# Ban Football **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 18, 2000, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-football/17938 "2000-03-18T02:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-football/17938/41 "2000-04-11T00:18:00Z")
I know this thread is a bit moldy, but I just found this article that I’d saved somewhere on my hard drive. I think fits into the current discussion… About LA not wanting the NFL: **Drew Griffin** (of L.A.'s CBS station, though I don’t know if he’s there anymore) wrote this column about a year ago, regarding the NFL in LA. I will just put up a few excerpts of it, _not_ the entire article: > [@](#): > > NFL owners could decide by Feb. 16, 1999 if they will again make the mistake of > putting a pro franchise in this town. The decision is between Los Angeles and > Houston. Not to put down Houston, but if they want something in Houston, why, > oh why, would we want it here? > > Houston needs the NFL. It’s the kind of small town that an NFL franchise could > push around and demand tax breaks from. It’s the kind of town where a bunch of > overpaid, under .500 players could become instant celebrities. It’s the kind of town > where corporate big shots could brag about owning skybox tickets and actually go > to the games. It is a town that would willingly change into goofy looking colors on > Sundays to show it supports its team. Houston is the future of the NFL. L.A. is > simply the future. **[…]** > On the plus side, we’re told, a new football franchise would mean revitalizing a > rundown neighborhood. It would be a huge economic boost with jobs, hotels and > restaurants. How this can all happen with 10 home games a year isn’t quite so clear. **[…]** > > Riordan’s _(L.A.'s Mayor)_ future for this city involves developing technologies, industries and infrastructure that could bring real job gains in L.A. The NFL wants us to develop technologies, industries and infrastructure to bring fans in and out of futuristic football stadiums every other weekend. The jobs gained involve holding trays of watered-down beers. > > We could put all of this football evolutionary history aside. We could get all excited again for a team destined to become a loser and a leaver. > > But this ain’t Houston. We got things to do in this town, baby. We got stars. We got > places to go. We got a future. Let the beer-selling jobs go to Houston. Let Houston > reap the benefits of NFL tax concessions. Let Houston have something to brag > about. > > Read the bumper sticker NFL: “Just Move On, Baby.” Nobody here cares where > you play. I think Griffin explained it better than I ever could. This is why no one in LA cares much that there is no NFL in their city! ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-football/17938/42 "2000-04-12T16:50:00Z")
Robbespiere wrote, in the OP: > [@](#): > > Football should be banned. It’s a “sport” which is dangerous and encourages violence and a militaristic way of thinking. Playing tag should be banned. It’s modelled on an army group hunting down and killing a lone enemy. Hide-and-seek should be banned. It’s nothing more than playing a Vietnam War baby-killing soldier who goes from home to home tossing grenades in to try and root out hidden dissidents. Urinals should be banned. They encourage young boys to practice “aiming”, which prepares them to become sharpshooters and, thus, snipers. Heck, let’s just ban human beings. They’re all gonna turn into violence-crazed soldiers killing everything in sight anyway. It’s in their genes. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-football/17938/43 "2000-04-13T05:12:00Z")
Well, I think there is a valid point to be raised against NFL-style football, in that it is more violent and dangerous than other sports. It is allowed in the rules to rush into someone and throw them to the ground, in fact it’s an essential part of the game. If you look at other major sports like soccer, basketball, baseball, etc… striking another player is forbidden. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-football/17938/44 "2000-04-12T18:27:00Z")
yosemitebabe wrote: > [@](#): > > I cannot speak for Native Midwesterners, but I always have thought San Jose to be famous for their well-respected newspaper, **The San Jose Mercury News**. I thought it was famous for the song. ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-football/17938/45 "2000-04-12T19:02:00Z")
Arnold said > [@](#): > > If you look at other major sports like soccer, basketball, baseball, etc… striking another player is forbidden. I have to take a slight exception to this sentence Arnold, or more accurately, the inclusion of basketball. In football, contact is almost constant, but most of it is ordained due to the nature of the game. The really bad stuff is penalized. In basketball, it is the same. There is an unbelievable amount of contact, especially for a post player. Only when contact is overly aggressive is a foul called. Granted the violence levels of the contact differ, but that is likely due to the different goals of the game, and the levels of protection players have. * * * We went right out there and refused to do accoustical versions of the electrical songs that we had refused to record in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-football/17938/46 "2000-04-12T21:48:00Z")
I guess you’re right, Mullinator, I don’t know exactly what contact is allowed in basketball and what isn’t. But if you run into someone hard enough to knock them to the ground, wouldn’t that be a foul? Or if someone is dribbling towards the basket and I deliberately step in her way, isn’t that a foul? ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-football/17938/47 "2000-04-12T21:55:00Z")
Depends Arnold, but for the most part the answer is yes (the NBA being an exception, since beheading is apparently needed for the whistle to blow.) As I said, the acceptable levels of contact are different between football and basketball, but possibly similar when you consider the protection allowed. And, the contact inside is heavy. I have delivered many a charley horse or a bruise by knowing how to set a pick. Lots of grabbing of lots of body parts occurs, especially if you know the ref is blocked from view. Heck, I suffered 2 broken noses playing and neither was called a foul. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-football/17938/48 "2000-04-12T22:17:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Mullinator: > Lots of grabbing of lots of body parts occurs, especially if you know the ref is blocked from view. That’s my point really, that much of the physical contact that you’re describing is forbidden by the rules of basketball, isn’t it? Whereas it is allowed by the rules of football. Which is an important difference. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-football/17938.md?page=2)