OT: The Coming Crisis in the Sport of Football

[boomdaddy]

Plenty of limbs get broken in rugby matches. A lot of them get broken noses too, like boxers. Baseball is played at a snails pace and is tedious to watch. Soccer is ten times more boring than baseball. The only reason soccer will ever grow in the US is because the borders are not secure.

[Spiritof96]

Plenty of limbs get broken in rugby matches. A lot of them get broken noses too, like boxers. Baseball is played at a snails pace and is tedious to watch. Soccer is ten times more boring than baseball. The only reason soccer will ever grow in the US is because the borders are not secure.

LOL! You win the thread.

[fastkat]

I think that Football is the ultimate expression of human athleticism and fitness. It is a great teaching context for teamwork, self sacrifice, effort, toughness / physicality, and fear management...

And I won't let my son play when he is old enough. In my mind the risk of serious physical injury out weighs the benefits. Perhaps I am wrong; but I don't think I will budge on this one.

I think football is the best device for teaching the importance of teamwork. But like you If I had kids I'd think twice about letting them play. The kids have gotten so much bigger and faster that I'm not sure the equipment makers can do much more to improve the gear.

As far as not wearing helmets I wonder what the head injury numbers are for rugby.

[Joneslab]

My son played in third grade and some of those kids could really hit.

And it didn't help that football coaches are sometimes crazy. They'll be on the sideline jumping and screaming when a kid--7 years old--is lying there crying on the ground. It's weird. All sports have their screamers and yellers, but Football Guy occasionally feels like he's on a mission from God. It's just a game like every other sport.

Re: soccer being slow: I actually like the suspenseful build-up. Like that famous quote about baseball, soccer is boring until it isn't.

But baseball and soccer for me are sports I have to have an emotional attachment. I love baseball but it has to be the Reds or some kind of high-stakes playoff game. Or I have to be there live. Can't watch just random teams play and be interested.

Basketball is actually the only sport I can watch when random teams are involved.

[Dwight Schrute]

Plenty of limbs get broken in rugby matches. A lot of them get broken noses too, like boxers. Baseball is played at a snails pace and is tedious to watch. Soccer is ten times more boring than baseball. The only reason soccer will ever grow in the US is because the borders are not secure.

Yeah, but very few die from broken arms/legs.

[Pobilly]

So I love football, I played for many years K-High school. Ended career with a knee injury in a car accident. Never touched a college field. Anyway, I had many concussions from playing above my age level due to size. I really enjoyed playing and hid many injuries. I now have Episodic Ataxia, episodes of bumbling, stumbling, slurring of speech, confusion. Brought on from physical or mental stress. Some days or worse than others. Per Doctors at Mayo and University of Cincy Neurology department, I have a gene that is mutated from head injuries.

My son played football for Cooper High School back a few years ago, he was a 300 lb freshman center / nose guard. His 8th grade team up here went undefeated the year before and he was a 12 year old state champion wrestler. He in his freshman year had 2 to 3 concussions. He now suffers from Migraine Headaches and is worried about being like his old man later in life. I am 50 and act more like a 60 plus year old on my bad days.

He cried the day he told me he wanted to quit playing football. He thought I would be disappointed in him. Could not be more proud. He has always been a high 3. GPA student. Now he misses more school than he is supposed to due to migraines. But he is keeping his grades up and is looking at colleges. He wants to go into the medical field. Surgery is what he is thinking he wants to do.

Anyway I think this is a one on level decision. I have seen guys play their whole careers with nothing more than minor injuries. Others have had major issues all their lives from sports.

Hope to see the game survive. But hope the major head injuries are at a minimum.

[Dwight Schrute]

I think the people saying "football is rough, always has been" are missing it big time. Players are getting bigger/stronger/faster and the hits keep coming. I hope to see the game survive, but there's a real problem here. I don't know what the solution is - how do you keep the brain from sliding around in your head?

[catfaninin]

I played for 6 years. Blew out my knee the last game of my junior year in high school. Of course this was 30 years ago before they got really good at fixing them. Could hardly walk after the first surgery so they did a 2nd one. Improved but still not close to being right. So I missed my senior year. College scholarship out the window. Have had 2 more surgeries since and they now say its as good as it will ever get. Still locks up and gives out from time to time but its manageable. Looking back I wish I would have never played, but hindsight is always perfect.


