Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

301–310 of 396 posts

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#301

Post by forapurpose »

BurningFrog wrote: post #157
kpwags wrote: post #24

Good for him. I stopped following football after watching League of Denial on PBS. If I'm at the bar or something and it happens to be on, I might passively watch it, but I haven't sought it out since. I just can't support the NFL. I do feel torn though because I love hockey. I know they're dealing with similar controversies. My justification, however flimsy it might be is that I don't like the fighting (I might be i…

I'm a Swede who grew up loving European hockey. NHL Hockey bores me. You can think of the difference either as physical or mental. Physical: The European rink is 100 feet wide while the NHL rink is 85 feet. This gives a lot more space to skate around people rather than through them, more space and time for a passing and placement game, more time for smart play over brute force play. Mental: Each continent plays hocke…

What is it about Pavel Datsyuk?

BTW, if you have an iPhone, ask Siri 'Who is the magic man?'. (I don't know if that still works.)

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#302

Post by BurningFrog »

forapurpose wrote: post #301
BurningFrog wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a Swede who grew up loving European hockey. NHL Hockey bores me. You can think of the difference either as physical or mental. Physical: The European rink is 100 feet wide while the NHL rink is 85 feet. This gives a lot more space to skate around people rather than through them, more space and time for a passing and placement game, more time for smart play over brute force play. Mental: Each continent plays hocke…

What is it about Pavel Datsyuk? BTW, if you have an iPhone, ask Siri 'Who is the magic man?'. (I don't know if that still works.)

He's the Messi of hockey. Or is he the Zlatan?

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#303

Post by forapurpose »

rsync wrote: post #278
kpwags wrote: post #24

Good for him. I stopped following football after watching League of Denial on PBS. If I'm at the bar or something and it happens to be on, I might passively watch it, but I haven't sought it out since. I just can't support the NFL. I do feel torn though because I love hockey. I know they're dealing with similar controversies. My justification, however flimsy it might be is that I don't like the fighting (I might be i…

"I stopped following football after watching League of Denial on PBS." The reason I cannot stop watching football is that the combination of enormous economic incentives and ruthless selection process has produced individuals that are performing at near-superhuman levels. It is arguable that when you watch a quarterback or a cornerback play well in 2017 you are watching someone do something better than anyone has eve…

> It is arguable that when you watch a quarterback or a cornerback play well in 2017 you are watching someone do something better than anyone has ever done anything.

I agree that they are incredible athletes, but I don't see why football's players are better athletes than those in other professional sports. The winnowing process is just as brutal in soccer/football, basketball, hockey, baseball, track, swimming, gymnastics (if you want some incredible athletes - wow), wrestling, boxing, etc. etc. Why is Tom Brady a better athlete than Floyd Mayweather? Than Lionel Messi?

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#304

Post by duncan_bayne »

hota_mazi wrote: post #225
Pxtl wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hockey has the advantage that the sport could we reworked into something less violent. Hockey could survive a change to the rules that would reduce blows to the head. Football is such an intrinsically contact sport that I don't think a safer game would even be recognizable. Actually, that might be worse... If hockey turns out to have as bad a concussion problem, the leadership of the sport is likely even more culpabl…

> Football is such an intrinsically contact sport that I don't think a safer game would even be recognizable. And yet, rubgy and Australian football have just as much contact and do not suffer from an endemic injury problem. Maybe something related to the padding?

Here in Melbourne there was a news article recently about some AFL players who got high on drugs and alcohol and set a dwarf alight.

It may be harder to detect chronic brain trauma in that population.

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#305

Post by duderific »

brm wrote: post #223
kpwags wrote: post #24

Good for him. I stopped following football after watching League of Denial on PBS. If I'm at the bar or something and it happens to be on, I might passively watch it, but I haven't sought it out since. I just can't support the NFL. I do feel torn though because I love hockey. I know they're dealing with similar controversies. My justification, however flimsy it might be is that I don't like the fighting (I might be i…

The thing for me is, I never watched it for the contact. Its always been a rooting interest type of sport and if I wanted contact I'd go watch boxing or MMA. The thing they don't seem to get(The NFL) is that most people don't care about the hits and they could eliminate them. I'd watch highly skilled athletes from my university or city play FLAG FOOTBALL at the highest levels of skill and athleticism as often or more…

I enjoy the skill aspect of football, and I love a great, hard hitting tackle, where a player gets low, sets their hips and stops a runner dead in their tracks by wrapping them up.

