English I Article of the Week

##### Name: ARTICLE OF THE WEEK*

1. Read the following articles. Mark your confusion about words or topics. Show your thinking using thorough Harvard reading strategy annotations. 2. Answer the EOC questions and put the question’s number next to where you found your answer in the text. 3. Write a reflection showing your thinking on the topic.

# 87 of 91 Tested ex-NFL Players had Brain Disease Linked to Head Trauma

Annotations

## Source: Jason Hannah, Debra Goldschmidt, and Kevin Flower, CNN.com

Eighty-seven of 91 former NFL players who donated their brains to science after death tested positive for a brain disease that is believed to be linked with repeated head trauma and concussions, researchers said. The former players were found to have had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University. It's not clear why some players develop the disease and others don't. The study results don't necessarily mean that 96% of all NFL players are at risk for CTE, said Dr. Robert Cantu. The brains came from players who, while they were alive, had concerns about CTE. His group began its work in 2008.The data was published on the website for the Concussion Legacy Foundation, which Cantu co-founded, and first reported Friday by the documentary TV program "Frontline."

##### Postmortem diagnosis

CTE is a progressive degenerative brain disease found in some athletes and others with a history of repetitive brain trauma. The brain tissue of people found to have CTE displays an abnormal build-up of tau -- a protein that, when it spills out of cells, can choke off, or disable, neural pathways controlling things like memory, judgment and fear. Cantu is unequivocally clear that CTE is not unique to athletes. "There are a number of cases in people who never saw an athletic field," he said. Cantu gave the examples of former military members, people who have suffered from gram mal seizures, autistic children who rocked and banged their heads, abuse victims, and even people who were shot out of a cannon as part of a circus act.

##### CTE can be diagnosed only after death.

Earlier this year, the NFL and thousands of former players settled a lawsuit that provides up to $5 million per retired player for serious medical conditions associated with repeated head trauma. While the lawsuit was a combination of hundreds of actions brought by more than 5,000 former players, it may apply to as many as 20,000 former ex-NFLers. The overall rate of incidence of CTE among NFL players can only be determined after a number of brains from players who did not exhibit or experience any symptoms of CTE, are studied, Cantu said.

##### Should You Let Your Kids Play Football?

### Source: Roxanne Jones, CNN.com

When Oakland Raiders NFL running back Maurice Jones-Drew retired recently at just 29 years old, he said his life had been focused on football for 24 years and he needed a change. It's no wonder he wanted out. He has been playing football since he was 5 years old. Sound too young to strap on a helmet? Not really. Jones-Drew is no different from thousands of other boys whose parents introduce them to the gridiron just a few years out of diapers. Football is America's favorite sport. We pride ourselves on our toughness, on our ability to get back up when we're knocked down. What better sport is there to teach those lessons? But today, youth football is not looking like the best option. In 2012, an estimated 225,287 children -- down 9.5% since 2010 -- between the ages of 5 and 14 played Pop Warner football, in which the weight class for the 5-year-olds ranges from 35 to 79 pounds. With such lightweight boys competing with children more than twice their size, it's no wonder parents feel less inclined to put their kids in this sport. But not too long ago,