On the recordMarch 16, 2011
football fans today are wondering if there will be a National Football League season this fall. Many fans could find that their Sundays are not the same if team owners and players do not reach an agreement. Business owners who depend on those fans will also be affected. That is an issue that members of Congress have weighed in on already. But today I want to discuss a more important issue for the future of football. Football is facing a concussion crisis--a brain injury crisis--that affects up to 4.5 million football players who are still too young to play in the NFL but may aspire to make it to the pros some day. This fall, those kids and young adults will put on their uniforms and pads and take to the gridiron. It is a time-honored tradition that will continue regardless of what happens to the upcoming NFL season. For many rural communities in states like New Mexico, high school football means Friday night lights excitement and civic pride in the school team. This year, about 8,000 New Mexican high school players will continue this American tradition. But football is a contact sport, and thousands of student athletes are injured every year. Many of those injuries are concussions. In fact, one study estimates that as many as one in five football players suffers head injuries in any given football season. For young people between 15 and 24 years old, playing sports is the second-leading cause of traumatic brain injury, behind only motor vehicle crashes.…
