<p>Not to pick on President Obama, but I have to step back for a second to digest the supreme commander of all the young men and women in the armed forces of the U.S. worrying about the effects of football, saying he would ”have to think long and hard” about a son playing football. Isn’t there almost some kind of nexus playing football or other physical contact sports and being in the military for American young men and women?</p>
<p>There are way more incidents of serious injuries suffered in amateur sports than pro sports. There are too many head and spine injuries suffered in amateur sports from pee wee leagues to big college programs. Too, in places like Florida many young athletes have died from playing and practicing in heat and not being hydrated. I’ve seen 8-9 year old kids wearing pads and helmets playing football games in full sun in 100 degree temps…crazy! There is a lot of room for improvement in football and other contact sports, but athletic competion will always being around, now and 30 years from now. Changes will have to take place though to reduce risk of serious injuries for participants.</p>
<p>Having a kid play middle or high school football, soccer, rugby, or other sports with a head injury risk is totally different than the brutal hits NFL players are expected to take and deliver. (and in some cases get paid extra for, but the powers that be lack the courage to truly punish them. )</p>
<p>I guess I just have a difficult time getting a handle on the scenario of a parent discouraging his son from playing high school football because it is dangerous, but encouraging the same son to enlist in the U.S. Marines after high school graduation. To me the two sorta conflict.</p>
<p>I’ve personally seen far more more ambulances and trauma helicopters at youth and high school sporting events than at pro football games transporting injured athletes to hospitals.</p>
<p>Does anyone here read Ta-Nehisi Coates from the Atlantic? He was a huge football fan but has quit watching the NFL precisely because of this issue. He has a timeline up on his blog that follows the NFL’s response over the years to the issue of head trauma and CTE - in some respects, it reminds one of the cigarette industry (what did they know and when did they know it?)</p>
<p>lizard, I’m sure that he would also think long and hard about “encouraging” a son to join the Marines, too. I don’t think that it something that people undertake lightly. Certainly the family I know whose college-aged son made that decision find it harrowing.</p>
<p>It’s entirely possible to play good football without having to risk head injury. I find it funny that in soccer, a player acting out gets the red card, whereas in football, head butting at 25 mph gets the same penalty as some stupid@ss grabbing like pass interference. Don’t run full speed, head first, at the fullback on a draw play… it’s just common sense. Also, enforce stricter penalties on dirty plays, and also dirty-oh I’m sorry… “overtly aggressive” players like N. Sue and James Harrison. The Saints scandal should have been dealt with more seriously. And this should be a growing trend throughout football, not just the nfl.</p>
<p>As for soccer and concussions. Well what can you expect? They’re doing it on purpose…</p>
<p>The evidence is that girls get concussions more easily. There is a move to ban headers in girls and even all youth soccer.</p>
<p>I can foresee heading being banned outside of the box. It is an important tactic in scoring but not in the rest of the field. I see occasional passes using the head but many collisions - head against head or elbow to head - as players fight to put a head on the ball in midfield. These are largely useless confrontations; they don’t control where the ball goes and the conflict is mostly a product of being taught to contest everything.</p>
<p>What would probably kill off the NFL as we know it today quicker than anything else is if high schools and colleges can not get affordable liability insurance to protect themselves from lawsuits by injured student-athletes. If kids are not able to play in high school and college, the NFL wouldn’t be able to get players developed in the school and college systems to fill NFL rosters.</p>
The head is the highest contact point. In the pros, they use the head all the time outside the box. It’s necessary to keep the ball moving. Taking that away won’t make it any safer.</p>
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luckily, there aren’t enough scumbags like that in the world, who would have someone else bail them out of the opportunity cost of playing football for a living… and how can they afford the lawyer fees when they’re already paying a fortune for the medical therapies?</p>