Bella Riccitelli
Sports Editor
Although Broward College is one of the many community colleges that goes on every year without a college football team, we cannot begin to forget the impact that comes along with college football.
Everywhere you go, I would say it’s an almost guarantee that you will see someone wearing a college football shirt or accessory of some kind. People who represent their college teams do it big, proudly, and without shame.
I know my columns mostly just come across as some girl rambling vaguely about sports, but hear me out on this one.
If it’s not you, it’s someone you know. People all over the world are obsessed and dedicated to college football.
But what comes along with football, aside from the extremely high crime rate? Concussions.
As a football player, getting bumped, knocked over and hit on the head come with the title. Most people would likely not even think twice about it while happily signing contracts to join the team for the college of their dreams.
I am not a college athlete, let alone a football player. But I know just as much as the next person how serious and dangerous a concussion can be.
First, it starts off as any exciting story, and ends with the same concept: It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.
Let’s not forget – in college football – someone always gets hurt.
You know when you are watching your favorite sport go against the team you hate, and you cannot keep your eyes off the screen? The game is so incredibly interesting.
And just when you think the game couldn’t get any better, it does. One player gets knocked over, hard, by a player from the opposing team. When imagining this, don’t forget that both men, although students, are still built like a brick wall.
You scream and jump, and I’m pretty sure the guy on the ground wants to scream and jump as well, just not with the same feelings as you.
Football players suffer from concussions and other related brain injuries year after year. With all their padding and protection, even the best of helmets cannot always protect what some may say matters more than the football: the brain.
According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, over 120 schools reported having an average of four concussions per season.
Quite possibly the worst part of this whole scenario is that rather than asking about how badly the player is injured, or how serious the rehabilitation is going to be, people first often wonder and ask about the athlete’s setback and their return date.
I find it wildly inappropriate that there are not better protocols in place to not only protect athletes from concussions, but to prevent them as well.
Concussions, which are defined as mild traumatic brain injuries, affect deeply how the brain works, operates and reacts.
If you have symptoms of a concussion, they might include dizziness, confusion, vomiting and much more, according to the Center for Disease Control.
Still, even after knowing these facts about the risks and dangers of being a football player, the sport will never run out of players, fans or sponsors.
Furthermore, people will always support this sport, even though it is literally life threatening.
riccbj@mail.broward.edu