe he will continue to do great things.

9/20 Vocab

I am reading the book, Concussion, by Jeanne Marie Laskas. This week I read from pages 86-167.

Chronic persistent vegetative state: A disorder of consciousness in which patients with severe brain damage are in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness. (86)

Formaldehyde: A colorless, toxic, potentially carcinogenic, water-soluble gas (107)

Magnanimous: generous in forgiving an insult or injury; free from petty resentfulness or vindictiveness (107)

Idiosyncratic: pertaining to the nature of idiosyncrasy, or something peculiar to an individual (107)

Poppycock: nonsense; bosh (109)

Fabled: celebrated in fables (113)

Arbitrary: Subject to individual will or judgment without restriction; contingent solelyupon one's discretion (115)

Muse: To think or meditate in silence, as on some subject (114)

Neurodegenerative: Of, relating to, or being a progressive loss of neurologic functions (128)

Longitudinal: of or relating to longitude or length (128)

This is a video I found on TED talk. It is a neurologist talking about concussions and the impact they have on kids. This stood out to me because of the comparisons they made and how much more force football puts on the brain than even a car crash.

https://www.ted.com/talks/kim_gorgens_protecting_the_brain_against_concussion#t-208329

1:50-3:30 is a g portion of the video talking about the forces and consequences of a concussion in athletes.

Concussion, by Jeanne Marie Laskas

Pages 1-86

The book, Concussion, starts out by introducing the main character, Bennett Omalu. The first fifty or so pages give background information on Bennett, his past life in Kenya, and how he got to be a doctor in America. Bennett comes from a small village in Kenya. In Kenya at that time, there was a lot of political tension and uprising. Omalu was going through a stage of serious depression and left Kenya to be able to study the body in America. After he is introduced, the book goes into the Steelers at that time and how good they were, followed by introducing Mike Webster, the best lineman to ever go through the NFL. After going insane and dying of what people think is a heart attack, Omalu is given Websters body so he can perform an autopsy. When Omalu removes the brain, he is confused as to why Webster seemed to have a normal looking brain, but went insane. This is when Omalu decides that he is going to go against the rules and keep Webster's brain for more tests. 

"Collision football. Snap the ball back to Bradshaw, then explode into other guys, head first, smash mouth football, the sound of helmets crashing, grunting, howling, war" (Laskas 94).

This is a quote from Websters attorney when he was talking about Websters football career. Mike Webster was the quintessential NFL lineman. He loved contact and moving people against their will, but not only that, his work ethic was off the charts. At 6,1'' 250 pounds, he was an undersized lineman for the NFl, but he made up for size in strength. Webster was always in the weight room working out, trying to be the best he could be. On the field Webster was a monster, never driven back or taken down, always the enforcer, the hammer not the nail. This aggression and will to be the best is what ended up taking his life. 

This quote stuck out to me because this is the game I love to play. I am on the line in football, and every play I bash my head into the player lined up across from me. The best feeling in the world is driving an opponent back so far you make him lose his balance, thus "pancaking" him. Even though these are the things that drive lineman to do well, they can also be the things that hurt us the most. The line is a very dangerous position to play in football regarding head injuries because every single play we smash our heads into the man lined up across from us. By the end of the game I could have had anywhere from 100-150 head smashed into another player, increasing my chance of a concussion. This quote spoke to me because it relates to me and what I love to do, and it awoke me at the real dangers of playing lineman in football. 

Friday blog 9/13

For the past week I have been reading the book, Concussion by Jeanne Marie Laskas. I have read from page 1-86. 

Symbionese- Of, relating to, or characteristic of the Symbionese Liberation Army or its adherents. (Page 10)

Meek- Overly submissive or compliant, spiritless; tame. (Page 10)

Toxicology- The science dealing with the effects, antidotes, detection, etc., of poisons.
(page 12)

Gobony-composed of a single row of squares, metal and color alternating. (page 28)

Keel-  A ship or boat. (Page 30)

Guttural- harsh; throaty (Page 33)

Countercoup- A coup aimed at the replacement of a government that itself achieved power through an earlier coup. (Page 36)

Despondency- State of being despondent; depression of spirits from loss of courage or hope; dejection. (Page 43)

Debunking- To expose or excoriate (a claim, assertion, sentiment, etc.) as being pretentious, false, or exaggerated. (Page 67)

Bombastic- high-sounding; high-flown; inflated; pretentious. (Page 73)

Quarter 1 Plan

Quarter One Plan
By Jacob Luke

For my first quarter topic I chose to research concussions and the impact they have on the brain, specifically in football. This topic is important to me because I love football. I have been playing since fifth grade, and watching my whole life. Throughout the years, many of my friends have gotten concussions and some of them have had so many they were forced to quit contact sports. Through this class I hope to learn about concussions and what the dangers are that face football players.

My essential questions for this quarter are:
1. What is a concussion and what are the long term affects?
2. Should players be worried about damaging their brain long term?
3. Should parents be worried about sending their kids out for football at a young age?
4. What steps are being taken to limit the amount of concussions and make the game safer?

Books:
Concussion, by Jeanne Marie Laskas. 266 pages

The Concussion Repair Manual, by Dr. Dan Engle. 259 pages

League of Denial, by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fairnaru. 410 pages

Plan:
Concussion:
Sept 10-14, pages 1-80
Sept 17-21, pages 80-160
Sept 24-28, pages 160-240
Oct 1-5, pages 240-266

League of Denial:
Oct 1-5, pages 1-60
Oct 8-12, pages 60-140
Oct 15-19, pages 140-220
Oct 22-26, pages 220-300
Oct 29-Nov 1, pages 300-360

Quarter end Nov 2