A better helmet on the way?

[Beerball]

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[jr1]

I hope it works better than the existing ones

[DreReed83]

I hope it works better than the existing ones

 

x2

[BuffaloBill]

I hope it works better than the existing ones

 

I do wonder if going back to the old concept and removing face masks would actually make the game safer. The lack of full protection would make playes less inclined to lead with their heads. However, the counterbalance is that the face and jaw would be more prone to incidental injury. It's hard to say though football players would tend to have more gapped smiles.

[San Jose Bills Fan]

Hoever I do wonder if going back to the old concept and removing face masks would actually make the game safer. The lack of full protection would make playes less inclined to lead with their heads. However, the counterbalance is that the face and jaw would be more prone to incidental injury. It's hard to say though football players would tend to have more gapped smiles.

There was discussion years back about doing away with helmets and visors in the NHL…towards the eventual goal of making the game safer by hoping that players play with less recklessness.

 

Of course it's a theoretical discussion. There is way too much liability for a pro sports league to ever do anything so radical…to omit equipment in the hopes that it eventually changes player behavior. The "transition period" would result in a lot of carnage, IMO.

 

If you actually did away with certain protective equipment, such a movement would have to be accompanied by the same movement in the lower levels of the sport…so younger players could become accustomed to it (ie-playing without a face mask).

 

So it'll never happen. But it is ironic that it's the improvement in protective equipment which has allowed players to play with a reckless disregard for their own bodies…and that has allowed people to use the equipment as a weapon like football players do with the helmet.

Edited February 28, 2011 by San Jose Bills Fan