Sports-related concussions and traumatic brain injuries:
Research roundup The issue of concussions in sports has
attracted considerable media coverage in recent years.
Understandably, the early focus was on professional football, a
game built around high-speed, full contact between heavy,
powerful players. A pioneer of reporting in this field was Alan
Schwarz of the New York Times; his work highlighted the history
of concussions and their consequences in the NFL. The league has
responded by banning some high-risk hits, and also aggressively
investigated a “bounty pools” scandal that involved a team
paying bonuses to players who injured opponents. (Similar
behavior has even turned up in a Pop Warner youth league.)
Retired players continue to pursue legal action and raise
awareness of the issue, particularly with cases of former
players suffering from early-onset dementia that can result from
repeated brain trauma. In January 2013, the National Institutes
of Health concluded that the former NFL linebacker Junio