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I'm sure more parents will be eager for their sons to play football if they see this.
It is tragic, and unspeakably horrible for the parents and siblings any time a child dies.
I am guessing though you could go back nearly every year, and find a similar case or two per year of a kid dying in this way.

And regarding parents stopping kids from playing football. I don't know - it seems like a known risk of living life.

Think of all the kids that die in car accidents, through no fault of their own, or from being in cars after drinking; texting while driving; etc.

My point is there are much higher risks in other parts of life for kids. You can't just stop them from driving, drinking, texting, etc though.
 
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I've actually agreed with @strummingram in the past on his take of football one day not being around. Our society is so soft that they'll eventually shame football out. Find out that black kids are having more head trauma than white kids and it will speed up the sport's demise exponentially.

I love football and I agree, there are risks in life. I played Pop Warner and greatly enjoyed it. My dad coached Pop Warner. Is playing football fun enough to roll the dice on head trauma and all that may come with that? For some, yes. For others, no. I would hate to see the sport go away because there's nothing like it. It's 100% American and it's embedded in our culture, especially in the South. I can't imagine what fall weekends would be like without football.

With all that said, I wouldn't steer my kid towards the game. It's irrelevant to me because my kids go to a private school that doesn't have a football team. My older son wants to play so badly that he's lobbied to switch schools to one that has a football team. But that's not really a consideration for my wife and me. But I'm also of the opinion that while my kids are better than average athletes, they're not future NFL players. And if there's no payoff at the end, then for me, the risk isn't worth it.

I guess the best way for me to say it is, "I don't mind watching kids bash each other's heads in as long as it isn't my kid."
 
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It is tragic, and unspeakably horrible for the parents and siblings any time a child dies.
I am guessing though you could go back nearly every year, and find a similar case or two per year of a kid dying in this way.

And regarding parents stopping kids from playing football. I don't know - it seems like a known risk of living life.

Think of all the kids that die in car accidents, through no fault of their own, or from being in cars after drinking; texting while driving; etc.

My point is there are much higher risks in other parts of life for kids. You can't just stop them from driving, drinking, texting, etc though.

The main difference is they need to learn how to drive. It’s basically an essential life skill unless you live downtown in a major metro area. Lots of high schoolers have jobs they need to drive to. I don’t think anyone really believes that youth football is something they ‘need’ to be doing. That being said, there’s no doubt that participating in sports can also help keep teenagers from doing other dumb shit. Maybe the trade off is still a net positive. Idk.

I don’t think high school football will see dramatic fall offs in participation in the short term. But filling out rosters for Pop Warner leagues could easily become a thing of the past.

Football is dangerous. If you’re going to play you have to accept the risk of injury. But for the position groups that are consistently hitting or getting hit, it becomes a tougher decision if you really understand the risks and don’t have a shot at playing college or pro ball.
 
It is tragic, and unspeakably horrible for the parents and siblings any time a child dies.
I am guessing though you could go back nearly every year, and find a similar case or two per year of a kid dying in this way.

And regarding parents stopping kids from playing football. I don't know - it seems like a known risk of living life.

Think of all the kids that die in car accidents, through no fault of their own, or from being in cars after drinking; texting while driving; etc.

My point is there are much higher risks in other parts of life for kids. You can't just stop them from driving, drinking, texting, etc though.
Driving is something most people choose to do. Football isn't a choice, like that. Football is a risk they can avoid. How many ever get multi-million dollar contracts that someone could probably talk themselves into taking the risk of permanent brain trauma, injury and/or death?

I think the money made from football will delay it for as long as possible. It's a buzillion dollar industry, and money rules.

It would be awesome if they (scientists, whoever) could manage to create some kind of "skull implant" that keeps the brain from sloshing around in the cerebrospinal fluid INSIDE the skull. But, a helmet isn't going to stop that. I think helmets were created to protect the skull itself, not the brain.
 
Football won't ever go away completely, but the quality of play will go down significantly if parents keep pushing their kids to play other sports. If the most talented kids are playing another sport and you're left with the second string playing football, then eventually it's popularity will decrease at the highest levels.
 
