We used to get drunk and play tackle football no shit. I don’t think any of us are ****ed up. No helmets rule.
Aaron Hernandez's brain showed a SEVERE case of CTE, dead at age 27
- Thread starter strummingram
- Start date
As @UNC71-00 points out, it won't happen because it would forever change the game.
It would also make too many potential viewers squeamish. Football is popular with lots of folks because, besides the gruesome leg injuries, most football injuries can't really be "seen." The head trauma is concealed by a helmet, and blood is usually minimal in the NFL. With no helmets, the intensity of contact injuries would greatly diminish, but the amount of blood would greatly increase. Some of the viewing public wouldn't like that.
No helmets would be fantastic for the game, though. Or just leather helmets like some soccer goalies wear. No one would launch anymore because they'd break their neck.
Sure thing, Dr. Morose.
I dare say I am just as aware of those clinical discussions as you are, but that is beside the point. This debate isn't about the severity of injuries in the game of football. It's about the future of the sport and it sounds to me like your one and only solution is to abolish the sport immediately.
Then why does the NFL's Competition Committee even bother?
You're obviously not much of a student of the game, strum. I encourage you check out some game footage from the NFL of the 1960s up through the '90s, before the in-the-grasp rule was created, when clothslining and horse collars were legal, and hitting a defenseless receiver was often strategic.
There is a plethora of such footage at YouTube. Here, check this one out.
Not always. Just ask Mack Hollins.
Yep, seems like we're all in complete agreement there. It would change the game in a way that might protect players, but not viewers. And viewers ultimately determine what changes get made.
Where, at any time, did I ever say "abolish the sport?" I never even implied that it should be abolished... not once. I said, over and over, I don't care. I also said it sucks that it's coming to an end. I've enjoyed it my whole life. I love watching it. I played it in jr. high. So... you're making shit up there.
ETA: They can keep playing it like it is forever and I'm fine with that. They can weld knives to their uniforms and get points for putting each other into a coma and I'm fine with it. I won't play it. I won't encourage kids to play it, but it doesn't bother me at all.
It's their product and their fortune that is at stake?
And, those players are suffering from it, too. Mike Webster was playing in 1974. I've seen tons of footage from those eras. They're awesome to watch! I saw Darryl Stingley become paralyzed by Jack Tatum live on TV, as a young boy. What the hell does the severity of those injuries, and the inability to clothesline tackle tackle now, have to do with CTE making the participation in football becoming less and less all the time? We don't have gladiators fighting to the death now either. But, they used to.
I'll openly admit, seeing these guys have full-on collisions and then be immobile is amazing to watch. I'm detached from it. I know they train their whole lives to do this stuff. @Heels Noir thinks I want the sport to end. I don't. I just know it's going to end, eventually, because it will finally not be worth the cost.
They should televise American military operations- War! It's a lot like football.
"If they start filing and winning 'wrongful death' lawsuits, football may end even faster."
"You'd better prepare for its demise. It's coming sooner or later."
"It's just a matter of time before it ends."
"This is going to be a memory. I know it sucks. I'm not looking forward to it. But, it's still coming to an end."
"The roots are dead."
"The human anatomy makes the demise inevitable."
"However, from what I see, it's becoming extinct."
No, strum, you never implied the unceremonious end to football as we know it. 'Course not. But there was a moment when you went Frankenstein on us, which was good for a chuckle:
"Unless science can create a skull implant that prevents the human brain from sloshing around inside the skull every time 2 players collide, it's only a matter of time before it's no longer played. Evolution is working against it. It always has been, actually.
"If the motivation and innovation can create a skull implant, or something that can be put inside the skull, then it's possible."
Frankenstein you are not. Some halfwitted charlatan, yes.
I see a person with bone cancer and I conclude, quite correctly, that "they're not long for this world." Or, "I hope their pain ends soon and they are in peace." Or, "This is inevitably going to result in their death." Or, "That chemo is killing them faster than the cancer."
At no point do any of those observations of what is actually happening equal "Man, I'm sure glad they got sick and died!"
