Football gonna become unwatchable

[12theTruth]

Listening to ESPN the radio talking about the new rules regarding "player safety". College's new motto for refs, "When in doubt, throw em out"!

Also theres that Bears defender who got roo-rooed in the way of $21,000 for a good CLEAN hit. If football keeps going down this path I'm out and probably millions of others as well. Probably just a matter of time before games are pulled from broadcast TV as well. BOO!

 

[Jordyruns]

If football goes downhill I'm going straight to hockey.

 

[HardRightEdge]

Listening to ESPN the radio talking about the new rules regarding "player safety". College's new motto for refs, "When in doubt, throw em out"!

Also theres that Bears defender who got roo-rooed in the way of $21,000 for a good CLEAN hit. If football keeps going down this path I'm out and probably millions of others as well. Probably just a matter of time before games are pulled from broadcast TV as well. BOO!

First, the NFL needs to establish a flag football league in Europe. American football is likely popular among European rugby fans (mostly the English) but might be too violent for the mass of sports fans who live and die by minimal-contact soccer (on the field anyway, if not in the stands ).

If flag gets some traction there, then an NFL-sanctioned flag league could be set up here. Existing NFL franchise owners will be granted flag franchises for their TV market area. College read-option star QBs without NFL arms/mechanics could give it some cache, along with shrinking ex-NFL players forced off HGH by the new testing regimes. It would be very suitable for fantasy leagues...a lot of the pesky problems of measuring line play is mostly eliminated.

As flag gains in popularity, it will move from ESPN3 to ESPN2 to ESPN with its growing mind share. It can be played year round in basketball/hockey stadiums, bumping off arena football, with which it shares some resemblance, sans pads, helmets and tackling.

I'd like to say NFL Tackle, as it will be rebranded, would survive in the way boxing survives, as a niche sport, but the costs of maintaining a stadium and a competitive league are prohibitive. It will be crushed at the revenue/cost tipping point.

At the current pace, this will take about 50 years.

 

[jaybadger82]

Listening to ESPN the radio talking about the new rules regarding "player safety". College's new motto for refs, "When in doubt, throw em out"!

Also theres that Bears defender who got roo-rooed in the way of $21,000 for a good CLEAN hit. If football keeps going down this path I'm out and probably millions of others as well. Probably just a matter of time before games are pulled from broadcast TV as well. BOO!

(This just wouldn't be any fun if everyone agreed with you.)

I guess I'm not alarmed by the continued evolution of the sport. I suspect you're going to become frustrated if it's the big hits that drew you to football and it might be time to find a new violent amusement to hoot at.

I have no problem with the fine on Bostic since he led with the crown of the helmet/made no effort to strike with the shoulder. He also went higher than necessary, which- coupled with all his barking immediately after the hit- probably sealed the deal.

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The NFL simply can't run commercials targeted to parents about teaching safe tackling to kids one minute, then deliver a product where a player disregards proper form in order to blow up a defenseless target.

 

[12theTruth]

(This just wouldn't be any fun if everyone agreed with you.)

I guess I'm not alarmed by the continued evolution of the sport. I suspect you're going to become frustrated if it's the big hits that drew you to football and it might be time to find a new violent amusement to hoot at.

I have no problem with the fine on Bostic since he led with the crown of the helmet/made no effort to strike with the shoulder. He also went higher than necessary, which- coupled with all his barking immediately after the hit- probably sealed the deal.

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The NFL simply can't run commercials targeted to parents about teaching safe tackling to kids one minute, then deliver a product where a player disregards proper form in order to blow up a defenseless target.

I'll go with what the majority of current NFL players believe. Mark Schlereth and Herm Edwards both gave a convincing argument for such over legislation of physicality involving tackles in the nfl and in college. It is only a matter of time before defensive players lose enough aggressiveness which in turn will make a game in the 40's commonplace in the new and declining NFL. That is likely what we have to look forward to if referees micromanage the solid hits. I watch the Bostic hit time and time again. I do not view that play as you do at all. It looked clean and really when players are having to make decisions in milliseconds you are going to get violent unintended consequences.

I respect your opinion but can't disagree more.

 

[Shawnsta3]

Put yourself in the NFL's shoes. You are getting your pants sued off by former players claiming you didn't do enough to keep them safe, while you have current players and fans complaining how "soft" it's gotten. No win situation, but I think they're doing the right thing. It would really pain me to see another Dave Duerson or Junior Seau..

 

[12theTruth]

Put yourself in the NFL's shoes. You are getting your pants sued off by former players claiming you didn't do enough to keep them safe, while you have current players and fans complaining how "soft" it's gotten. No win situation, but I think they're doing the right thing. It would really pain me to see another Dave Duerson or Junior Seau..

I agree they are in a no-win situation but the product ultimately is what makes the NFL America's favorite past-time. Even fantasy football will not be enough to prop up a severely neutered NFL. I see MLB retaking the throne in a decade unless things reverse course.

