The end of football is near

[/dev/null]

Nostradubmass predicted everything.

 

Nostradumbass knew you were going to say that

[CodeMonkey]

Parents will not enroll their children in the sport once these findings are confirmed.

Parents have known the risks for quite some time.

Or at least they could have if they had bothered to check.

I know someone who does brain trauma research for a living so I had easier access to information than most I guess, so there was zero chance of my boys playing tackle football. Simply not worth the risk. But there will always be people willing to take that risk as long as the financial rewards are possible. Plus as long as there are passionate fans of the game, like there are here for example, the game won't die out. As the insane salaries for players get even further out of control, the NFL is very long overdue for a "correction" (as wall street puts it for the stock market), but it will survive. It is far too popular in the United States to completely die.

[BADOLBILZ]

I'm not sure how I missed this latest incident of brain trauma, but read this from CNN. Read it! It is frightening: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/04/01/brain.concussion.dronett/index.html?hpt=C2

 

Here, friends, is the real reason that the NFL came down on head-shots last year. The owners are scared, very scared, that their money train is coming to an end, and they know the real cause. Of course, the latest pathetic crusade against head shots would have done nothing to save Shane, and I suspect the owners know that. They are just feeding the illusion that tackle football is a fine and healthy sport, and it is just the violent rule-breaking miscreants who make it unsafe. What I can't figure out is why the Players Association (or should I say "former" players association, since the NFLPA has disbanded, and the poor players are now simply a group of defenseless individuals being preyed upon by the greedy monopoly that is the NFL owners) are not up in arms about this. Is it perhaps that their money train would end too, and they have no other choice of profession at this point?

 

Shane was 39 years old.

 

Professional football as we know it will come to an end soon. The NFL will suffer massive lawsuits from former players who have dementia and brain injury, as well as their families. Parents will not enroll their children in the sport once these findings are confirmed. The NFL will try to implement various and sundry protections, but it is the very nature of the sport (the constant sub-concussory hitting) that is the problem. The outcry of the media will be incessant. Unless football goes "touch," it will end.

 

Just wait.

 

I've considered this before myself, but football isn't going anywhere. The reason football is so popular is that it's violent and the stakes are high. It's what's at stake that makes it so much more interesting as a spectator sport. Changes will be made to reduce certain types of contact and the equipment will be improved, etc..

[Buffalo Barbarian]

The end of football is nigh!

Nigh I tell you!

 

Just read the Mayan football schedule.

I wonder if Nostradubmass predicted this too.

Do they have any hope for Maybin?

[Buffalo Barbarian]

I am a college prof., and while I won't deny seeing the occasional student smoking, it is nothing like it was at one time. Quite simply, smoking has become unaffordable, and smokers are by and large meant to feel ashamed of their habit (I know, because I smoked for 24 years). The number of smokers is in decline (see, for example, this article that I happened to read this morning http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/articles/2011/04/01/fewer_women_dying_of_lung_cancer/?p1=Well_Health_links

 

The push against smoking is just beginning. Witness that the governor of Arizona just proposed taxing smokers (and obese people) $50 each per year, to help cover the costs of Medicare for those with smoking and obesity related illnesses.

 

So, while there are still smokers, there still might be football players. However, it won't be sanctioned by parents, the medical association, and the mainstream media. There will be no more youth (tackle) football leagues, and it will be eliminated from colleges as a supported athletic program. Maybe it will take 10 years, maybe 25. It is just a matter of time.

You spend to much time reading academic journals professor. The American public wants more and more violence and it will get it. This helps explain the rise in popularity in MMA which may cause the decline of football because its more violent, just as football caused the decrease in popularity of baseball because bottom line we want more violence.

 

However, when you are talking about the end of pro football, we (society) is not looking for "proof" of what explains his behavioral change, but demanding proof at a sufficient level to take approaching $10 million annually from a bunch of people who will be reluctant to give it up.

 

Even with mounting evidence there is still not going to be flat-out or sufficient "proof" of why any single person succumbed and an ample fig leaf will remain for quite a while to allow he old Golden Rule to be applied, "he who has the most gold rules".

