Sean Pessin
English 114B
24 April 2013
Hybrid Essay
This semester
was the first time I had experienced making a blog and keeping it up-to-date. I
found it very similar to Facebook in a way that we could post our thoughts
or even photos of a certain topic or activity that took place. However, with
the blog that was assigned, our focus was centered on one topic of our
choosing. With a blog page and a topic in mind, our goal was to provide a way
to communicate to our audience through electronic writings and other multimedia
components. In other words, the blogs presented to the audience photos, videos,
and other forms of communication that were suppose to make sense of what the
blog was all about. With my blog, I had to research and provide information
about the health of football players and how that has shaped the equipment
being used today; I wanted to blog about something that I can relate to, which
was football.
Before this blog
assignment, I already had knowledge and even experience in playing the game of
football. I thought I had known pretty much all there was to know or needed to
be known about the game. Turns out there was so much I did not know about. I
found it very interesting and entertaining to learn more about the game and
discovering things that I had no idea about. Learning about the history
especially is what really interested me the most. Looking at some of the
equipment that was used back in the day really made me wonder, "Did they
really play in THAT?" It seemed liked player safety was not the main issue
during the humble beginnings of the sport. However, I also discovered that
President Theodore Roosevelt prevented the game from permanently ending by
enforcing the players to wear proper safety gear in order to ameliorate
injury occurrences and even to prevent fatalities. After Roosevelt's
actions, football was able to continue and evolve and become what it is today.
This was really surprising for me to learn how football almost came to an end
had it not been for the actions of President Theodor Roosevelt,
which gives me, or any other football fan, a reason to appreciate football
more.
As the game
progressed and evolved, so did the style of playing. With more sophisticated
equipment, players now seem to be impervious to any type of injury or even
long-term health effects, and therefore, tend to collide with other players
with greater impact. Throughout the process of my research, the question
whether or not football has become safer came to mind several times. With
modern equipment, is football safer than it was decades ago? Like I said
earlier, the style of play has changed dramatically through the years. Back
then, players had less equipment so players had to rely on their teammates for
help when making a tackle and would often result in a pileup of heavy players.
In these pileups, players would come out with crushed bones or fractured rib
cages. Nowadays, with state-of-the-art equipment, engineered by top
manufacturers, players often ignored the fundamentals and go all out when making
contact against opposing players. This style of tackling is very similar to
mini car collisions and has proven to affect the long-term health of many
athletes. So, is it safer? Whether it is a broken rib cage or a concussion, any
injury or health issue is worth taking a look at and treated properly; in other
words, any injury is just as serious as the other. Furthermore, I believe
wiping out injuries completely in football is absolutely impossible and that
they will continue to happen regardless of how technologically advance the
equipment may be.
So what is the
significance of this topic? Even with carefully designed football gear
nowadays, players are bound to get injured; it's a physical sport and it is
just the nature of the game no matter how you look at it. So the significance
for this blog was to bring awareness in a way. Awareness about the dangers of
the game and how it is just as violent and physical now as it was years ago.
The goal was not to scare or talk aspiring football athletes out of it. I
simply wanted to inform people who want to join football for the first time and
let them know what they are getting themselves into and the consequences that
potentially lie ahead. This blog research has taught me a lot more about the
game that I had no idea about when I was playing. It made me realize how all
the hard hitting and the physicality could have affected my health, let alone
my life, while I was playing. However, I will never regret ever joining my high
school team the summer before my freshman year; it was one of the best
experiences I had during my four years in high school. Moreover, if I had known
then what I knew now, I probably would have been more careful with the way I
made tackles. Looking back now, I honestly can say that my method of tackling
was not very smart. With that said, I strongly encourage younger football
players to return to the fundamentals of tackling in order to lessen their
chances of getting seriously hurt. Just remember, when tackling an opposing
player, NEVER have your head down; that was my issue then.
Player safety
and the development of equipment was my main topic, and researching for these
information led me to learn some interesting history facts. My blog talked
about some of the football equipment and the history behind them and how
concerns for the safety of the players played a crucial role in improving
American football. History about the equipment was interesting itself, but I
wanted to further explore how the game grew to become very popular and become part
of the American culture. I also wanted to learn more about the changes in style
of playing and find out whether or not new equipment actually helped
revolutionized the players' style of playing and also learn more about which
players had the biggest impact in the game.
Learning the
material I discussed on my blog and the history of American football has really
made me appreciate the game all the more. It gives me a sense of pride knowing
that I was a part of something that has been around for more than century. It
has made me realize how little I knew about football and the significance of
its past. Now, as a football fan, I am looking forward to what the future holds
for this game. We are still continuing to see changes within the sport, but all
for good reason to protect the athletes; some people may think otherwise. Other
than learning more about the game of American football, this method of
electronic writing has taught me many new ways to communicate to certain groups
of people whether it be through photos, videos, or even writing. Though I found
it to be very similar to other social networking cites such as Facebook, I
learned that these blog cites target a certain group of audience depending on
what the blog focuses on. All in all, this whole experience in making a blog
about one of my passions in life was indeed a positive one, and I can honestly
say that I might continue with this blog exploring other topics and issues that
are continuing to help shape American football for future generations who are
dreaming of joining the NFL one day.
No comments:
Post a Comment