If you want to share data that indicates that CTE is not harmful, and not causing the game to come to an end, I'll be glad to continue to debate. But, you whining about my comments not being complimentary enough AWAY from what is happening, and your refusal to accept what is happening, isn't worth my time. At least THN11 brings something of substance to discuss.
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Sunday morning and we're still here? I need to get a life.
First, strum, I never accused you of wanting to abolish the game. To be accurate, I wrote it sounds like that's your only solution. Certainly you have not provided any other ideas. Everything you have offered in this thread suggests it is too little, too late to save football. Helmet redesign, new rules to reduce injuries . . . it doesn't matter, its fate is sealed. And that, I contend, is where you are wrong.
Second, I'm not denying the damaging effects of violent hits in football or any other contact sport. CTE is real, I know that. But I also know the articles you provided showing the reduction in the number of kids participating in the game is only that. It is not proof that the end is near.
First, strum, I never accused you of wanting to abolish the game. To be accurate, I wrote it sounds like that's your only solution. Certainly you have not provided any other ideas. Everything you have offered in this thread suggests it is too little, too late to save football. Helmet redesign, new rules to reduce injuries . . . it doesn't matter, its fate is sealed. And that, I contend, is where you are wrong.
Second, I'm not denying the damaging effects of violent hits in football or any other contact sport. CTE is real, I know that. But I also know the articles you provided showing the reduction in the number of kids participating in the game is only that. It is not proof that the end is near.
Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention please. This is the public address announcer and I have some very sad news.
Strummingram has determined that football is too violent. Because of that, and the fact that kids are no longer signing up, the sport has ceased to exist.
Please proceed to the nearest exit and never come back. Thank you.
The problem with football is that it's not just a concussion issue. Dr. Bennett Omalu has said the real danger of football is related to the repeated hits that players take throughout the game, especially players on the offensive and defensive lines. While each hit isn't dangerous, the volume of those hits can cause severe brain damage over time.
I'm not at a point to say that football will die, but they do have some major issues. It may last long into the future, but with a smaller pool of players as parents encourage their kids to play other sports.
I'm not at a point to say that football will die, but they do have some major issues. It may last long into the future, but with a smaller pool of players as parents encourage their kids to play other sports.
Yuppy parents, sure. Go to the Deep South and go to the state of Ohio and see if they stop signing their kids up to play. Nope.
Pretty soon we can just roll like the Romans and make captured POWs play instead of Americans.
Other than those Americans which break the law of course. Run those SOBs out there with the Afghans.
Almost like how people who live in poverty and ghettos are likely to become criminals and get into drugs, etc.. What other choices are there? A poor black kid who can run like a mad man isn't concerned with brain damage, no. As MWHeels said, you'll get a smaller pool of people who just don't care if they suffer brain damage. We may even have that now. Everyone is aware of this thing now. You're rolling the dice if you're playing college and then pro football.
I never really understood the "poverty" argument for the NFL. Couldn't a kid in that situation just play basketball? The NBA has guaranteed contracts, and even role players are getting signed to lucrative deals.
Like I said though, I'm not arguing that football will die. Youth participation is down overall, just like it is in other sports. There will probably be kids who still want to play years from now, but maybe not as many as there were 5-10 years ago.
Like I said though, I'm not arguing that football will die. Youth participation is down overall, just like it is in other sports. There will probably be kids who still want to play years from now, but maybe not as many as there were 5-10 years ago.
They play football because they, wait for it... they like it. I know that's a crazy concept. You don't do anything you like even though there's danger attached to it?
Oh, I'm sure they LOVE it. I have no doubt. I'd venture to guess that for almost all of the players that came from impoverished families, it was a godsend! That is why it's awesome for those who can take advantage of it! I'm glad they have that as an option, regardless of social station in life.
Somehow I wound up in the role of antagonist in this and I'm not trying to be. I love watching football. I played it from 7th-9th grade. I've watched it and looked forward to it my whole life. But, I still believe that this condition will bring it to an end, at some point, unless they can somehow protect the brain from the damage it causes. The players that have died from it and continue to exhibit disturbing effects from it, are becoming more frequent, not less.
