The Golden Age of Football is Over?

[hondo in seattle]

More and more pro players are retiring in their 20s.

 

25,000 fewer high school kids played football last year versus the year before.

 

Are we witnessing the end of the Golden Age of football?

 

Will the better athletes now choose other sports?

 

Will football become the refuge for the guys not good enough for baseball, basketball, soccer, MMA, x-sports, etc?

 

Will our grandchildren be amazed how good the players of the 2000s were compared to the players who came later?

 

Will the players of today be the best players to ever suit up to do battle on the gridiron?

 

 

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2726124-report-shows-continuing-drop-in-high-school-football-players?iid=ob_homepage_deskrecommended_pool

Edited August 9, 2017 by hondo in seattle

[r00tabaga]

My kids are not given the option. Baseball, hockey, soccer, hoops, lacrosse, karate are all of their options.

[teef]

25,000 strikes me a a blip on the radar considering how many kids played high school football.

[rodneykm]

The end of football as we know it today is coming and there are lot of people who want to cover their eyes when presented with that. It might not be in the next 10 years, but before a lot of us are dead and buried we will not recognize the game we know today.

 

But hey, lets enjoy it while we can. Go Bills.

[teef]

The end of football as we know it today is coming and there are lot of people who want to cover their eyes when presented with that. It might not be in the next 10 years, but before a lot of us are dead and buried we will not recognize the game we know today.

 

But hey, lets enjoy it while we can. Go Bills.

what do you think will change?

[MAJBobby]

My kids two Boys will NOT be allowed to play football. As a parent and former player through college I would not be doing my job in keeping them safe if i allowed them to play.

 

But my two and the 25,000 that didnt play last year will affect nothing. Football will still be used by alot of kids as an "out" and a solution to a better life

Edited August 9, 2017 by MAJBobby

[Mark Vader]

25,000 strikes me a a blip on the radar considering how many kids played high school football.

Considering how many high schools there are in the country, I don't think it's even a blip.

[row_33]

The golden age of football is when you were 11.

 

Stabler, Bradshaw, Tatum/Atkinson, Staubach,

 

All downhill after that.

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

The golden age of football is when you were 11.

 

Stabler, Bradshaw, Tatum/Atkinson, Staubach,

 

All downhill after that.

 

 

 

time to move on to golf I suppose...

[row_33]

 

 

 

time to move on to golf I suppose...

 

Hard to equate the game protecting Brady when those three gods at QB took horrible abuse at will and stayed in the game.

 

But the game is still enjoyed.

 

You were trying to make some point which has truly failed?

[TheElectricCompany]

The Romans watched gladiators murder each other for a few hundred years, surely football can have a longer duration then that, right?

[MAJBobby]

As long as NFL has its anti trust protections $$$ and players will be there for them no matter what happens at the lower levels

Edited August 9, 2017 by MAJBobby

[teef]

i only have a daughter, but i don't think i'd have any problem with a son playing football. i played at the pop warner and high school level, and besides the usual more minor injuries, everyone was in good health. it think it's the continued play at the higher, much more competitive levels that lead to the serious problems.

[Drunken Pygmy Goat]

Everything is evolving in their own way, based on their environment. Football will certainly look "different" X amount of years from now, in some way(s).

[Houston's #1 Bills Fan]

As another poster mentioned, I will not be letting my boy play football. I know too many friends in which they let their son play and after a few concussions, said enough. The problem I have is that my boy (only 7) still views playing football as having fun. But, the other kids out there think they're going to be the next Heisman trophy winner and don't play to have fun. Too intense. This is Texas and it's huge. But, he plays baseball and lacrosse and loves both. Not much hockey down here, but he'd love that too.

[Buffalo Boy]

My son played for three years. He has done karate for ten.

Karate at a good school is safer.

He is now on the track and cross country teams and I am relieved.

Having said that, I feel like football clearly toughened him up.

[Houston's #1 Bills Fan]

i only have a daughter, but i don't think i'd have any problem with a son playing football. i played at the pop warner and high school level, and besides the usual more minor injuries, everyone was in good health. it think it's the continued play at the higher, much more competitive levels that lead to the serious problems.

Not true, at least down here in Texas. Injuries are common at the lower levels.

[MAJBobby]

Like i said my own experience. Played through college.

 

Also joined the Army after now I am 40 and display alot of the symptoms described with lower level CTE.

[blargo]

Considering how many high schools there are in the country, I don't think it's even a blip.

About 1 million kids play high school football Source.

If this rate keeps up that would be roughly 10% in 4 years, that is very significant.

[Mark80]

1,085,272 played in 2015. Using that number as a guideline, 25,000 IS NOT just a blip. That is a 2.3% reduction in one year. Now, extrapolate that over 5 years or 10 years and you are seeing some very large numbers lost. Also, that is a decline when populations are increasing every year, so it is an even more alarming number in reality.

Edited August 9, 2017 by Mark80