Football and The Human Heart: Dying Not Worth Playing The Game

Over the past couple of weeks, high school football players have been collapsing on the field, some have been dying after games, and even Michigan State football head coach Mark Dantonio had a heart attack after their stunning win over Notre Dame. Heart attacks and just general heart problems are becoming more and more frequent in football and something needs to be handled differently.

Here's why:

Last Friday, in Canby, Oregon, Central Catholic player Hayward Demison collapsed after celebrating his touchdown catch. It was found out after that game that he had a heart defect, that if he would've had a heart scan.

This past Saturday, Michigan State's head coach  of the football team, Mark Dantonio had a heart attack at his house that night after his Spartans won an unbelievable game against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. The game was so stressful , it was unhealthy for his heart. I know he wasn't out there on the football field taking abuse, but for anybody who saw any of that game, know how much of a nail biter it was. If Michigan State doesn't successfully score a touchdown on the fake field goal, they lose the game. I was even stressed out watching the game; I can only imagine what he was going through.

Tragedy hit Orange, Texas on the 18th of September. Quarterback Reggie Garrett of West-Orange Stark High School collapsed after throwing his 2nd touchdown of the game and later that night was pronounced dead. One of the possible reasons, could be because of a heart problem/attack.

All these issues with hearts, and these 3 stories are just from the past week.

It shouldn't be mandatory for football players, actually any athlete to have to get a heart scan. It should be a law. We make laws saying what age we can smoke and drink to try and protect our youth, well protect our young and pro athletes and make them take heart scans.

Football players play a rough sport, we all know that. The NFL is coming out with new rules to make the game safer. In high school, the concern needs to be shifted to heart problems.

As a nation we worry about the wrong things. We worry about who is going to win America's Got Talent or what's going to happen in Glee, instead of worrying about the youth of American sports.

Get your act together America, support mandatory heart scans for all athletes. If we really want to protect our kids who are athletes, we will push for this, it'd be hard to protect a young athlete from drugs and alcohol, if he or she dies from a heart attack.