That Looks Like It Hurt...

Sports can be really damaging to the body, with or without equipment to help soften the blow. As seen in the above picture, the football hit is so hard that it knocked off the players helmet and crushed his face into #26's shoulder. It's amazing how many times football athletes endure these kinds of hits, during practice, games it's almost a non-stop continuum of injuries to the brain. Below has a scale of G-max, which basically rates how much force is being absorbed in the body rather than the field. To measure it, an object that approximates a human head and neck (about 20 sq. in. and 20 pounds) is dropped from a height of 2 ft.As you can see, it's a lot to endure. Apparently, concussions are frequent on the field, and sometimes  players even black out in the game yet they seem fine. Is it really worth destroying your body and your intelligence for a sport?

 

Spectators have it easy, we can sit back in our comfortable couches and watch these football games and boxing matches. However, these athletes are in it for the money and they are getting destroyed slowly with each and every hit they take. Can we really blame them if this is the only thing that they are allowed to do? Maybe they weren't able to attend college and going to the boxing arena and matches were the fastest way to make money and support their family. Athletics really is a hard thing to be a part of especially while you're in college because classes are difficult to keep up with since they always have to travel for games, or leave early because they can't be late for practice. It's basically a full-time job, and more times than not they grades will take the blow for it. Instead of focusing on school it's easier to focus on the sport and hopefully it will pave the way for professional sports. But how often does that opportunity come to others? If you sustain an injury, your career is basically over and you're going to have to start from the bottom and work your way up again. I guess this is why it's an extremely sensitive topic. But we need to find a way to protect our athletes both on and off the field because if something goes wrong on the field, they are basically screwed even if they put in years and years of training off the field. It's truly a sad note, but changes need to be made, and hopefully they will be soon.