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Football won't ever go away completely, but the quality of play will go down significantly if parents keep pushing their kids to play other sports. If the most talented kids are playing another sport and you're left with the second string playing football, then eventually it's popularity will decrease at the highest levels.
It probably won't ever go away completely, but it's possible. It sucks, because I've known it my whole life. I never got into baseball... too many games in a season, and I was never given a team to support from my father or grandfather. That's a lot of sports adulation. It's passed-down from father to son. Or, maybe the son pulls for the rival to spite the father! Regardless, we all love watching it, and look forward to it. But, it's a lethal sport.

I still believe that in 100 years, if people are still around, they'll look back at football and say "Can you believe they did that for enjoyment?" Kinda like looking at Roman gladiators and the Circus Maximus or whatever, the animals attacking the humans in the Colosseum.
 

I guess the Autumn of 2022?
Hopefully they'll figure out that this thing is going to be more like the flu before then. The only way this thing goes away is if we realize it isn't going away. Just need to continue to get your flu and rona shot every year.
 
Hopefully they'll figure out that this thing is going to be more like the flu before then. The only way this thing goes away is if we realize it isn't going away. Just need to continue to get your flu and rona shot every year.
That's pretty much what he said. It is here to stay. It will be a 2-fer thing in the winter... Covid/FLu shot.
 
It probably won't ever go away completely, but it's possible. It sucks, because I've known it my whole life. I never got into baseball... too many games in a season, and I was never given a team to support from my father or grandfather. That's a lot of sports adulation. It's passed-down from father to son. Or, maybe the son pulls for the rival to spite the father! Regardless, we all love watching it, and look forward to it. But, it's a lethal sport.

I still believe that in 100 years, if people are still around, they'll look back at football and say "Can you believe they did that for enjoyment?" Kinda like looking at Roman gladiators and the Circus Maximus or whatever, the animals attacking the humans in the Colosseum.
yes maybe it will go away...and I know kids aren't involved in these "sports" I'm about to mention, and way fewer people are involved in these -

but doesn't it make sense that all boxing, and all MMA (men and the in my view barbaric degrading repulsive women's MMA) - before football goes away?

Way fewer people are involved in these, and they are much more dangerous than football. People are way more invested in football than these sports both as spectators, bettors, fantasy football, fans.

I'd say there could be a migration to lacrosse for high school and college, but I doubt people will ever like playing or watching lacrosse as much as football. And soccer? Give me a break! unwatchable. No scoring, little action.

Like @gunslingerdick said - There is just something so great about the game of football, tradition etc woven into American fabric and lifestyle, you just can't replace with other sports. It is a huge part of millions of people's lives, in one way or another, as a player or fan, from age 8 to 88.
 
yes maybe it will go away...and I know kids aren't involved in these "sports" I'm about to mention, and way fewer people are involved in these -

but doesn't it make sense that all boxing, and all MMA (men and the in my view barbaric degrading repulsive women's MMA) - before football goes away?

Way fewer people are involved in these, and they are much more dangerous than football. People are way more invested in football than these sports both as spectators, bettors, fantasy football, fans.

I'd say there could be a migration to lacrosse for high school and college, but I doubt people will ever like playing or watching lacrosse as much as football. And soccer? Give me a break! unwatchable. No scoring, little action.

Like @gunslingerdick said - There is just something so great about the game of football, tradition etc woven into American fabric and lifestyle, you just can't replace with other sports. It is a huge part of millions of people's lives, in one way or another, as a player or fan, from age 8 to 88.
Well... football has been the King for probably most of MY life. But, it wasn't like that before I was born. Pro Football wasn't anywhere NEAR as popular as MLB in the first part of the 20th century, up through the 1960s. Now, college football was different. College football had more support and fans. "What It Was Was Football" is a good example! Leatherheads, the film of early pro football, shows how pro football was a novelty when it started. I think it was in the 1960's that the NFL really started to become a formidable "industry." The players used to have off-season jobs back then!