 

We are talking about a western culture which has its roots in the Emperor of Rome enslaving people and forcing them to fight to the death in the forum in Rome and for the oppressed masses to be entertained by it.

 

We fortunately have progressed a bit from then, but not so far that the modern western culture though it does not engage generally in gladiator death matches, we sure revel in movies where Russell Crowe depicts that life.

 

Today, we revel in gladiators not killing each other overtly and in the gladiators in the NFL being hugely compensated rather than enslaved.

 

However, this difference in how we are really doing the same thing should prove sufficient for quite a while to keep the NFL going as the masses are happy to eat their cake and enjoy the spectacle.

Thank you.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Good point. I think there are differences, but even if we ignore them, note that smoking has become shamed everywhere you go, and especially by the media. You certainly won't see major corporations (other than the tobacco companies, of course) willing to become associated with smoking. So too, I suspect that once football and its violence are seen to be a severe health risk, the sponsors will begin to pull their support.

 

Smoking may be shamed......

Tobacco companies are crying all the way to the bank (or the investment broker)

They are very profitable indeed, and their stocks are doing very well in an overall time of recession.

 

Linky

 

As long as football continues to be very popular and draw a big audience, it will likely remain very profitable and televised games will likely continue to draw advertising.

[djrocks]

I'm not sure how I missed this latest incident of brain trauma, but read this from CNN. Read it! It is frightening: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/04/01/brain.concussion.dronett/index.html?hpt=C2

 

Here, friends, is the real reason that the NFL came down on head-shots last year. The owners are scared, very scared, that their money train is coming to an end, and they know the real cause. Of course, the latest pathetic crusade against head shots would have done nothing to save Shane, and I suspect the owners know that. They are just feeding the illusion that tackle football is a fine and healthy sport, and it is just the violent rule-breaking miscreants who make it unsafe. What I can't figure out is why the Players Association (or should I say "former" players association, since the NFLPA has disbanded, and the poor players are now simply a group of defenseless individuals being preyed upon by the greedy monopoly that is the NFL owners) are not up in arms about this. Is it perhaps that their money train would end too, and they have no other choice of profession at this point?

 

Shane was 39 years old.

 

Professional football as we know it will come to an end soon. The NFL will suffer massive lawsuits from former players who have dementia and brain injury, as well as their families. Parents will not enroll their children in the sport once these findings are confirmed. The NFL will try to implement various and sundry protections, but it is the very nature of the sport (the constant sub-concussory hitting) that is the problem. The outcry of the media will be incessant. Unless football goes "touch," it will end.

 

Just wait.

 

try being real

[KD in CA]

Football may not be at an end, but there will certainly continue to be significant rule changes aimed at limiting helmet to helmet contact. For instance, I wouldn't be surprised to see a rule soon mandating a 2-point stance for linemen.

[Wing Man]

The problem with football is the same as the problem with baseball is the same as the problem with hockey. The headgear isn't strong enough to withstand the blows that players face today. A football helmet redesign (think Kelso) could resolve as much as 60% of all concussions in the game.

 

Before you say that this will change the game too much, think about how much of the game could be saved if only the technology of the helmet could be improved.

[BillsPhan]

I'm not sure how I missed this latest incident of brain trauma, but read this from CNN. Read it! It is frightening: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/04/01/brain.concussion.dronett/index.html?hpt=C2

 

Here, friends, is the real reason that the NFL came down on head-shots last year. The owners are scared, very scared, that their money train is coming to an end, and they know the real cause. Of course, the latest pathetic crusade against head shots would have done nothing to save Shane, and I suspect the owners know that. They are just feeding the illusion that tackle football is a fine and healthy sport, and it is just the violent rule-breaking miscreants who make it unsafe. What I can't figure out is why the Players Association (or should I say "former" players association, since the NFLPA has disbanded, and the poor players are now simply a group of defenseless individuals being preyed upon by the greedy monopoly that is the NFL owners) are not up in arms about this. Is it perhaps that their money train would end too, and they have no other choice of profession at this point?

 

Shane was 39 years old.

