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.