NFL Tickets – Athletes Donating Brains For Research By Jenna Jay At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Football players give everything their bodies physically have every week on the field to tackle, run and block opposing teams and players, and now some professional athletes are taking their dedication to the sport one step further, donating their minds to the future of the sport. A dozen athletes including six NFL players have agreed to literally give their brains to the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy after their deaths, enabling further research into studies of the long-term effects of concussions.

The Center belongs to Boston University’s School of Medicine, where the study on the effect of concussions will take place for the next several years. Aside from Johnson, other NFL players donating their brains to the cause include former Seahawk, Ram and Raider Isaiah Kacyvenski, former Titan Frank Wycheck, former Texan Ben Lynch, former Brown and Oiler Bernie Parrish and former Charger and Colt Bruce Laird. Other professional athletes giving their brains to the research include former Olympic swimmer Jenny Thompson, Florida Panthers hockey player Noah Welch, former Women’s National Soccer Team player Cindy Parlow, former boxer Maurice “Termite” Watkins and former professional wrestler Chris Nowinski. These courageous athletes have all agreed to donate their brains to research, furthering scientific studies and remedies, and for their selfless acts they have all been awarded the Compassionate Action Award from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). PETA praises the athletes for giving their brains, as many studies use nonhuman primates for this type of research instead.

When it comes to the severity of concussions, the teen football movie Varsity Blues comes to mind; we’ve all seen Billy Bob’s humorous but potentially dangerous situation after suffering one too many concussions, and it’s not all a laughing matter. Former athletic superstars such as Houston Oilers linebacker John Grimsley and New England Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson have suffered devastating effects since the end of their athletic careers, most likely from the concussions they endured on the field. The deceased Grimsley, for example, was found to have brain damage that is commonly associated with boxers, while Johnson has suffered from memory loss and depression since his retirement in the NFL in 2005. Other NFL players found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy after their deaths include former Philadelphia Eagle Andre Waters and former Pittsburgh Steelers Mike Webster, Terry Long and Justin Strzelczyk.

These linked brain injuries in football athletes could just be coincidences, but then again they could have everything to do with hard hits and concussions taken on the field. While little is currently known concerning the severity of sports injuries and their relation to brain conditions, Boston University and the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy are embarking on an escapade to research every fold of the study on concussions. The study is being financed in part by a $100,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health, and will operate in conjunction with the Sports Legacy Institute, a nonprofit organization spearheaded by former Harvard University football player and professional wrestler Chris Nowinski.

While researchers are busy getting to the bottom of the development, football players are still fearlessly storming the field every Sunday, entertaining the masses in that impressive hard-hitting fashion. Putting concussions in the back of minds (no pun intended,) this year’s NFL season has been one of the most exciting in league history. NFL tickets are always available online, so check out http://www.stubhub.com/nfl-tickets/ and discover the football fever for yourself!

Published At: Isnare Free Articles Directory http://www.isnare.com
Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=321066&ca=Sports

Important Notice DISCLAIMER: All information, content, and data in this article are sole opinions and/or findings of the individual user or organization that registered and submitted this article at Isnare.com without any fee. The article is strictly for educational or entertainment purposes only and should not be used in any way, implemented or applied without consultation from a professional. We at Isnare.com do not, in anyway, contribute or include our own findings, facts and opinions in any articles presented in this site. Publishing this article does not constitute Isnare.com's support or sponsorship for this article. Isnare.com is an article publishing service. Please read our Terms of Service for more information.