Sorry sports fans
The 2022 Super Bowl was watched by 99.18M Americans! Fierce loyalties generated excitement and big profits. But personally, I’m not excited about sports that inflict long-term physical harm and brain damage upon its participants (unlike the Ironman).
Boxing, football and soccer are all notorious for repetitive brain trauma which can result in CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). It’s a serious, progressive, incurable condition which eventually leads to cognitive decline and violence. Previously, players displaying these symptoms were diagnosed with Alzheimer, PTSD or personality disorders since only an autopsy could confirm CTE cortical lesions.
But a landmark 2017 study done at Boston University, which conducted post-mortem brain autopsies on NFL players, revealed that 110 out of 111 showed signs of CTE. Medical science has helped families understand the increasingly erratic behavior which develops with age. Parents of teens and adults engaging in sports should be made aware of the life-long mental disabilities and complications which can result.
Herschel Walker, Georgia’s Republican U.S. Senate candidate, played professional football for 15 years. Neurologists have noted Walker’s CTE symptoms. He shouldn’t be mocked for the mental confusion and violence he’s known to display. (But maybe Trump’s GOP should be; for choosing a favorite football hero for his name recognition, instead of getting him the help he needs.)
Sorry sports fans. I know you love competition and the athletes. But at the expense of participants in contact sports sustaining irreparable brain injury solely for your entertainment? Might be time to rethink America’s addiction to aggressive sports.
Martha Hodges
Kailua-Kona
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Time for a change of venue
After the recent Ironman event it has become obvious to us Hawaii Island residents that it is time for a change of venue for Ironman. Two events now has shown it is too big to be held here again. Two days of traffic nightmares and Kona becoming mobbed by so many people. Let us residents who live here and pay taxes decide the fate of Ironman, not some corporate entities. Let’s put it to a vote, put Ironman on the ballot and let the people of Hawaii Island decide. Think about it.
Jim McDonnell
Waimea
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