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Football's Bloodiest Secret
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Brain damage, paralysis, testicles amputated. The NFL is investigating concussions and other serious injuries, but Friday Night Lights author Buzz Bissinger says the real horror stories are on the high school field.
Many miles have passed in my life since I did the research for Friday Night Lights 21 years ago. At a certain point, an author should simply forget and move on. But the book continues to sell and the television show of the same name premiered its fourth season this week on DirecTV. The power of what I saw and what I heard still gets to me, and of all the interviews I did, the one that lingers the most took place in the living room of my rented ranch house in the dusty isolation of Odessa, Texas.
The man I interviewed was named Brad Allen. He was the former head of the high school booster club I was writing about, and I wanted to get some observations on why high school football had become so dominant in the culture of Odessa. I thought he would refer to the usual pop-psychology suspects—the town’s hermetic location in West Texas, the lack of anything substantive to do except work and drink, the paucity of good strip clubs, the boom-and-bust cycle of the oil field economy where nothing was ever certain.
Today at the age of 21, one player lives with his parents, spends most of his time in a wheelchair, and struggles with short-term memory.
The conversation started that way. But then it veered toward the experience of his own son, Phillip. Allen was the first to admit that Phillip was not a gifted athlete, but what he lacked in skill he made up for in toughness. To prove the point, Allen told the story of when Phillip broke his arm at the beginning of a high school football game. Rather than come out, Phillip continued to play. It was only at half time, when his arm had swelled so badly that his forearm pads had to be cut off of his body, that he reluctantly went to the hospital.
Allen said he was not proud of the incident, but he told the story freely. What it signified was obvious: the machismo inherent to youth sports that parents crave. Football. Soccer. Baseball. Basketball. Hockey. The sport doesn’t matter. The gender doesn’t matter. What matters most is the vicarious thrill dad and mom get from their sons and daughters showing fearlessness and the absorption of agony in a tradition linking back to the war heroes of Sparta. No amount of studies and medical warnings are going to fully extinguish the attitude that playing hurt is all part of the price.
Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee began hearings on the issue of brain injuries suffered in pro football. It followed a recent study commissioned by the National Football League showing that memory-related diseases have ostensibly occurred in pro players at a rate far exceeding that of the national population—19 times the normal rate for men ages 30 for 49. It was only through the superb work of New York Times reporter Alan Schwarz that the issue rose to the forefront at all. And almost as soon as the study was released, NFL officials tried to discredit it as inaccurate.
Mark Hyman, an expert on injuries in youth sports, feels that any awareness of the problem, regardless of the NFL’s utterly self-protective stance, is a good thing. Because of the intense public pressure, there is the real possibility of changes not simply at the pro level, but all the way down the line to high school and pre-high school sports. But if past history is prologue, which it usually is (see successful conquests of Afghanistan) the changes will still be at the edges. The macho culture of sports is just too deeply embedded to be fully eradicated.
• Gallery: Baseball’s 10 Richest Players
• Gallery: Baseball’s Sexiest TeammatesIn his book Until it Hurts, Hyman points out that 3.5 million children under the age of 15 needed medical treatment for sport injuries each year, nearly half of which were the result of simple overuse. “Over the last 75 years, adults have staged a hostile takeover of kids’ sports,” he wrote. “The quest to turn children into tomorrow’s superstar athletes has often led adults to push them beyond physical and emotional limits.” Backs go out and young athletes continue to compete until somebody finally realizes that the ailment isn’t some strain but a herniated disk and a stress fracture. High school football players have gotten concussions, been declared ready to play the following week, then suffered a far more serious second concussion.
In Odessa, a player once lost a testicle after no one bothered to thoroughly examine a groin injury he had received. It wasn’t until the testicle swelled to the size of a grapefruit that he went to the emergency room. By then it was too late—the testicle had to be removed. In another instance during the Texas high school football playoffs, where all sanity goes on hiatus, an Odessa player was already suffering from a painful hip. Since he was a star going both ways, the answer was to inject him with painkillers before the game and at halftime. A hole developed, which had actually been caused by a breaking of a band of cartilage at the front of his hip joint. It had also become infected, and the player after the season had to go the hospital for six months for treatments, including scraping out the infected tissue and iodine baths.
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Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
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dlc1550
This is the 2nd article that I have read in the past 24 hours regarding this issue. I can attest to the accuracy of it as my son had 3 concussions before the age of 17. Short term memory issues - executive function compromised for life - loss of rationalization - anger/rage issues - he will have to deal with these problems for the rest of his life. Also keeping a job is a major issue.
My son's injuries stem from ice skating - mostly from inexperienced skaters crashing into him - and he would be the one hitting the ice even though he was by far the superior skater.
The problem with concussions is the damage becomes exponential as other injuries occur. By the time you realize something is radically wrong - it's much too late - the damage cannot be reversed.
deathbychocolate
I wish it could be mandatory that parents have to read books like "Until It Hurts" BEFORE they can give permission for their kids to play contact sports.
wolverine1987
Sigh. Yes kids and men do get hurt, sometimes awfully, playing football. They all know, every last one of them, that it is potentially dangerous, yet they play it because they love it. End of story. Pushy parents are in both dangerous and non impact sports like tennis and golf. Nothing can stop this. And nothing really should--stop being a nanny and just acknowledge that everything isn't perfect in life, and move on.
Mayoman
Did you read the article? it's not about getting hurt playing sports. It's about ignoring injuries such as concussions and having them keep playing, taking possible life threatening risks. I really hope you don't have children of their own.
