CTE: The true cost of six points and a field goal

In the United States the sport of football has a devoted following of people that treat the game as a religion. The Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays spent watching games and the adoption of each persons' team into their family as if it was their family crest shows the devotion Americans have to the sport. This also leads to them enrolling their children into the sport, on the good faith that it'll make boys tougher and get them to learn cohesiveness of teamwork and even brotherhood within their own team. Although between the Saturdays spent within the spare training field of the local high school and the orange slices that come after the big win or loss, there is a lot that parents aren't understanding when it comes to tossing the pig skin. The unfortunate thing is when we see announcers and medical staff talking about concussions its only after a big hit where someone gets taken out with a stretcher and the game stops for a half hour. This gives the false sense that only the worst tackles and hits are the ones that cause damage. When it comes to the issues that plague many of kids with Cerebral Traumatic Encephalopathy its the minor tackles that actually are the worse. What people also don't understand is what constitutes a "minor" tackle, which is defined as any movement of someone getting hit to the ground, in any form or capacity. The reason for this is when some takes a hit the skull wont be taking the blunt of the pain, the brain will be moving around in the skull and slamming to the sides of the head causing inflammation. This inflammation will cause neurological trauma, learning problems, cognitive issues and reduced brain plasticity. However those are only the symptoms within adults, in children the learning capacity is stunted, sometimes permanently, and areas of the brain cant function for development. The real reason parents are willing to risk their children's safety isn't for  the pride and the glory of having a son being in the Superbowl, but its because the over idealization of padding and the underestimation of damage when it comes to the most underwhelming of hits. Even Peewee Football with its adorable take downs and hits can cause harm for children and at the end of the day, unlike the tackle, the child and parents wont know what hit them.