 

Professional football as we know it will come to an end soon. The NFL will suffer massive lawsuits from former players who have dementia and brain injury, as well as their families. Parents will not enroll their children in the sport once these findings are confirmed. The NFL will try to implement various and sundry protections, but it is the very nature of the sport (the constant sub-concussory hitting) that is the problem. The outcry of the media will be incessant. Unless football goes "touch," it will end.

 

Just wait.

 

The first reason I won't read your link is because it has the name "CNN" within it. Secondly, just like with anything else in life, there are just as many examples of former football players living long lives after retiring from the game as there are of ex-players having major health problems after retiring from the game.

 

The biggest way all players could protect themselves from serious head injuries and head trauma later in life is to keep their heads up when hitting other players and try not to lead with their facemasks. As far back as 1975 I can remember my high school footall coaches drilling us on tackling with our shoulders first, heads up and to try not hit the offensive player with the ball with our face masks first. I distinctlty remember that year because the year before, during my sophomore season, we did the exact same tackling drills using our face masks to lead aiming directly for between the ball carriers numbers but always keeping our heads up. They changed the rules just before my junior season in high school. I played the rest of my football career through some college seasons always trying not to hit with my face mask first.

 

Now that's over 36 years since we first changed our hitting styles way back in high school. It absolutely disgusts me to continue to watch major college and NFL defensive players and special teams players still today leading with their face mask first, but much worse then that, since it is difficult to always turn your head to the side just before hammering the ball carrier, much worse then that is how many still continue to lower their heads and try to lead with the top of their helmets when tackling!

 

It seems to me all these many years later, the football coaches need to go back to the basics of safer hitting lessons!

[Cynical]

I'm not sure how I missed this latest incident of brain trauma, but read this from CNN. Read it! It is frightening: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/04/01/brain.concussion.dronett/index.html?hpt=C2

 

Here, friends, is the real reason that the NFL came down on head-shots last year. The owners are scared, very scared, that their money train is coming to an end, and they know the real cause. Of course, the latest pathetic crusade against head shots would have done nothing to save Shane, and I suspect the owners know that. They are just feeding the illusion that tackle football is a fine and healthy sport, and it is just the violent rule-breaking miscreants who make it unsafe. What I can't figure out is why the Players Association (or should I say "former" players association, since the NFLPA has disbanded, and the poor players are now simply a group of defenseless individuals being preyed upon by the greedy monopoly that is the NFL owners) are not up in arms about this. Is it perhaps that their money train would end too, and they have no other choice of profession at this point?

 

Shane was 39 years old.

 

Professional football as we know it will come to an end soon. The NFL will suffer massive lawsuits from former players who have dementia and brain injury, as well as their families. Parents will not enroll their children in the sport once these findings are confirmed. The NFL will try to implement various and sundry protections, but it is the very nature of the sport (the constant sub-concussory hitting) that is the problem. The outcry of the media will be incessant. Unless football goes "touch," it will end.

 

Just wait.

 

Good thing boxing and MMA are dead.

[Spiderweb]

Sponsors have little to no conscience, and most likely do not care about the health risk. The only reason they would stop supporting the NFL is if the fans decided that they don't agree with the NFL's health risk and stop watching, and that is something that will never happen.

 

Smoking has become shamed because the populous in large has decided that it is not acceptable anymore, and only because that happened did major corporations stop associating themselves with smoking. If smoking is ever widely accepted again by the populous, then corporations will not have any problem with endorsing.

 

Money is king.

 

Somewhat cynical, but so very true.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

The first reason I won't read your link is because it has the name "CNN" within it. Secondly, just like with anything else in life, there are just as many examples of former football players living long lives after retiring from the game as there are of ex-players having major health problems after retiring from the game.

 

The biggest way all players could protect themselves from serious head injuries and head trauma later in life is to keep their heads up when hitting other players and try not to lead with their facemasks. As far back as 1975 I can remember my high school footall coaches drilling us on tackling with our shoulders first, heads up and to try not hit the offensive player with the ball with our face masks first. I distinctlty remember that year because the year before, during my sophomore season, we did the exact same tackling drills using our face masks to lead aiming directly for between the ball carriers numbers but always keeping our heads up. They changed the rules just before my junior season in high school. I played the rest of my football career through some college seasons always trying not to hit with my face mask first.

