It won't stop until human beings decide it isn't worth making money (The NFL) for.
Everything trickles down from that.
Don't see that happening tho.
Everything trickles down from that.
Don't see that happening tho.
What's the future of football?
- Thread starter OnceAhawk
- Start date
Your real life example gets to where we need to get intelligent about this. No reason for kids that young to play tackle football. Kids that age can play flag football for fun or to learn the game for when they get older and play tackle. That seems the first step and we can figure out the equipment stuff as we go along and continue the evolution in teaching kids how to properly block and tackle.
In the bigger picture sports has become such a big business that we push kids into it or they push themselves at an such an early age to shoot for the financial pay-off way down the road. It fits into a world where young people have shrinking opportunities to build a future outside of joining the military. That represents a societal problem outside the realm of sports and I don't know how we fix it.
I would also add what you and I were taught growing up. Sports can be a character building exercise that teaches youngsters the benefits of teamwork and learning to win and lose with grace.
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If we went back to scrum caps and leather type helmets without face masks, you would see a significant drop in head injuries. Rugby doesn't have close to the problem football does. In my 16 years of playing rugby, I didn't get one concussion, but suffered numerous ones in football.
Yet another in a long line of attempts to emasculate society and men.
As mentioned, soccer has a higher frequency rate of concussion but it is the sport of choice for the perpetually outraged.
As mentioned, soccer has a higher frequency rate of concussion but it is the sport of choice for the perpetually outraged.
One rule change which should be considered is a return to single platoon football, which would lead to smaller players and would slow the game down. I have also wondered if spread offense does not contribute, because of the separation of the hitter with the hitee. The degree of specialization in football means that many very large and very fast players are playing only a few minutes a game, if even that. Fatigue is not a factor.
I played HS in the early '90s and had a teammate suffer traumatic brain injury on the field. He almost died that night and did die very young a few years later. It's happened for decades, I think it's just getting more attention now.
I do remember, though, that before the above incident, the biggest fear I remember being discussed was neck/spinal cord damage and paralysis.
Are there any CTE diagnoses from any people other than professional football players? It can only be found via autopsy, so has there been a study to gauge it's prevalence outside professional football, athletes and men in general?
Is there an easy solution to this problem? No there isn't.
I think that football in general (High School & above) are taking the proper precautions to teach the right way to hit and to protect themselves. I think the equipment is improving, but there is no way to prevent these types of injuries. I think that its a risk to play football and every player/parent knows that. I really believe that in the near future you will see Special teams taken out of the game. I would not be surprised to see them just placing the ball at the 25 after scores. On Punts they might have the punter kick it and just have a guy fair catch it. IDK but those plays are where you see the most injuries.
One another poster on here pointed to another problem. Kids are bigger, faster, and stronger than they used to be. I mean there are kids who are 240lbs running the FB, when they used to be Linemen. Now you have kids who are HUGE running full steam at DB, LBs and that is where some of the collisions are happening as well. Its not their fault, but dang there are some nasty collisions at times.
Its a scary thought to think about that every time you put on your helmet, you might not make it through the game. I pray every time I go to a game that there are no serious injuries. All it takes is one hit and then its over for that player.
I think that football in general (High School & above) are taking the proper precautions to teach the right way to hit and to protect themselves. I think the equipment is improving, but there is no way to prevent these types of injuries. I think that its a risk to play football and every player/parent knows that. I really believe that in the near future you will see Special teams taken out of the game. I would not be surprised to see them just placing the ball at the 25 after scores. On Punts they might have the punter kick it and just have a guy fair catch it. IDK but those plays are where you see the most injuries.
One another poster on here pointed to another problem. Kids are bigger, faster, and stronger than they used to be. I mean there are kids who are 240lbs running the FB, when they used to be Linemen. Now you have kids who are HUGE running full steam at DB, LBs and that is where some of the collisions are happening as well. Its not their fault, but dang there are some nasty collisions at times.
Its a scary thought to think about that every time you put on your helmet, you might not make it through the game. I pray every time I go to a game that there are no serious injuries. All it takes is one hit and then its over for that player.
I love, love , love this game. Have coached for years at the youth and HS levels. However, I had to quit playing in 9th grade due to repeated concussions. I suffer from some slight post-concussion syndrome - biggest effect is dizziness ( not being able to ride "rides" at an amusement park w/ my kids or twirl whatsoever) but it really isn't too big of deal.
For the future of this great game, something has to change. I agree with some of the above, if the helmet was modified and wasn't such a weapon, I think it would pay dividends. I went in head-first every time (early 80's) and never had a coach tell me different; I was pretty small for my age, so I did what I had to do to see the field. looking back, it's no wonder that I had the issues that I did. I try to remember that as I coach, but in the heat of the game, players are going to do what is necessary to make the tackle or block.
