Football Fans and Parents: What do you think?

Parent Cafe
21

Saw this today:

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/20150324_NFL_may_change_way_suspected_concussions_are_handled.html

"The NFL’s competition committee has proposed giving a certified athletic trainer (ATC) up in the booth the authority to stop a game if they see a player who is disoriented or showing signs of distress and have him removed from the game until he is checked out. The owners are expected to overwhelmingly approve the proposal before the league adjourns its 3 days of meetings at the Arizona Biltmore Resort tomorrow.

“The spotter upstairs in the press box will have the authority to stop the game if they see a player that displays obvious signs of disorientation or is clearly unstable,” said Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay, who is co-chairman of the competition committee.

The on-field officials already are instructed to look for players who are in distress. But in the event they miss one, the spotter in the booth will have the ability to radio the side judge, stop the game and have the player removed from the field to be examined."

22

Call me a cynic but this sounds like an opportunity for the NFL to install another TV time-out opportunity. Cash money!!!

23

No youth, club, high school or college teams should play football or any team sports without an ATC on the field, for each team, with the ultimate authority to check players out of games.
This should not only be a concern for players and head injuries.

24

To be fair to football, I’ve seen a kid knocked silly and clearly disoriented in a youth soccer game when a team was losing and was apparently instructed by their coach to beat up the opposing team if they couldn’t win using soccer skills. Two kids from the leading team were out with injuries in a matter of minutes, one with a probable concussion.

The problem, ultimately, with football is that some positions inescapably involve repetitive hitting, and as EllieMom points out, the damage from such hits is cumulative, even when actual concussions don’t occur. That means that none of the measures taken re assessing injuries on the field are going to solve the problem.

Unless someone comes up with a magic helmet that prevents the brain from moving inside the skull, I think the game is doomed.

@EllieMom, please, you have nothing to apologize for.

25

Injuries happen in a lot of sports, for example pitchers wiping out their arms. Back in the ‘good ole days’ of baseball, the Brooklyn Dodgers had player by the name of Pete Reiser, probably one of the most talented players to play the game, who destroyed himself going into walls and such, he had multiple concussions in many seasons (back then, the walls were often wood or as in the case of Ebbets field, concrete…).

Leaving out things like bad knees, arthritis and so forth, the problem with football is in the repetitive head injuries among those heavily involved in contact (which is most players, other than a kicker). Part of the problem is that players these days are so big and strong, you have 350 pound linemen, 325 pound defensive players who can run pretty fast, and when they collide now it is a lot more impact.

Part of the problem until recently is at all levels, ‘getting your bell rung’ was considered part of the game, and unless you were knocked out and bleeding, you were expected to keep playing, otherwise the coach would be calling you a wuss and so forth (kind of similar to the military and PTSD). One of the problems now is no one really understands full how much the brain can take before it is permanently damaged, and also, how to treat concussions once they happen, from what I know the protocol for concussions is pretty much the same as when I was a kid, have the person rest, no strenuous activity for a while…and concussion symptoms often go away long before the brain is recovered, so how do you know when it is okay to return?

College is often worse then the pros, if a college kid gets severely injured they have every reason to lie and get back to playing. If they end up with a career ending head injury, thanks to the charming, wonderful NCAA and their member schools, they are finished, their athletic scholarship is gone and the medical costs are on the kid,the school is totally absolved (the NCAA declared players were scholar/athletes back when it was founded in the 1950’s, to keep from having to pay into workmen’s comp, which would at least help the players with the injuries). In any event, kids have every reason to play hurt, to play even when it may be life threatening…

I think the jury is out with football injuries. Yes, you can get concussions in baseball or football or rugby, but they are relatively rare. The real question is if we can get the number of concussions down, and more importantly, if we learn how to treat brain injuries after they happen. A number of ex football players have said they didn’t want their kids playing football, because of all the brain injuries, and it will become evident over time if kids stop playing the game in any significant numbers.

There was a science fiction writer who about 40 years ago wrote some science fiction themed sports stories (Name of Jack Haldeman).(Had such things as a baseball match between the earth and I think beings from the Arcturus system, with the stakes being if the earth lost the Arcturians could eat earth people; the first person they took a bite out of was the nose of an obnoxious sportscaster obviously based on Howard Cosell, and they spit it out and said “yuck”, presumably because he was a distasteful person). In one of his stories, football players were replaced with robots and with genetically modified oxen with just enough intelligence to play the game (looking at the size of some of the guys playing football these days, I kind of wonder if they aren’t part ox…). I could forsee if it is felt to be too risky the sport being banned, or at the very least, lose so much of its luster as a player that it whithers away. I am a football fan and would be saddened if it went that way, but unless they can reasonably protect players I don’t want to see any more Junior Seau’s and Dave Duersons and the like.

26

@musicprnt, do you really think the jury is still out? How about the evidence that repetitive hits that fall short of concussion have a cumulative effect?

27

That’s going to be impossible. However, I believe that a much better helmet could be devised. The issues mitigating against it are a combination of cost, appearance, and lack of motivation to do something about it. A better helmet wouldn’t be magic, but it would look bizarre, I believe, and it would cost more.

There is slow change in all sports. Hockey helmets are new over the past 3-4 decades. And I think baseball will eventually have some kind of pitchers helmet to protect them from batted balls.

BTW, I’m not sure this is a fact, but someone told me that the sport with the highest incidence of Parkinsons’ syndrome in retired players is soccer. Haven’t bothered to research it since I don’t follow it much.

28

Some of the DBs are so fast, so strong, and so big that when they hit a defenseless receiver, it literally gives me a sick feeling. I think rather than assessing a penalty, these players should be ejected. It’s amazing there haven’t been some fatal injuries after some of these hits. I am referring to pro, btw. But I think the same is probably true in college ball.

