League of Denial

The central theme running throughout “Discovery,” the first section of League of Denial, is that of mental and physical toughness. The game of football is one that requires specific athletic abilities such as speed and strength, but no attribute pays off more for football players than toughness. The very essence of the sport is contact, as hitting in the form of blocking and tackling occurs on every single play. With that contact, injuries come as well, and players are taught at a young age to play through pain. That was certainly true of Hall of Famer Mike Webster, the central figure in League of Denial, who once played every single offensive snap over a six-year period—a total of 5,871 consecutive plays. In Chapter 1, the authors state that Webster “lived by one central tenet: Never come off the field” (28).

Although that toughness element—players urging themselves and being urged by coaches and teammates to play through pain—had always existed, it became especially prophetic and dangerous when applied to the mostly invisible injuries of concussions. Until concussions began receiving attention in the 1990s, they were “still regarded as the neurological equivalent of a stubbed toe” (32). Players were expected to play through concussions even more so than other injuries because, as the authors point out, “the sports medical community had viewed a

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