Concussions are brain injuries. When you read “Jay Cutler suffered a concussion on Sunday,” substitute “brain injury” for concussion. For example, “Recently, Michael Vick had a really bad concussion brain injury.”
And another. “The NFL should have strict protocols in place to establish when a player has been concussed,” should read, “The NFL should have strict protocols in place when a player has been brain injured.”
Pressing Pause 
In the last three years at least four or five students, all female, have had to miss class or do assignments late due to concussions (brain injuries). All but one were rugby players. I don’t know if this is chance or if there is a new seriousness about brain injuries that doctors and coaches are taking. Needless to say, I’ve been very willing to give them the time to recover!
When scientific evidence starts to reveal that customary behavior is bad for you it is a slow process to filter and accept this in order to make the necessary changes. It took years to convince enough people that smoking is bad for you and yet there are those who continue to ignore the consequences of their behavior for the immediate gratification it gives them.
Maybe it’s nature’s way of culling out the weakest among us.
I think smoking is a good analogy because apparently the NFL has long acknowledged the problem in private, but denies there’s any problem in public. The main difference of course is youth football, we never let 12 year-olds smoke.