Sodbuster
As a former HS coach (and national coach of the year) I agree with many of your statements. Yes, kids do get hurt. Yes, there are pushy parents in every sport (believe me!).
That being said, I really disagree with your assessment to just "move on." I think that more parents - and their children - need to know about the risks involved with ANY sport - particularly football, where the risks of a significant life-altering injury are rather significant.
It doesn't help that the NFL is attempting to downplay this.
NHBill
Coach, you said it all!
The NFL owes every student at every level leadership in football safety!
No Excuses.
Lord knows they have the money to fund a safety program.
There would be no NFL without dedicated coaches who care about their kids.
sophia5
No pain . . . no gain ?
We live in a " SportsCenter " culture where young athletes want their YouTube moment, and a society of parents who achieve their own self worth
through their kids accomplishments.
But haven't parents always lived vicariously through their children.
C'mon, how many of us have to sit through some
tedious home movies or endless photos of somebody else's kids ?
People today are bigger, stronger, faster,
and in sports when two Human TRAINS collide . . . shit happens.
kscr14
Of course injury can happen with ANY sport. Soccer,basketball and hockey, big time. I just asked a football coach if helmets are made for more protection. He said "yes, for around $500 dollars". I can tell you high school athletic programs cannot afford that per 100 players. In my thirty years around a football high school program we have never had a serious injury. A few concussions. I might add I have had one myself, never playing sports.
Football is a fantastic sport that teaches young high school men alot about life. I think the equipment company profit needs a adjustment and maybe save some damage to these young men.
I must add when I go to Hockey games I find myself shocked at the violence they get away with.
pricklypear
My son got a "mild" concussion playing high school football. He knew it was a concussion, my husband and I knew it was. His doctor advised us to not have him playing footfall ever again. There were only three weeks left in the season, so he sat it out. It broke his heart the day his dad told him his football days were over.
Today he is an engineering undergraduate at a top tier engineering college. He has a good mind and wonderful personality and he's healthy. I do not regret our decision. He has a full life and a fine future ahead of him.
You can splint a broken bone and suture a cut but you can't fix a damaged brain.
skibummin1
As a former high school football coach 12 yrs and someone who played and had two sons who played for him. Parents and players have to be fully informed of the risks. Proper head up see what you hit techniques have to be taught over and over. Trainers have to have the last says with no pressure in who is getting back on the field. Doctors should be provided at every game by the home team.
All these policys were dutifly followed ;when I coached saying that .My own son was involved in a tragedy. He was knocked out running a slant on a good clean text book hit eyes up by the defender,as we ran across the field to tend to him he started to go into siezures. By the time we got there he awoke and ended up allright. The boy that made the hit ended up paralyzed from the waist down and still is; that was 10 years ago. Nothing could have prevented the accident except not playing.
My sons season was ended a couple of weeks later when he almost had his kidney split in two and ended up in the hospital
for a few days . He tried and tried the rest of the season to get back on the field ,but the MD's refused to clear him, he went on to play div1 football.
My point was the draw and love for the game out weighed the two very real scary incidents he had, for him
Another boy I coached flipped his car coming home for break from college he was a div1 DE.He fell asleep at the wheel and is paralyzed. Life unfortunatly happens. We just have to do are best to protect all the players
pricklypear
God speed to your boy.
NHBill
Heartbreaking story coach, but change the rules!
High School football does not need to be played the same way NFL ball is played.
The vicious hits you described can and should be illegal.
It's a game.
These are kids.
Change.
By the way football has nothing to do with driving an automobile.
bsoudi
If you read this article:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/19/091019fa_fact_gladwell
You'll see that SCIENCE has now shown that it does not take a concussion to cause permanent brain damage. And that all the little impacts in football add up. And that helmets -- no matter the technology, today's or tomorrow's -- cannot prevent brain injuries.
The only way to not get brain damage playing football is to not play it.
Kids and parents need to know these risks before they even start "pop warner."
But hey! "They'll learn life lessons." Too bad they won't be able to remember them when they're 50.
fblaze
Todays football helmet is designed to be a weapon. Football would be safer if played without a helmet. Players could wear protective masks, like that used by basketball players who have suffered injuries to the facial bones, and soft shells with padding to protect the skull area. Todays hard helmet encourages people to use their head as a weapon, putting themselves at great risk.
pricklypear
Good point. I would like to say they put other's at great risk, as well when they use them as a weapon.
pricklypear
Football coaches, parents and players need to acknowledge the fact that science has made great progress in knowledge of the human brain and brain injuries. We know more in the past 5-7 years than we ever knew before. The consensus is, PROTECT your athlete's most precious organ, the brain.
bcaldwell
Football can be a dangerous violent sport. The problem has always been the helmet and I agree that the helmet can be used as a weapon.
What happens in the heat of competition is that many players abandon many of the techniques taught to them from Pop Warner all the way up to college. There are proper "safe" ways to tackle someone but all too often young players want to use the Jack Tatum style of tackling of turning yourself into guided missile head first.
Fortunately you see this problem starting to be addressed on the pro and Div I levels more and more- note the amount of personal file penalties for helmet to helmet contact in both levels. Unfortunately, in HS ball the same care is not taken. Many of the horror stories spoken about continue and have been all too common place over the years.
balthyman
I love what Frank Jobe, the surgeon who developed Tommy John Surgery (now performed on teen pitchers) has to say about adults putting kid athletes in harm's way: "You know 'No pain, no gain?' I'd like to punch the guy who said that."
Thank you.
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