Concussion links

While not necessarily music therapy related, a topic that is of great interest to me is concussions. The subject is interesting to me for a few reasons. Firstly, I'm a huge sports nut, and unfortunately concussions are a big part of athletic competitions (especially my favorite sport, football).
Another reason I find them interesting is that I've always been absolutely fascinated by the human brain. Just think about this for a second: every thought, feeling, emotion, smell, taste, and everything you've ever seen is because of this big ol' mass of tissue in your skull. Every opinion you've ever formed, any idea you've ever come up with, every breath you take, every song you listen to, the very ability to read this sentence and understand it comes from billions of cells all working together. Unbelievable! If that just doesn't blow your mind (so to speak), then I just don't know what to think...(get it?)

While browsing a favorite sports blog of mine the other night, I stumbled across this article from the New Yorker about the frightening long terms effects of concussions in athletes, and how this might effect the future of contact-sports like football and hockey. While I don't necessarily agree with everything in the article, it does make for a very interesting read and brings up important questions that must be addressed soon.

Through this article, I found a fascinating blog entitled "The Concussion Blog". It focuses on concussions issues in various sports.

I thought I'd share these links for those who might enjoy "nerding out" on topics like this, as I do.

My opinion on the topic is somewhat split. I am completely smitten with college football, and one of the things I particularly love is a good defense. I love watching teams with good defenses work. I love big, punishing hits. It's one of the things that drew me to my favorite team (The Seminoles of Florida State, GO NOLES!) when I was growing up. FSU had a famous defensive coach named Mickey Andrews who was known to tell his players to "hit until the last echo of the whistle," meaning don't stop hitting until the very last possible second that the refs allow. I love the psychological effect a punishing defense can have on an opposing offense, making them play timid. To me, it's what makes football great.

However, if I was honestly asked if I had a son (or daughter), would I let them play football? And truthfully, I would be very concerned if they did. Why do you think I chose to be in the band (aside from a total lack of athletic ability)? The thing you have to remember is that those are other people's sons getting hit every week on the gridiron.

So as you can see, this is a topic of great interest to me, and I thought I'd share a few interesting links you you all. Thanks for reading!