Just read this article about Peyton Manning and the shape he is in..

http://news.yahoo.com/story-peyton-manning-taking-off-154746212.html

[Blue Heaven]

I think the people saying "football is rough, always has been" are missing it big time. Players are getting bigger/stronger/faster and the hits keep coming. I hope to see the game survive, but there's a real problem here. I don't know what the solution is - how do you keep the brain from sliding around in your head?

I know what you are saying and I agree with you 100%. Players and parents of players know what they are getting in to. There is a level of risk in just about anything physical or stressful.You never hear of any talk discrediting boxing or the silly as hell MMA.

[KevinHall]

Soccer in the bigger urban areas that I live in,DC area,is becoming hugely popular. Those kids that filled the soccer fields 20 years ago are grown up now and are watching the European Leagues and the pro league in America. The World Cup used to be no more than an afterthought in this country but in the last couple of decades has become more and more popular. ESPN and FOX does give soccer much more coverage than they used to. I know ESPN scrolls all the European leagues scores across their screen all the time. Also this passed weekend an injury to one of the key players in Europe was a headline. Someone named Messi. So its sinking in. Slower in some areas than others but it is coming. If a league could be established in the USA that attracted all the best players from Europe to play here I think it would really explode with popularity. But right now no one can or will put up the money to attract most of the good players over here. Somewhere down the road the USA may just produce enough good players to a make a league that popular. That's still a ways off and may never happen as long as the big three sports continue as they are.

[catfaninin]

Heres a story I saw this morning about a school district doing away with their football program. I would expect to see more and more of this soon.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more...TQL?li=AAa0dzB

[gerntz]

Really? To me, soccer is cross country with a ball. SOOOO BORING. As boring as baseball to me. Of course I respect your opinion on the matter. How boring would it be if we were all alike?

Sorry that you can't appreciate the difficulty & beauty of a non-score build-up. The near-misses are often nearly as good as an actual score. Try controlling the movement of a round ball as they do. Messi's movements (not bowel) are a sight to behold.

[gerntz]

Soccer in the bigger urban areas that I live in,DC area,is becoming hugely popular. Those kids that filled the soccer fields 20 years ago are grown up now and are watching the European Leagues and the pro league in America. The World Cup used to be no more than an afterthought in this country but in the last couple of decades has become more and more popular. ESPN and FOX does give soccer much more coverage than they used to. I know ESPN scrolls all the European leagues scores across their screen all the time. Also this passed weekend an injury to one of the key players in Europe was a headline. Someone named Messi. So its sinking in. Slower in some areas than others but it is coming. If a league could be established in the USA that attracted all the best players from Europe to play here I think it would really explode with popularity. But right now no one can or will put up the money to attract most of the good players over here. Somewhere down the road the USA may just produce enough good players to a make a league that popular. That's still a ways off and may never happen as long as the big three sports continue as they are.

Agree 100%. I got hooked back in the late-90's watching Alan Shearer for Newcastle on FSC set up outside the box, hold off a couple defenders, & then turn & bomb the net.

I think what soccer has going for it that football doesn't is the involvement of moms. Many played themselves - like my dil who coached HS soccer for 5 years or so - & thus understand it way better than American football.

Personally, as much as I love American football, I wouldn't be bothered if soccer overtook it here. Not likely in my lifetime though. Son's lifetime? Good chance imo.

[boomdaddy]

Have my toe nails removed one by one with a pair of pliers. Swallow broken glass. Face a firing squad. Listen to Barry Mannilow singing I write the songs on an endless loop. Those are just a few things that I would prefer over watching a soccer game..

[gerntz]

Have my toe nails removed one by one with a pair of pliers. Swallow broken glass. Face a firing squad. Listen to Barry Mannilow singing I write the songs on an endless loop. Those are just a few things that I would prefer over watching a soccer game..

Open your horizons. Some think they just have to not like soccer to be a football fan.