As much as I love this game, I didn't have a second thought when my only son told me he was giving up the game. I'm sure he will get hurt at some point in his other sports, but I would rather have a son with a blown out knee than head trauma.
Hopefully, someone much smarter than me will come up with a new helmet design, or some sort of "less is more" concept that will keep players safer, or make the techniques change to protect our athletes.
For the future of this great game, something has to change. I agree with some of the above, if the helmet was modified and wasn't such a weapon, I think it would pay dividends. I went in head-first every time (early 80's) and never had a coach tell me different; I was pretty small for my age, so I did what I had to do to see the field. looking back, it's no wonder that I had the issues that I did. I try to remember that as I coach, but in the heat of the game, players are going to do what is necessary to make the tackle or block.
As much as I love this game, I didn't have a second thought when my only son told me he was giving up the game. I'm sure he will get hurt at some point in his other sports, but I would rather have a son with a blown out knee than head trauma.
Hopefully, someone much smarter than me will come up with a new helmet design, or some sort of "less is more" concept that will keep players safer, or make the techniques change to protect our athletes.
I'm all for this and of course this touches on society as a whole, as you likely know. Even if you did exactly what you say, there would still be those who try to sue or chase damages if something happened. Sort of like retirement now; you plan to retire and you can be pretty sure that Social Security won't be around for the younger crowd. Yet few are saving what they need and it will be someone else's fault. (not a prefect analogy but hopefully my point is made).
This is a complex, tough issue. I love the game as well, but I do think it can be made safer. I believe the key is to enact change before it's forced upon the game, or we risk the game disappearing on us. I think the fix will be expensive, but necessary. I don't recall equipment manufacturers ever conducting "crash" test types of studies, similar to what they do with cars, but that kind of approach could be useful. Techniques need to continue to evolve as well. I think we're teaching safer tackling techniques these days, which is a good thing. We also need to look at what I call "side-impact" collisions, which involve side-blows to the head from other players besides the two that originally impacted into one another. This is often a case of "friendly-fire", when a player gets whacked by a teammate rather than the opposition, like what happened to Ben Niemann recently. These types of situations are not situations in which fouls/penalties can be assessed, but are equally serious for the player(s) involved.
This is my thought -- the size and speed of the players is what's increasing injuries in general. It's also why I don't see it as too big of a deal with little kids; they just don't hit hard enough to be hurting each other.
I think the old leather helmets would do the most to eliminate head injuries; because it offers some protection over incidental contact, without providing incentive to use your head as a weapon.
I don't think the end result here is actually going to be about "nanny state" decisions. I don't think football will ever be banned. I think we're going to see dwindling participation numbers. That's not a ban, that's people voting with their feet.
I played in HS. I wasn't that good, but I loved it. I loved going to practice everyday, I loved being part of that kind of a team and I loved the experience of it. I think I'm a better person today for having done it. Right now, none of my kids are interested in football (I didn't start playing until 8th grade), but while I'm not going to prohibit them from playing, I'm not out there begging them to get into it.
Boxing still exists. Gymnastics still exist. Neither is available in HS in most places -- most training and competition comes from non-school leagues, and that's fine. Football may head the same way.
Yeppers. MMA and other xtreme sports have become increasingly popular. I'm sure "nanny-types" will call for it to be banned. As you and others have stated. If ya don't want to be part of something, that's cool. But dont mandate for others. This video illustrates the human desire to live on the edge and why it shouldn't be banned. I say let Darwinism work it's magic.
I can fix this problem with 1 word: airbags.
This will still not stop the brain from sloshing around inside the skull. That's the problem....
I was goin for levity. Obviously I failed.
Hey, I realize kids are gonna get hurt playing football. But they also get hurt climbing trees and riding bicycles. I played a number of sports as a youngster. My worst injury came from a bicycle accident. I'm taking a philosophical POV in this debate. The media tells us to be ecstatic we're soon gonna have driver-less cars. All in the name of safety. I'm a car guy. I like driving cars. It's fun to me. Better than a ride at Disneyland. I like being in control of the object I'm riding in. But that right is gonna be taken away from me by people who are willing to forfeit my freedom to alleviate their fears."Those willing to trade liberty for security deserve neither." Ben Franklin.
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I have no problem with men & women participating in dangerous sporting activities. Absolutely none.
But recently I have begun to worry about high schools and colleges promoting football, due to the increasing risk of serious injury. The players are so strong and so fast. Maybe they should make it private - an AAU activity for example.
