It’s not possible for many of us to know the singular focus and peerless competitiveness {of professional} athletes. An timeless willingness to place successful and private targets above all else, even when meaning self-sacrifice.
That mentioned, it doesn’t take an NFL resume to acknowledge when a participant is on a collision course with catastrophe, and tragically Tua Tagovailoa appears destined to just do that. Tagovailoa must be protected. Not from hits, or soccer, however himself.
Tagovailoa will try and move the league’s concussion protocol Wednesday with the intention of returning to the sphere on Sunday. It’ll mark the third concussion in two years he’s returned from, with the chance not being missed video games or a misplaced season, however devastating traumatic mind damage that may outline the rest of Tua’s life. We’re left with a 26-year-old, caught within the current, tunnel visioned on his profession, tragically incapable of understanding that the dangers he’s taking now will echo for the subsequent 50-plus years of his life.
We all know this due to how the quarterback spoke on Monday. Unrelenting loyalty to soccer, unwilling to vary — an edifice of old-school, hard-nosed soccer sensibilities devoid of recent science or logic.
“I like this recreation, and I like it to the demise of me,” Tagovailoa alarmingly informed reporters. A cliche usually couched in hyperbole, for Tua the choices he’s making proper now might very properly be to the demise of him. Terrifyingly it looks as if no person is ready to get by way of to him in regards to the dangers he’s taking.
A part of that is nonetheless as a result of a lot is unknown in regards to the onset of CTE. Now we have ample examples of athletes who’ve sustained life-altering traumatic mind damage, however the majority performed lengthy sufficient in the past that concussion figures weren’t adequately tracked, or ignored all collectively. The demise of Junior Seau, Stephen Davis experiencing reminiscence loss 4 years after his retirement, Gale Sayers, Frank Wycheck — the checklist goes on.
Within the final decade we’ve seen two of the brightest younger stars within the NFL retire far earlier than their time over damage considerations. Luke Kuechly retired from the Panthers at age 28 over concussion considerations. On the trajectory to be the best linebacker in historical past, Kuechly sustained three concussions in three consecutive seasons, inflicting him to make the troublesome resolution to stroll away from the sport he beloved each bit as a lot as Tua does now, understanding the chance to his future.
Equally, quarterback Andrew Luck additionally retired on the prime of his recreation at age 29. A wide range of accidents compounded to guide Luck to his resolution, however he cited worries of post-concussion trauma as properly.
For Tagovailoa it’s seemingly not possible for him to go away the sport. An dependancy he’s incapable of shaking. We will have final sympathy for the problem of change while you’ve been locked into the world of soccer your complete grownup life, whereas additionally scrutinizing ingredient of this alternative, like not even entertaining the thought of sporting a Guardian Cap on his return, which has been confirmed to cut back the chance of concussion.
When requested Monday why he received’t put on the concussion-reducing helmet cowl Tua curtly answered “private alternative,” and wouldn’t expound additional. Whereas some gamers have mentioned they don’t like the texture of the extra cap, it looks as if an apparent alternative while you’ve sustained a number of concussions with extra doubtlessly leading to your life being altered endlessly.
The first situation within the NFL proper now with regards to concussions is that the onus is being positioned on the participant. The league has made super strides in guaranteeing groups aren’t placing gamers again in hurt’s method instantly, however by placing a lot on gamers to make their very own selections about their well being it opens the door for poisonous tradition and misplaced macho bravado to strain guys getting back from mind accidents far sooner than they need to.
Tua Tagovailoa must be protected against himself, as a result of whereas it’s definitely truthful to say that athletes ought to be allowed to make their very own selections, there additionally must be intervention when aggressive athletes of their 20s are incapable of being forward-thinking sufficient to think about their lives of their 40s and past because of the choices they make now.
No one needs to see Tagovailoa ripped from the sport he loves earlier than he’s prepared, however tragically his damage historical past has introduced him to this crossroad. Somebody wants to drag him apart and inform him that selecting to go away soccer over concussions isn’t an indication of weak point, however moderately one in all power. Sacrificing your private targets and goals to make sure a greater life in your youngsters and household is the final word act of being a husband, a father, and a person.