Baseball was by far more popular in the 1900's-1960's. So, it hasn't been that long, really. It's just been big in OUR lives. I could see basketball and baseball filling-in the need for team sports in popular American culture, eventually. Once these factors eventually catch-up to the college and pro game, it's going to force some kind of shift.
 
Football is too interwoven in American culture to die out. It was the first game I fell in love with as a kid. Don't want to ever see it go away.
If CC (cancel culture) sets its sights on football, it will be gone. As with most things.
 
If CC (cancel culture) sets its sights on football, it will be gone. As with most things.
0910 is right about "the quality of play will go down significantly if parents keep pushing their kids to play other sports" but something else to consider is how profitable it is. NCAA and NFL badly hope the game stays alive and well. $ > CC
 
I read an interesting article by the guy that writes for the packer website about how doing away with shoulder pads and helmets would make the game safer. He makes some
Good points. You don’t lead with your head, you learn to tackle and wrap up and you don’t fly around feeling invincible. Would be interesting to watch.
 
I read an interesting article by the guy that writes for the packer website about how doing away with shoulder pads and helmets would make the game safer. He makes some
Good points. You don’t lead with your head, you learn to tackle and wrap up and you don’t fly around feeling invincible. Would be interesting to watch.

@TarHeelNation11 has been saying that for years. Literally the exact same thing...for years.
 
@TarHeelNation11 has been saying that for years. Literally the exact same thing...for years.
Yep. Removing helmets would make football 10x safer, immediately.

But we don't want that because then we would see blood on the guy's faces and we don't want blood. We'd rather have them suffer concussions that we can't tangibly "see" because the helmet is a weapon that deals punishment and deals friendly fire.

An alternate to no helmets would be the padded face mask-less helmets you see players wear in camps and 7-on-7 games.
 
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Yep. Removing helmets would make football 10x safer, immediately.

But we don't want that because then we would see blood on the guy's faces and we don't want blood. We'd rather have them suffer concussions that we can't tangibly "see" because the helmet is a weapon that deals punishment and deals friendly fire.

An alternate to no helmets would be the padded face mask-less helmets you see players wear in camps and 7-on-7 games.
Would it end up a little too much like flag football though and lose some excitement. Still an amazing sport with complex rules, high athleticism, 26 guys all playing a different position - all that, but I think physicality of the sport would change too much.

I guess you'd have to start in increments or that first yr of change would result in lots of lost teeth.
 
Would it end up a little too much like flag football though and lose some excitement. Still an amazing sport with complex rules, high athleticism, 26 guys all playing a different position - all that, but I think physicality of the sport would change too much.

I guess you'd have to start in increments or that first yr of change would result in lots of lost teeth.
Be similar to rugby i would think as far as running and tackling goes. It’s pretty physical.

 
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Covid is one thing but measles and mumps? Those two diseases can actually kill children with far more regularity. There shouldn't even be a question in requiring those.
 
uh oh... no more "dissenting opinion" videos!

I'm not sure I agree with censoring people.

I don't agree with censoring people either. It sets a dangerous precedent.

Although it seems like a lot of people are fine with it, if they disagree with the people being censored.
 
I don't agree with censoring people either. It sets a dangerous precedent.

Although it seems like a lot of people are fine with it, if they disagree with the people being censored.
This is a tough one. I'm not for censoring (unless it's something that's actually dangerous, like bomb building) but I'm absolutely for private business being able to do want they want in almost every circumstance. I'm assuming that Google did a cost benefit analysis on this and it worked out as a positive for them. That's really all that matters to them and the shareholders.
 
This is a tough one. I'm not for censoring (unless it's something that's actually dangerous, like bomb building) but I'm absolutely for private business being able to do want they want in almost every circumstance. I'm assuming that Google did a cost benefit analysis on this and it worked out as a positive for them. That's really all that matters to them and the shareholders.
Where's the line on what's actually dangerous? Who decides?
 
Where's the line on what's actually dangerous? Who decides?
It's hard to draw an exact line, but most of the time it's pretty obvious. My example would be a pretty good one. The business would be the one to make that decision. If the customer doesn't like it, they can voice their opinion by not being a customer anymore.
 
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