Where it ends for me is the helmet to helmet contact, when defensive players leverage or launch themselves head first into another player's head, because they want to injure that player or get into a highlight reel. I don't see how anyone can enjoy seeing someone laid out on the field unconscious.

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#306

Post by forapurpose »

Brendinooo wrote: post #184
yequalsx wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you be OK allowing two consenting adults to fight to the death for pay? Most people would not be for allowing this. A lot of people are willing to work in very risky environments because they feel they have no alternative. Should companies be allowed to have dangerous work environments because there are people desperate enough to be willing to work in them?

I don't think this is a black-and-white kind of area. Plenty of miners felt a lot of pride in their work and wouldn't have given it up if they didn't have to, but mining is inherently more dangerous than sitting at a desk. So, while companies should have workers' comp and provide helmets on the job, it doesn't mean that the risk needs to be zero. Dangerous jobs tend to be well-compensated, so it either comes down to…

> Plenty of miners felt a lot of pride in their work and wouldn't have given it up if they didn't have to, but mining is inherently more dangerous than sitting at a desk.

Could you cite some evidence that this is a widespread attitude? My knowledge of miners, which is very little, says something much different.

> Dangerous jobs tend to be well-compensated

I'm not sure that's true. In the list of high-paying jobs that money-motivated people aspire to, I usually don't see coal miner (or any miner), soldier, police officer in dangerous neighborhood, logger, deep sea fisherman or drug dealer listed.

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#307

Post by ben_jones »

We need to acknowledge as a society that we're ok with young men giving themselves brain trauma for our enjoyment. That's the truth. Denying it, pretending like we care or that it disgusts us, is just furthering the problem. In aggregate (US citizens) have spoken.

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#308

Post by [deleted] »

icelancer wrote: post #242
Waterluvian wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hockey can be a beautiful game of finesse, speed, and precision. It could absolutely be re-worked. Football is fundamentally flawed. Many positions exist entirely because it's rough and violent. Players who never touch the football in a well played game.

>>Hockey can be a beautiful game of finesse, speed, and precision. It could absolutely be re-worked. Indeed. Olympic hockey is a perfect example of a step in that direction, and one of the greatest versions of the game in existence.

[deleted]

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#309

Post by dhimes »

PacketPaul wrote: post #274
dhimes wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They need to get the college sports off of national TV and set up a farm team system. But that's a debate for another time probably.

College football is more popular than the NFL. Every game is critically important in college which adds to the excitement. Pro's you can lose a few and still make the SuperBowl. The RedSkins can't fill their stadium in a major market. Try to get Alabama tickets ... or NotreDame ... or Penn State all in minuscule markets.

I don't know about data on popularity, but now college football has a playoff system too so they can bounce back from a loss (but probably only one).

Years ago the Redskins always filled- they've just sucked for so long people find better things to do with their Sundays (disclaimer-am a fan from long time back).

The Patriots on the other hand now fill their stadium (I live in the Boston area now). They didn't use to do that.

So it may depend on how well the team is doing.

EDIT: Except for Tennessee. Those fans are crazy.

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#310

Post by differentView »

hkmurakami wrote: post #285
Bartweiss wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but you can probably make the sport a bit safer. In cycling or tennis, the lasting effect of PED use (after stopping) is being more competitive. In football, the lasting effect is being more dangerous to other players on the field. That's a huge distinction.

But even if you make the penalty a ban, players are still incentivizing to try to cheat the system because they'll get paid. You have to take away both the financial and glory rewards of PEDs

They lose money when they're banned.
Post reply on HN