 

[Sunshinepacker]

The old adage is that offense sells tickets and defense wins championships. Well, the league doesn't really care who wins the title but it DOES care about selling tickets. I'm pretty sure the NFL could care less about making defenses less effective, they want high scoring games.

The NFL does need to find ways to reduce the damage that players do to one another. Players are only getting bigger and stronger. Fun article I read compared current NFL players to offensive linemen by decade. In the 20's the average olineman was the size of Hackeem Nicks. By the 50's the avg olineman was the size of Tebow. In the 80's the avg olineman was the size of Shawne Merriman!

Think about that, that means that in 30 years we've evolved to the point that offensive linemen are running around spearing wide receivers/TEs! I know the other players have also gotten larger but the internal organs and soft tissue hasn't gotten any stronger; and players are just getting bigger/stronger/faster. NFL players have said it and I agree, it's only a matter of time until someone is killed on the field; and I don't think that day is far off (maybe a decade?). The problem is only exacerbated because the NFL is prioritizing passing because they like scoring. When teams emphasize passing on offense it means that defenders need to be smaller but faster. When it comes to impact on the players' bodies the old law E=MC^2 comes into play, the key being that speed is squared; i.e., it hurts a lot more to get hit by the smaller and faster guy than it does to get hit by the slower but bigger guy.

 

[PWT]

.

I agree they are in a no-win situation but the product ultimately is what makes the NFL America's favorite past-time. Even fantasy football will not be enough to prop up a severely neutered NFL. I see MLB retaking the throne in a decade unless things reverse course.

I have seeen all the rules that have come into the NFL since the 1940's. There have been many. Rules changes in America football have been happening since America football came on the scene in 1800's.
The American football fan has adjusted to all these rules and professional football has gained great popularity since 1958.
There is no reversing the coarse of making NFL football safer for the NFL player.
Making American football safer for the players is going to happen to all levels of American football from grade school to the Pros . The NFL is leading the way.
The NFL knows if they don't do something about players safety, The Federal government will step in. And nobody want that to happen!!!
Also if football is not made safer, the parents of young American children will not let their kids play football and have them go into other sports.

 

[weeds]

Hell guys, back in '74, I was a sophomore in high school and the school was buying all new helmets to lessen the likelihood of concussions. I know because when the guy from Riddell came to the school, I was the demonstration guinea pig. I had my 'bell rung' pretty bad as a freshman (playing against seniors, I got the crap kicked out of me) and so ... there I was - the test case if you will.

Anyway, the rep from Riddell removed the then state-of-art padding from the helmet, placed it over my left hand and proceeded to smash the living hell out of the padding and my hand with the helmet - yeah, I didn't feel any pain in my hand, but my hand didn't contain brain matter (there are those who would argue that the padding should have been placed over my keester back then - I think my coach even said so).

My point is that even as a dumb high school kid, I KNEW that football was a violent sport. So did my buddy whose eyes I watched disappear inside his eye sockets after he got belted ... so did my other buddy who got scissored and wiped out a knee ... and another who laid on the goal line with a ruptured spleen for 20 minutes while an ambulance was summoned.

Someone want to tell me that the guys suing the NFL didn't know that they could get hurt playing football when a dumb turd high school sophomore knew 40-years ago? The only mistake the NFL has made in retrospect, is not having standard injury waiver clauses in each and every contract whereby the athlete recognizes in writing that the game of football is violent by its very make up. If I sat on any of those juries, I'd be the guy holding out ... telling each and every one of those clowns to go eat a sh*t sandwich, whether or not they liked the taste of bread.

In any event, I do think that the glorification of the BIG HIT ... with a DB standing over the guy he just laid out, shaking his head (ala Richard Sherman) is pathetic and gawd-awful... I don't know when DB's were coached to throw their bodies at receivers like missiles versus actually being coached to wrap up around the belt -- or -- "Hey, dumb sh*t, keep your head up as you're tackling...put that face mask in their number and drive through 'em. You want to bust your neck?" ... I don't know ... just my worthless opinion, but these guys are coached somewhere, by someone, to break people up ... not to get 'em on the ground and live for the next play.

 

[Raptorman]

I think part of the problem is the rule changes. Just think, if DB could mug WR's like they could in the 60's they would have no reason to launch themselves at the WR. The rules have forced separation of the players and once the WR catches the ball the DB want's to not only make the tackle but dislodge the ball. The rules have changed the way the game is played. Faster, more separation because it's the only way to cover someone with being hit up with a penalty.

 

[El Guapo]

It didn't take me more than one slow-motion replay to see that Bostick put his head down to make the tackle. That'll get the flags and fines flowing anytime. Ask a guy like Mike Utley (different situation of course) what he thinks about neck injuries. IMO - you can take the violent hits out of football and still tackle. I'll admit to liking the big hits, but that doesn't mean I'm in favor of it happening. I always look at the car wreck as I pass on the highway, but that doesn't mean that I want those to happen either.