29

My son was 17, he was 6’4" tall, weighed almost 300 pounds, and ran a 4.9 forty—big, fast, strong kid. He was too slow and too small to be truly competitive as a D1 college player. The human brain is simply not meant to deal with the kind of punishment these young men are putting themselves through in the name of sport.

30

{{{ hugs }}} @elliemom

31

EllieMom, sorry about your son.

32

It is hard to believe that is too slow and too small. Of course it depends on the position. I had a HS classmate who was a HS All-American, got a 4-yr football scholarship to Notre Dame, was a College All-American, and played several seasons as a pro. He was a LOT smaller than that in HS. But he was a WR.

33

Also so sorry about your loss.

34

Football is losing a few players at the youth, high school, college and professional levels but it isn’t a sea change just yet. I can respect anyone’s decision to walk away. Both of my sons played youth and high school football. There is no doubt to the statement it is not a question if you get hurt it is a question of how bad.

That is the risk you take when you play football.

The article mentions the macho/jock culture is changing and if that is true it is true in small degrees but at least coaches are finally getting the message about concussions not being a sign of weakness. The same with heat related injuries. It is not a sign of weakness, just step out, don’t risk dying.

My older boy is now a junior at a public U. He is 5’9 180 so he was too small to play in college. He is also too slow, to be honest. He got turned off my football as a senior but it was because of not playing as much as he thought he deserved not because of risk of injury. He says he will let his kids, once he has some, play football if they want but he would prefer they be wrestlers.

My little son is 17. Next year will be his senior year. Next year will be his eighth year playing football including Pop Warner years. He has started, against all the odds, 7 out of 8 years. He will be in quite a battle to start this year. He has played JV the last two years so he didn’t play varsity as a junior. He has been underestimated since day one because he is small. He is 5’6 149 right now. But he is much faster than his brother was. His brother was in the 800-lb club, one of only maybe 20 kids on the whole team, and he is on the 700-kb club. So even though he is small he is strong enough. You get into those clubs based on three lifts, bench, power clean, squat.

He has had minor injuries (ankle) and his brother hurt his knee and shoulder both fairly minor for football. I’d have to shot him to make him quit. He’d rather die on the field than quit. You don’t quit in your senior year. I definitely fear he might get hurt. These high school kids, some of them, are huge, and they are fearless and they use their helmets the wrong way which is a big part of where injuries come from. I keep my fingers crossed when he plays or practices.

35

I have sympathy for parents whose kids really love football and passionately want to play, no matter what.

But it’s not the regular injuries that really give me pause–one can be injured doing almost anything–it’s the brain injuries. It’s one thing to limp, it’s another thing to have personality changes and cognition deficits.

36

Regarding brain injuries, I’ll tell you this, and the NFL knows this. Most of the crazy hits happen on special teams plays like kick off and punt returns when players get 40 yard head starts and run into each other at full speed.

Not good.

And, of course, my tiny little son always plays on ST’s and he has played middle linebacker and fullback but now he is a cornerback (a DB). The post on page 2 is also right on about DB’s blowing up “defenseless” WR’s. That is another place you see injuries. Very violent hits. That has to be coached out of the game. The NFL has instituted 15 yard penalties and so has the NCAA which is the right thing to do because back in my day you were specifically told to destroy any WR who came over the middle.

But, as others have said, hockey is just as brutal and so is MMA. So young men will play something. Football, except for ST’s and DB vs WR is somewhat safe. I live in FL so each August it is 110+ with humidity that makes it hard to breath. Hell yes I worry in those conditions and that is at 5 pm in the afternoon when they are practicing. You have to pray the coaches are smart enough to give the players enough breaks.

It is the REPEATED concussions (brain injuries) that cause the serious long lasting problems. Some players get hit every play (LB’s, the lines) but not super crazy hits. The key is how they block and tackle. Proper coaching can prevent a lot of stupid things which basically means get the helmet out of the way. There is a reason why you have pads on the SHOULDERS. However, if you play you are at risk. My son knows he could accidentally get his helmet in the way unintentionally and it is scary as heck for both of us. He has been concussed once.

His older brother got knocked senseless once … trying to recover a fumble. On a play like that players are diving head first towards the ball. We have one more year left. We are, God willing, going to walk away after the last game with my arm over his shoulders in one piece. There are 6-8 kids good enough to play the 4 starting spots in the base defense so it will be tough for him to start this year. He plays in 8A the highest classification in this state. There are freaks all over the field in 8A.

37

And yes, it is all about the girls and having an “identity.” You get to wear that jersey on game days. Best tradition in sports. You earned it. You get to wear it. I’m sorry, but soccer just isn’t the same. Football is a rite of passage. His brother did it. He is going to do it. I tape the games up in the stands. The rivalry games are intense. I respect the way he plays. If he was 20 lbs bigger and two inches taller he’d really be good. As it is, I tell him just to have fun and try not to get killed.

38

Soccer is the premiere sport in more places throughout the world. Most of the HS’s in my state don’t have football.

Football does have a more purely macho vibe, though. More pounding each other than skill for glory.

39

Well, football is a nice mix of smarts and strategy too. There is a lot going on in terms of how one team creates plays to move the ball and how the other team tries to defend the field. Lots and lots of strategy. That is one of the reasons why otherwise intelligent grown men devote so much time to this game. It is not all brawn, I assure you. Soccer, with all due respect, is a much simpler game strategy wise. Okay guys, kick the ball towards the goal on three!

:-).

40

Soccer is popular because all you need is a ball and a field. You need far more resources and infrastructure for football.