NFL's Concussion Culture: Unringing the Bell

The NFL has a committee. 

The NCAA has conducted studies. 

The State of Washington passed a law.

Concussions are the hot topic in football outside of the NFL draft.

While there has been a lot of medical evidence gathered, studies are admittedly still far from complete.  Post-concussive tests, baseline tests and post-career tests are all being conducted. 

It is only a matter of time before the medical sciences map out the physical damage done by concussions—both immediate and long-term effects.

Who will study the psychological effects?

And not the psychology of the brain and the impact of a concussion, but the psychology of the locker room and the machismo that accompanies it.

It is this attitude, playing hurt and toughing it out,  that has long been admired by fans and the media as well as internally by teammates and coaches.  Stay out of the training room and stay on the field.  This has also been passed down to youth athletics, from high school players to pee-wee footballers.

Even the player representative on the NFL's committee studying concussions admitted that he played last season with a concussion. 

Former Arizona Cardinal WR Sean Morey played his college football at Brown University, which is a national research leader in the area of traumatic brain injury.  If he cannot escape the culture, how can we expect our youngest athletes to make the right decisions?

Until the culture changes at the highest levels, kids will continue to emulate their idols and heroes and another generation of athletes will gamble their future brain function against the thrill of the game and the camaraderie of the locker room.