Many people have heard of the correlation between professional football and brain injuries. The author of this article takes a look at two former NFL players, Wayne Clark and Fred McNeill, who participated in a UCLA study to further investigate the effects of football on the brain. The journalist begins the article by describing the process of brain scans using sensory imagery describing the sound and appearance of these machines. The journalist, Smith, then depicts the results of the scan: red and yellow bands that indicate damage. Smith then describes that a protein called "tau" was discovered in their brains and proceeds to use logos to communicate the effect of this protein. Smith includes examples of several other football players whose brains have been found to contain this protein upon examination after death. All of these players whose brains contained this protein committed suicide, which creates an interesting study. Smith uses more logos to describe the different effects this protein has in the living players' brains at the moment. She uses examples such as the fact that McNeill has signs of dementia, but Clark still has normal cognitive abilities for his age. Smith includes more interesting facts such as the evidence that more players who play positions like linebackers are more susceptible to brain damage since they suffer considerably more hits to the head that those like quarterbacks. This could explain why McNeill's symptoms are more aggressive than those of Clark because Clark was a quarterback. Through Smith's thorough use of logos and inclusion of some pathos when delving into the specific cases of two players, she communicates the facts about the correlation between football and brain injuries and introduces the exciting idea that through these studies, a solution could be found to try to prevent such traumatic injuries.
Link to article: http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/01/health/nfl-players-brains/index.html?hpt=hp_bn13
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