Football, Gentrification, and Concussion

Marshawn Lynch
Marshawn Lynch, Oakland Raiders

Football

This is publishing on the morning after the Super Bowl. At the time of this writing, I don’t know if the hometown boys have won it again, or if Los Angeles takes home to trophy. I also don’t know who will get the Walter Payton Award, which is given to the player who gave back to his community in the most substantial way.

Marshawn Lynch is the nominee for the Oakland Raiders. He works to prepare children for school, runs football camps, and fights gentrification by purchasing properties in his gentrifying neighborhood.

Gentrification, according to Marshawn Lynch

“It’s basically when, for me, it’s a lot of white people come move into the hood and kick everybody out that’s there. I’ve been a witness of it since I was a small jitterbug so I mean now that I’m grown up and I’m seeing it, I understand it a little more.”

Concussion

On January 24, 2019, I fell on a poorly cleared sidewalk and sustained a concussion.

All of these topics–football, gentrification, and concussion–need more thought than I can give them. Football players suffer concussions far too often and feel the effects far too long. Concussion, for me, is a window into what senile brain changes, like senile dementia and Alzheimer’s must be like. When my brain recovers, I will be giving it more thought.

Stay tuned.

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