Chris Kohl Research Paper Proposal Directions: After completing your concept map, please complete the following

proposal and exploratory draft.A printed copy of your completed concept map, proposal, and exploratory draft is due IN CLASS on Tuesday, 10/25. I will meet with you individually in the library to grade and discuss these documents,which will be factored into your final research paper grade (5 points for the concept map, 5 points for the proposal, and 5 points for the exploratory draft). To get full points, these items should be detailed and should reflect your careful thinking and planning. Your Name: Chris Kohl Research Questions: How will the NFL (and football in general) be able to cope with the increasing awareness of the severity and quantity of concussions resulting from the sport? As awareness of the head injuries intensifies will football be able to survive? How detrimental are concussions in the long term for the human brain? Working thesis: Footballs supremacy in the world of American sports will be challenged as the scientific world and the media shed light on the symptoms of continual blows to the head. Possible Main Points: 1) The lives of many NFL players after retiring from the league. The rate of suicide of NFL retirees is much higher than the national average. Many other NFL retirees suffer from different brain diseases including dementia and alzheimer's. Many of these diseases progress much faster in NFL retirees. Evidence: Junior Seau, Justin Strzelczyk, many other NFL retirees. 2) Sciences new understanding of the lifelong symptoms of concussions. Evidence: The Concussion Crisis and Incognito focus on the science of the symptoms of repeated blows to the head. 3) Parents conflicts with their children playing football Evidence: Hard to find a scholarly source that outlines todays statistics of participation in youth football. However, there are popular articles on ESPN.com that mention parents troubles over making this decision. 4) The Medias role in spreading the knowledge of the health risks of repeated blows to the head. Evidence: Articles, documentaries, etc. about the symptoms of concussions in football. (Concern addressed in the section four of exploratory draft)

Possible Objections to Thesis: 1) The NFL powerful in the world of American sports to decline. a. Evidence: The size of the NFL and the money the league brings in per year. b. Response: Big companies can and have failed. (2008 recession) 2) Football is to popular in the world of sports of today to drop from its top position in American sports. a. Evidence: The Number of fans watching/ going to Football games. Popularity of the Super Bowl. b. Response: Baseball was once easily most popular sport in America, until football overtook it. (Baseball also did not have a crisis like football has now) Possible Sources: 1) University of Michigan Institute for Social Research National Football League Player Care Foundation Study of Retired NFL Players David R. Weir, James S. Jackson and Amanda Sonnega 2) The Concussion Crisis: Anatomy of a Silent Epidemic Linda Carroll and David Rosner 3) Incognito : The Secret Lives of the Brain David Eagleman

Exploratory Draft Section 1 In this paper I plan to show how public awareness of head trauma in football will begin to undermine the superiority of football in the American sporting world. The science world and the media are really beginning to build up steam when it comes to highlighting the lifelong affects blows to the head have on football players. Stories of the lives of NFL retirees have become commonplace on sporting networks like ESPN and even major television programs like 60 Minutes. As a result, people, even those who may not consider themselves sport fans, now have knowledge of what happens to a persons brain when one plays football. Consequently, people will begin to look at football less favorably, and possibly become more interested in other sports that do not risk the health of the brain. I find this topic very interesting because it is a combination of two of my greatest interests, namely football and medicine. Although I do not want football to fall to obscurity in American sports, I still find it interesting how leagues like the NFL will combat this growing concern of the sports risks. In addition, this topic also intrigues me because I feel it is very prevalent. It really has only been in the last 5 years or so that this issue has really come to the spotlight, and I feel much research on this topic still must be done. Section 2 I feel the audience for this essay is quite broad. I feel anyone interested in football would be my primary intended audience. However another important audience may be parents of young children. Parents today are very conflicted when it comes to deciding whether or not to allow their children to play football. Since this paper will highlight many of the potential health concerns associated with football, I feel this report will help these parents to make their own decisions as they weigh the pros and cons of allowing their children to partake in the sport. Personally, I feel this report will convince many parents to keep their children away from the sport (at least the full padded version of football) since many of the health risks will be addressed. (This, however, is not my thesis statement.) I really plan to convince football fans that the sport they love will, one day, lose its position in American sports. I plan to show these fans how the media and the world of science will turn people away from the sport. Moreover, I plan to show these fans why the participation rate of football will drop as parents become more conflicted when it comes to deciding whether or not their children can play football. Section 3 So far, the sources I have found focus on the health risks of blows to the head, specifically in football. The Concussion Crisis: Anatomy of a Silent Epidemic focuses on the direct and long term symptoms of a concussion sustained in football and highlights how this emerging scientific knowledge threatens leagues like the NFL and the NCAA. It also highlights how repeated blows to the head can lead to real health risks ones future. The University of Michigan Institute for Social Researchs National Football League Player Care Foundation Study of Retired NFL Players is a bit less scientific. Rather it is a study of those who retired from the NFL and focuses on statistics of retired NFL players with brain

related diseases like Alzheimers, ALS, and Dementia. This study really provides the most concrete statistics of any of the sources I have found so far. Incognito : The Secret Lives of the Brain focuses the most on the actual cognitive function of the brain, and really does not focus of footballs impact on the brain. However it does have a section on brain damage, from impacts on the head. Like The Concussion Crisis this book will provide me with the latest scientific research on the symptoms of blows to the head. I am still looking for a source that focuses less on science and more on how the media has shaped societys view of football. I want to find statistics about the American participation rate in football, especially the participation rate of youth football. Moreover, I am hoping to find a source that outlines the medias focus on head trauma in football, and the NFLs response to this threat. This really has been my hardest source to locate. I plan to integrate course material into this essay by focusing on the medias role in lessening the popularity of football. Even though science may show how football can damage the human brain, the media is still needed to get the word out to the public. Without the media the public would never be aware of the risks of football, since leagues like the NFL certainly have an interest to keep the health risks of football under raps. Section 4 The real concern I have is whether or not I will be able to find a scholarly source that outlines the medias portrayal of football. Would it be acceptable to simply use popular sources for this? For example, could I just use popular sources like articles in popular newspapers, or segments in television shows that highlight the dangers of football? Another real concern I have is how I will treat possible development in the technology of football helmets. If football helmets become extremely safe in the future, my whole argument will become a moot point, because head injuries in football will no longer be an issue. Nonetheless, I still feel the chances of the development of ultra-safe football helmets in the future are very slim. The last real concern I have is whether or not this topic has enough information on it since it really has only become an issue in the last 5 years or so. I feel the relative youth of this topic may make it hard to find enough sources to support a 10 page paper.