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

nytimes.com

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

#351

Post by girvo »

agumonkey wrote: post #102
baldfat wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I boxed a little and worked out and hit a heavy bag for years. I never would punch someone because I'm not that kind of man and secondly I would more then likely break my hand.

If I was a trained boxer I'd be way more worried about killing someone accidentally, with or without a broken hand.

In Australia, trained fighters who get into fights at bars for whatever reason have been charged with "weapons" charges, as their body is considered one (as opposed to the untrained person they're fighting)

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

#352

Post by christophilus »

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?

I'd say this is not true. The doctor from the movie "Concussion" said that Rugby, most martial arts, and lacrosse are all sports that need massive modification for those under 18. Adults can make their own decisions, he said, but these sports are demonstrably bad for brain-safety.

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

#353

Post by Rapzid »

dhimes wrote: post #191
Rapzid wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never really followed it but could enjoy a game every now and then. Now I have a distaste for it. My biggest issue by far is how embedded football is into our public school system. They are essentially feeder leagues for the NFL that the public pays to operate. We glorify the sport to little kids and then shove them into the head trauma pipeline. We should absolutely not be a party to that at the public level. I'm…

The parents are the problem. It's ridiculous to see them. Football is the most important part of their life and damn if their kid isn't going to play. Could you imagine if our schools and home cultures emphasized putting that kind of work into math rather than football?

That's a lot of stuff though to be fair. This On Point episode seems very timely: http://tpr.org/post/big-business-youth-sports . I didn't catch the entire thing but they were discussing some pretty shocking dollar amounts parents spend on sports that are not football.

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

#354

Post by Klinky »

Already__Taken wrote: post #252
hota_mazi wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

Rubgy has much less contact than american football. You can't just tackle people without the ball.

You're also not allowed to tackle a player without the ball in American football. You're allowed to block, but when two players come together, especially at the snap, it can be a violent collision.

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

#355

Post by blendo »

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.

"Better than anyone has ever done anything" is debatable, but those young NFL men sure can smite their foes!

Homer sparked that idea, and the Romans perfected popular gladiatorial combat in front of 50,000 spectators in the Colosseum. But it just got so damn messy, spectator-wise, when "enormous economic incentives" led to mass state wars with 10,000, 50,000, or 6,000,000 million dead.

My personal favorite public spectacle combat is Slim Pickens riding the H-bomb in Dr. Strangelove. Now that was "amazing to watch"!

But back to pro sports, using the Olympics as an example. I notice that the rise of intersex/gender-uncertain competitors such as Caster Semenya is challenging the status quo of sex-differentiated mass sporting events. Maybe more people will just throw up their hands at the hypocrisy of it all?

And if the Olympics come under question, who knows what other multi-billion-dollar sporting series might be next?

But please, Olympics, leave the modern pentathlon as-is. And the sailing and equestrian events. But consider adding a gliding competition :-)

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

#356

Post by pimlottc »

mattmanser wrote: post #316
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"football is one of the most engaging team sports" Do you mean Association Football there, ie "soccer"?

For a few hundred million in the world it's soccer, for billions of people, it's football.

I think the parent was legitimately uncertain which one you meant. After all, this is a discussion about an article on American football on a forum hosted by a US-based company.

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

#357

Post by hkmurakami »

differentView wrote: post #310
hkmurakami wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

More often than not, they wouldn't be able to make the first batch of money without the aid of PEDs. This is pressure that even MLB minor league players face.

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

#358

Post by vcool07 »

Just out of curiosity, if the sport is so violent/unsafe for kids, why not ban it for under 18 players ? Or is it that, only a small subsection of the american population find it violent/unsafe and the rest are completely fine with it ? I find it difficult to understand how parents could allow their children to play a sport knowing it might cause permanent brain damage to his/her kid. Maybe we're missing something in this debate ?

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

#359

Post by phillc73 »

mattmanser wrote: post #260
phillc73 wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Rugby Union is more interesting than American Football (in my biased opinion), because the ball is in play for a lot longer and the game has better momentum. Then again, many Rugby Union vs Rugby League debates involve the criticism of Union that it is too stop-start. There is certainly a growing awareness of head injuries in Union and League at all levels. Players which show any sign of head trauma are (shou…

Rugby has gone through periods of being a boring game and has had constant rule changes to try and make it more interesting, some of which significantly changed the nature of the game. The period of constant scrums was an especially dull period, as was the rolling mauls period. I vaguely remember a period of constant punts from each side down the field. I haven't kept up to date with Rugby, but google seems to sugges…

As an ex-prop forward, I have to say scrums (especially), rucks and mauls are a fascinating part of the sport. These aspects are what really differentiates the game of Rugby Union from Rugby League.

Regarding cricket, this too is an evolving sport. The emergence of T20 (20 overs per team) has a completely different appeal to 5 day Test matches. Try watching a game of Indian Premier League (IPL) or Australian Big Bash cricket. Batting is back in the ascendancy, with sixes and fours galore. Very much mass appeal, light sporting entertainment.

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

#360

Post by yequalsx »

rplst8 wrote: post #338
yequalsx wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd be OK allowing two people to fight to the death for pay? I'm stunned. You are the only person I know of that would be OK living in a society that allowed two people to fight until one of them dies for pay. I'm glad your view is not a popular one.

We pretty much already do... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deaths_due_to_injuries...

Those are not fights to the death. They are deaths due to fighting. There is a significant difference. We do not allow two people to fight to the death for money. I'm surprised that anyone would be in favor of allowing it to be legal.
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