But recently I have begun to worry about high schools and colleges promoting football, due to the increasing risk of serious injury. The players are so strong and so fast. Maybe they should make it private - an AAU activity for example.
I don't even know what to say about some the responses here. Football is not the enemy. Everyone should have the right to make their own choice but football is no more dangerous than scores of other activities in this country. Yes you can hurt playing football. It's not a certainty that anyone is going to get hurt because they play football. It's also incredibly unrealistic and wrong to think just because you get a concussion you're going to get CTE and suffer depression and maybe commit suicide and everything else. It's ridiculous. A handful of cases out of thousands of people playing the game. Football beyond far more value to the people that play it than it imperiles them. Sheesh. My daughter served a volleyball at the state tournament and hit a Dowling player in the head with the ball. Maybe we should outlaw volleyball. She easily could've gotten a concussion.
Yeah sadly this is going to be the trend I fear. I have noticed in the local teams how they used to have 70-80 kids out for football are now down to 50-60 kids. The larger schools will always have players, but the smaller schools I fear will suffer the most. I saw one small school (1A maybe) had like 20 kids out?? That is not very many kids and they are very well known program (successful). Kind of shocked me that they had that few of players.
I am not against football at all. I love the sport, I've played it, Coached It, and officiated it. It is a great game for kids to learn and participate in. It teaches them about adversity and togetherness. I loved playing football and whenever our buddies get together we usually end up re-hashing the glory days of football. We only got to play grades 7-12, then we were done. We didn't have pop warner or youth football. We played it in the yard and that was it.
The problem that I mainly have is only 12 states in the US implement and teach "heads up" tackling. I am sorry but this should of been a NFHS rule that all states implement it. I am more for just teaching the kids safety about how to tackle the right way. The issue does not lie in the one levels hands, the problem is at the top and I will explain why:
NFL- Kids watch these games and see these guys come in head down and try to make a big play. They try to "light" up the player and therefore they usually get "fined" and move on. These guys are getting paid a lot of money to play the game and if they get concussed they miss a game or two and that's it. There is no repercussions for them outside of the "fine". So they can throw their bodies around and anytime one of them does get flagged, they are upset and react in a negative way, instead of just admitting they hit "high". Who was the one player who said, "we should just play 2 hand touch if your going to take big hits out of the game." I can't remember who it was, just I was dumbfounded when I heard it. You can make a big hit in the mid-section instead of hitting high on a player. I realize they don't like guys going at the knees, but you can hit them in the stomach and be just fine.
College- This is the next level, they have started to take more precautionary than the NFL. They have implemented an ejection now with targeting, which is the right rule. These kids are on scholly, but they still want to win and get drafted. So they will try and make the big hit at times, but I would say for the most part, the ejection rule, and suspension has cleaned up the college game a lot. You still see some hits, but for the most part the players are getting smarter and realizing when to hit a WR/RB and when not to. I don't think there were as many ejections as there were a year ago. I would even favor instead of it being a half for an ejection, I would say the next game. That way they miss 1/12 of their season. I realize that isn't much, but it will make them think I am sure.
High School- There are still some big hits, but these mainly come on pass play and special teams. I officiated a few lower level games this past fall and the only time we ever had any "big" hits were on special teams play. Most of the times the pass plays were broken up and none issues. When I used to coach, I remember a few pass plays where the safety would light up a player (defenseless player) who was trying to catch the ball across the middle. Special teams are dangerous now and kids get going full steam and hit someone pretty hard.
Sorry for the ramble response, I love the game of football and I want it to be around when my children get old enough to play. I just think that each level is taking the steps to improve and make it more safe for kids. There is not just one answer to fix it, there are several steps needed to make it safer. I think they will make the appropriate changes at all levels to help improve the safety of the game.
The America you and I grew up in is almost gone. If a tiny % of people are hurt in an accident or as a result of a voluntary activity "it's an epidemic". Zero tolerance policies are really zero intelligence policies.
No one is going to ban it. I think it will be a lot like boxing. People in the upper and middle class will avoid it for the most part.
Hope you're right. But did you know as recently as the 1970s almost every hotel/motel with a pool had a diving board? You know why 99% of them don't anymore? Negligent parents and nanny-state politicians/judges along with entitlement juries who made it easy and profitable to sue when chunky Billy and uncoordinated Molly couldn't figure out how to find water from 3 feet above without hurting themselves.
Lawn darts. Remember those? Banned. Apparently people didn't understand that you supposed to stick 'em in the ground, not someone's head.
3-wheeled ATVs. Remember those? Banned.
The list goes on. And now we have to baby-proof an entire society because it's filled with 320 million babies.
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