 

Now that's over 36 years since we first changed our hitting styles way back in high school. It absolutely disgusts me to continue to watch major college and NFL defensive players and special teams players still today leading with their face mask first, but much worse then that, since it is difficult to always turn your head to the side just before hammering the ball carrier, much worse then that is how many still continue to lower their heads and try to lead with the top of their helmets when tackling!

 

It seems to me all these many years later, the football coaches need to go back to the basics of safer hitting lessons!

 

This is a great point. It's actually been commented by former Bills players, about leading with the head or back-tackling instead of head-up, wrap with the arms and tackle. "Wrap and tackle" will bring the guy down but usually not produce the big, highlight reel hits that can be heard on TV. But if ya miss or don't hit hard enough to stop the guy - he stays on his feet and gets more yards while ya go for his feet. Guys need to stop playing for the highlight film and start playing good fundamentals.

 

Of course, if the NFL would stop putting out the highlight films and start focusing on fundamentals, that would help

[jack_spikes]

The end of football is nigh!

Nigh I tell you!

 

Just read the Mayan football schedule.

I wonder if Nostradubmass predicted this too.

Hilarious!

[CodeMonkey]

Of course, if the NFL would stop putting out the highlight films and start focusing on fundamentals, that would help

But it wouldn't help their bottom line. NFL fans like violence. Highlight reel hits are good advertisement which helps the bottom line. Follow the money man, follow the money.

[Sisyphean Bills]

Well, the obvious answer is to give the star players more money. That will trickle down into more research studies, no doubt.

 

Farming is THE most dangerous occupation in the U.S. More deaths on the job than any other. OSHA, federal/state regulations up the yin-yang. No one's proposing that farming come to an end. What about construction workers? Bomb disposal techs?

 

You do a job, you take a risk. You sign on the dotted line. You gamble that the opportunity cost is worth the risk.

 

Yep, there should be more resources for NFL vets who're suffering from playing-related injuries, but that's up to the new CBA.

Living is a risk. But what's the alternative?

[CodeMonkey]

Living is a risk. But what's the alternative?

Being a pats fan.

[Gordio]

Farming is THE most dangerous occupation in the U.S. More deaths on the job than any other. OSHA, federal/state regulations up the yin-yang. No one's proposing that farming come to an end. What about construction workers? Bomb disposal techs?

 

You do a job, you take a risk. You sign on the dotted line. You gamble that the opportunity cost is worth the risk.

 

Yep, there should be more resources for NFL vets who're suffering from playing-related injuries, but that's up to the new CBA.

 

 

I agree with this. But wuth that being said I have a son that is just about to turn 7. He loves sports. That is all he wants to do. He plays baseball(his best sport), hockey & also soccer. He came home last year from school with a registration for football. I talked to 3 of my friends that coach high school football & all 3 of them said do not get him into football, he is too young. If he wants to play football, let him wait to he is in 7th/8th grade to make that decision. My point is when I had my son like most fathers I suppose, I always wanted him to play football. Now I am not so sure. I think he would be better off just concentrating on the baseball. These concussions are nothing to take lightly. His friend played on the football & got a concussion last year. 7 years old & he already has his first concussion. I do not think it is worth the risk right now.

Edited April 4, 2011 by Gordio

[akm0404]

The first reason I won't read your link is because it has the name "CNN" within it. Secondly, just like with anything else in life, there are just as many examples of former football players living long lives after retiring from the game as there are of ex-players having major health problems after retiring from the game.

 

Whoa. So because the split is 50/50 on former players dying horrible football-related deaths and those who make it out ok, there isn't a problem? Pretty much everyone realizes now that the NFL isn't sustainable at its current level of brain trauma. The only holdouts left are those who say, "They know the risks, screw em. Let them bash their brains in until they are vegetables!". This will not fly. Same reason we are required by law to wear seat belts and why kids have to wear bike helmets. America has put a premium on protecting its citizenry, and while you personally think that everyone should have the God given right to kill themselves, that isn't how things work. And I knew that'd be the bottom line the second you dropped your "ZOMG liberal news media CNN" bomb.

[dib]

We'll have to ban driving too, Lord knows how dangerous that is.