A

little over a week ago, 
during Game Four of the 
NBA Western Confer-

ence 
Finals, 

Stephen Curry 
of the Golden 
State Warriors 
fell hard, hit-
ting his back, 
neck and head. 
 

He remained on the ground for a 
few minutes and was taken out of 
the game, head in hands. Accord-
ing to NBA policy, a player who 
has hit their head and is suspected 
of having a concussion is removed 
from the game for a neurological 
examination. Curry was removed 
from the game, but he was cleared 
to return to play only one hour 
later — missing the equivalent of a 
quarter of the game.

Only a day later, Klay Thomp-

son, 
Curry’s 
teammate, 
was 

kneed in the head. He was taken 
out, but returned to the bench a 
few minutes later. He was only 
ruled out a second time after he 
began bleeding and required 
stitches. Despite being cleared 
of a concussion by the Warriors 
medical staff, after the game he 
was not feeling well and began to 
exhibit signs of a concussion. A 
few days later, he was diagnosed 
with a concussion. The incident 
was so confusing, even his agent, 
just a day before his diagnosis, 
was adamant that Thompson 
didn’t have a concussion.

Watching both Curry and 

Thompson fall hard on the court 
and then reappear shortly after, 
cleared of concussions, horri-
fied me. How could they pos-
sibly know the extent of their 
head injuries in such a short 
period of time? However, as 
much as we would like to have a 
quick and easy diagnosis — and 
an even quicker recovery for any 
and every injury — both take 
time, and there’s no safe way to 
cut corners.

The weekend before Thanks-

giving vacation this past year, 
I slipped and fell on black ice. 
My head hurt, but the pain went 

away after a half hour or so. I 
chalked it up to a bad fall and 
went along with the rest of my 
day. That afternoon and into the 
early evening I didn’t experi-
ence any of the normal signs of a 
concussion. It took me an entire 
day to realize I may have a con-
cussion, and another three days 
to start experiencing a massive 
and constant headache Advil 
couldn’t alleviate that ultimately 
lasted for weeks. Additionally, 
according to my doctor, a brain 
scan wouldn’t have indicated 
anything, because the concus-
sion was not severe enough to 
cause any visible brain damage.

Head injuries cannot be taken 

lightly. It could be hours or days 
before people begin to experience 
concussion-like symptoms, which 
further sheds light on the prob-
lems with the 
methods 
used 

to 
deal 
with 

sport-related 
head 
injuries. 

Hallway 
jog-

ging tests and 
preliminary 
concussion 
tests that last 
less than one 
hour shouldn’t 
be the manner used to assess head 
injuries that could, later on, turn 
out to be worse than first expected. 

Instead of clearing a player 

to go back into the game after a 
quick round of tests, there needs 
to be a change in the way injuries 
during the game are handled. 
Taking a player out for the rest 
of the game, whereupon a doc-
tor not so closely affiliated to the 
team assesses the player over a 
few days, is an imperative step to 
change the system. What’s more, 
these organizations need to take 
the pressure off of the players to 
make the decision to go back into 
the game. After all, who wants to 
pull themselves out of a game? As 
it is now, the way we deal with 
these injuries not only hurts the 
athletes, but also the sport. No 
matter if the player ends up being 

fine, there’s always a chance that 
they are not, as was the case with 
Thompson. 
Thompson 
should 

never have been cleared to play 
(even though he never played).

Approximately 300,000 sport-

related brain injuries — most of 
them concussions — occur every 
year in the United States. Among 
people ages 15 to 24, sports inju-
ries are the second most common 
cause of traumatic brain injuries 
behind motor vehicle crashes. 
The problems we face when deal-
ing 
with 
sports-related 
head 

injuries are also problems at the 
high school and collegiate levels 
— as we saw most recently when 
Michigan football quarterback, 
Shane Morris, was brought back 
into the game, despite having a 
concussion. Rules at the collegiate 
level that permanently take play-

ers out of the 
game after a 
head 
injury 

would 
have 

prevented 
his re-entry, 
as there are 
no such rules 
right now. 

There’s no 

doubt 
that 

we’re already 

raising awareness about the seri-
ousness of concussions, but inci-
dents such as these indicate that 
we need to take swifter action. 
Whether it’s at the collegiate or 
professional level, it seems that 
the player’s health is not empha-
sized enough. Instead of focusing 
on when these injured athletes can 
return to play, the focus should be 
on their health. Continually ques-
tioning when they can get back in 
the game will only increase the 
pressure on everyone to get them 
back onto the court. It’s the job of 
the officials, the people in charge 
of the game and the coaches to put 
their foot down and send the mes-
sage that the health of the athletes 
unequivocally comes first.

— Anna Polumbo-Levy can be 
reached at annapl@umich.edu.

5

Thursday, June 4, 2015

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com OPINION

 

— Jeb Bush said at Gov. Scott’s Economic Growth Summit on 
 

June 2 in Orlando when asked about potential competition 

from members of his party.

“

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

I haven’t checked how many 
people announced today but 
it’s a—it’s a big deal, it’ll be 
competitive, there’s going to 
be some elbows and knees un-
der the boards here. This isn’t 
tiddly-winks we’re playing.”
CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION

Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and viewpoints. 
Letters should be fewer than 300 words while viewpoints should 
be 550-850 words. Send the writer’s full name and University 

affiliation to melikaye@umich.edu.

In last year’s Appropriations 

Committee in the U.S. House 
of Representatives, Rep. Marcy 
Kaptur (D–Ohio) advocated for 
a bill rider that would allow for 
farmers to speak about their 
conditions without fear of retali-
ation. Unfortunately, the amend-
ment failed in a 20-29 vote.

There’s still hope, though. The 

committee is set to meet again 
to discuss the 2016 Fiscal Year 
Commerce. At the end of “Last 
Week,” 
Oli-

ver called for 
viewers to con-
tact the 51 U.S. 
House Repre-
sentatives that 
make up the 
Appropriations 
Committee to 
urge them to 
support 
more 

protective 
legislation for chicken farmers. 
Notifying your representatives 
and threatening them with the 
term “chicken fuckers,” as Oliver 
suggested, is an easy and some-
times effective option to help 
enact change.

However, no matter how effec-

tive I believe our government is, 
the representative system isn’t 
enough. Citizens must combat 
the root of the problem: preda-
tory corporations.

As the biggest meat industry 

in the United States, it seems 
unlikely that chicken consump-

tion will decrease anytime soon. 
Switching to local poultry prod-
ucts to push the industry toward 
change is a more viable solution.

This capitalistic system exists 

in many of society’s food indus-
tries. Choosing companies in the 
market that create an ethical 
product will help decrease the 
percentage of living things being 
taken advantage of and under-
mine predatory practices.

I thought about all of this 

awful infor-
mation Oliver 
highlighted 
in his late-
night 
talk 

show 
while 

at Charley’s, 
trying 
to 

convince my 
friend to take 
his shot.

Maybe eat-

ing locally and ethically created 
products is a better reality than 
trying to completely eradicate 
poultry from American diets. 
Personally, I feel a little bit bet-
ter knowing the chicken I just 
ate wasn’t tortured throughout 
its entire life and the farmer who 
helped produce it in order to cre-
ate a livelihood for himself and 
his family wasn’t taken advan-
tage of by evil organizations.

It seems like a small step in the 

right direction.

— Aarica Marsh can be reached 

at aaricama@umich.edu.

Citizens must combat 

the root of the 

problem: predatory 

corporations.

A concussion conundrum

ANNA 
POLUMBO-
LEVY

There needs to be a 
change in the way 
injuries during the 
game are handled.

