It’s already been tried. People died. It’s a stupid idea.
Why was that and what stopped the deaths? Better equipment or rule changes?
As I understand it, they made the players wear helmets and banning the Flying Wedge play.
A little information on the topic, and the role that Teddy Roosevelt played in saving the game by leading the charge for rules changes.
Specific rules changes, as noted in the article, included:
And…
Helmets, for starters.
No, the public is not appalled. Some of the public is appalled, and the rest continue to make the NFL the single most popular sport in the United States. That the media continues to push the issue does not mean that there is a consensus that football is in danger, and that the players have filed a class-action lawsuit does not mean that the NFL is in any danger, particularly when the judge rightly says that only a great fool would think that taking shots to the head endlessly and repeatedly could be anything but damaging.
You know when you’re 5 and you fall and smack your head and come up screaming for mommy? Even then you know that head shots are bad for you. Playing dumb does not constitute reasonable grounds for a lawsuit victory. Truthfully, I think the players are doing it to get a pension settlement. They can’t possibly expect to win.
I think you’re mistaken about the general public. It’s slow in coming but it’s coming. The problem won’t really manifest itself until years down the road, when the effects of parents not allowing their kids to play football is fully felt, but IMO it will happen. There’s no real way to prove that except to wait a few years, but that’s what appears to be going on to me.
It definitely is. I know that the flag football league in my town, which is absolutely football bananas, is growing by leaps and bounds. A ton of parents are shying away from the full contact variety for their younger kids.
I’m not mistaken about the general public. You need only look at 1) the revenues the NFL generates, 2) the number of websites and/or discussions related to it on the internet, 3) the television ratings, 4) what people are wearing, 5) the fact that at any moderately large school they have to cut football players, and 6) the turnout for high school, college and pro games.
You are not representative of the general public. More to the point, when you hear this spoken of it’s approached like it’s some great big epidemic and football is killing people in droves. While it’s not something that should be dismissed out of hand, it’s not nearly the issue it’s being made out to be.
Either people are every bit as appalled as you are and are really good at hiding it or they don’t care because college and pro football are men taking a man’s chance, and since all sports are optional the same can be said of high school. My mother refused to let me play football because a quarter-century ago it was obvious that football could have wrecked me. That refusal didn’t cause my school to leave a roster spot unfilled.
The point is that nobody who plays football today can claim ignorance of the possibility of severe injury up to and including brain injury and yet the gridirons are packed every season all over the country. The only argument the veterans have is that they didn’t know any of that, which is patently ridiculous.
You aren’t making much sense. Telemark isn’t saying that people are less interested in the NFL as fans, he’s saying a lot of people are less interested as participants and parents of participants.
No, he’s speaking of the general public. His words. The general public is not appalled.
You’re confused about what they’re appalled at. They aren’t turning off their televisions, they just aren’t participating as much.
Until recently the general public wasn’t aware of the frequency of severe brain injury in the NFL. Even now they don’t realize the cumulative effect of multiple head injuries. They assume a couple games off following a major concussion takes care of the matter. On the other hand they don’t seem to care at all about debilitating physical injuries to other parts of the body, unless their favorite team loses a player that way.
I think there are a ton of people who care that some of their childhood heros are having trouble walking.
The first sentence in question:
The second sentence in question:
Two different things.
Debililitating injuries to other parts of the body don’t cause dementia
Nope. Same thing. They are appalled that people are being injured, and are taking steps to ensure it doesn’t happen to their children. Not sure why you’re having so much trouble with this.
You win. It’s a stupid fucking argument and I’m not wasting any more time with you. It means what you say it means.
Nobody said it did. But it’s still pretty sad for a professional athlete to end up unable to walk.
Considering nobody in this thread has said anything about the popularity of the sport of football declining, then yes.