- Jun 11, 2014
- 21,148
- 33,987
Founding Member
That will be the future, yes. Tackle football will one day be a distant memory.I mean what are you going to do about it? Put flags on them?
Football as we know it is about to go away.
That will be the future, yes. Tackle football will one day be a distant memory.
Nothing really to add to this, it's spot on. I have two nephews, and while I'm not raising them, I won't be encouraging them to play football. If I ever have a son, I won't be encouraging him to play football, either. Plenty of other sports you can play that won't completely f*ck your health up for life before you hit 30.Once in a while I skim through the rulebook to try and understand some nuance of the game. What's interesting is that nowhere in the text is any mention about one of the goals of the game to be to lay waste to your opponent. Crushing and destroying people isn't one of the stated goals. The point is to advance the ball without any part of your body other than your foot or hand touching the ground. The goal of the defense is to get the ball carrier onto the ground. But hitting and violence have become such a part of the game that they are for all intents and purposes inseparable from the game itself. The helmet, for instance, was invented to protect a players head from incidental contact, but has really lead to the ability to launch one's body into the opponent with unheralded violence.
On a similar note, brain injuries have got to be just another item on a long list of heinous injuries that are on the rise. The human body wasn't meant to be that big and strong and fast. The number of muscle separations, torn ligaments and even internal injuries seem to also be on the rise although I don't have any data to prove it.
Lastly, the other pads the players wear have literally disappeared before our eyes in the last 20 years. I don't think shoulder pads are even half the size they were when we won our first championship.
Nothing really to add to this, it's spot on. I have two nephews, and while I'm not raising them, I won't be encouraging them to play football. If I ever have a son, I won't be encouraging him to play football, either. Plenty of other sports you can play that won't completely f*ck your health up for life before you hit 30.
NFL is notorious for having a sh*t pension program.Yeah, but after a good NFL career, you can afford your health care if you don't squander everything you earn like so many do...
NFL is notorious for having a sh*t pension program.
Take the helmet away, or go back to leather. They won't go flying across the field headfirst anymore.We could make the game safer for concussions but the helmets would look oversized and goofy. Players want to look cool. You would have to mandate it across every level of football.