When I played, I was too small to take on my opponents. When I did launch myself at them, I usually ended up bouncing off of them with my facemask bashed in. I learned that I could more effectively tackle opponents at the legs. I didn't have to launch at their heads or even their knees, I just needed to wrap up and make them fall. That's still football. It's just not what we've been conditioned to seeing in the past few decades

 

[HyponGrey]

The guy wasn't defenseless, He had taken steps downfield after securing the ball. The flag was thrown because Bostic was looking at the dirt when he tackled. He did put some shoulder on it, but it was still too high.

 

[Royal Pain]

ESPN is one of the biggest culprits by glamorizing these kill shots with that "Jacked Up" segment that has, fortunately, been discountinued. Part of the problem is also that these players are young and think they're indestructable. The NFL instituted this rule change in part to protect themselves from future litigation but it also serves to protect the players from themselves.
I've witnessed in person two Packer's careers end with neck injuries and, while the circumstances that led to the injuries involving both Terrence Murphy and Nick Collins were flukish in nature, they demonstrate how fragile the human anatomy can be.
I agree with those that believe the players will adjust to the new rule and that it will not take anything away from the essence of the game. If anything, it will create a renewed emphasis toward teaching and utilizing proper technique when making a tackle.

 

[I asked LT to delete my acct]

Hell guys, back in '74, I was a sophomore in high school and the school was buying all new helmets to lessen the likelihood of concussions. I know because when the guy from Riddell came to the school, I was the demonstration guinea pig. I had my 'bell rung' pretty bad as a freshman (playing against seniors, I got the crap kicked out of me) and so ... there I was - the test case if you will.

That explains a lot of things

 

[weeds]

That explains a lot of things

I've been speaking with a British accent ever since.

 

[I asked LT to delete my acct]

I've been speaking with a British accent ever since.

HAHAHAHA.......touche

 

[I asked LT to delete my acct]

HAHAHAHA.......touche

You`ll be okay as long as you don`t start wearing tweeds and a monocle

 

[HardRightEdge]

Football helmets are designed to prevent skull fractures. They seem to do a very good job of it since I can't recall anybody being diagnosed with one.

Fill a plastic cup with partially congealed Jello. Give the cup a whack with a spoon. That's kind of what a brain looks like when the head is sharply impacted. Simply put, a concussion is a brain bruise caused by the brain matter smacking the side of the skull.

Concussions might be minimized if the helmet had some exterior padding to absorb some of the energy from the blow. Some years ago an SF O-Lineman, whose name escapes me, played with a helmet like this with the exterior padding painted like the helmet to disguise it. Many regarded this as odd or wimpy.

Try this...put on a football helment and smack your head on countertop as hard as you can. After you fully recover in some weeks or months, try it again, but this time wrap the helmet in a couple of layers of bubble paper. I think you'll note the difference after a couple of days once the queasiness and dizziness stops.

The NFL wants it both ways...minimize concussions (read: lawsuits) while maintaining the allure of the coliseum.

 

[HardRightEdge]

ESPN produced a documentary with public TV's Frontline production team on the subject of football brain trauma. The NFL squawked when they saw it. ESPN is taking their name off of it. I guess it will air on public TV, but the NFL probably figures there's not a lot of market overlap.

 

[12theTruth]

Despite what some claim. The rule changes will fundamentally change the way the game is played. If you take the big "clean" hits out of the NFL you take the SPORT as we know it away. Here is another example of why the game is going down the wrong path.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/220908991.html

 

[Sunshinepacker]

One of the biggest issues with player safety is that most players don't wear helmets that FIT. The idea of a helmet is that the helmet bounces around, not your head. However, that doesn't work out so well when your head bounces around inside the helmet. Helmets should be hard to get on and off yet you see guys losing their helmet on every play or just popping them of on their way to the sideline.

 

[HyponGrey]

Football helmets are designed to prevent skull fractures. They seem to do a very good job of it since I can't recall anybody being diagnosed with one.

Fill a plastic cup with partially congealed Jello. Give the cup a whack with a spoon. That's kind of what a brain looks like when the head is sharply impacted. Simply put, a concussion is a brain bruise caused the brain matter smacking the side of the skull.

Concussions might be minimized if the helmet had some exterior padding to absorb some of the energy from the blow. Some years ago an SF O-Lineman, whose name escapes me, played with a helmet like this with the exterior padding painted like the helmet to disguise it. Many regarded this as odd or wimpy.

Try this...put on a football helment and smack your head on countertop as hard as you can. After you fully recover in some weeks or months, try it again, but this time wrap the helmet in a couple of layers of bubble paper. I think you'll note the difference after a couple of days once the queasiness and dizziness stops.

The NFL wants it both ways...minimize concussions (read: lawsuits) while maintaining the allure of the coliseum.

I distinctly remember doing something similar, though it was a brick wall. Couldn break the helmet though, and I've been concussed worse by a 5 foot fall.

 

[P-E-Z]

I do not think you can rule change the problem away... making sure there informed consent and good medical well into retirement is how to handle it. Some jobs carry risks like Cops, CO's, Firemen, Military, some industrial jobs can result in life long injury's.. Most never get fame and fortune the way an NFL player gets it. Its a job you can get hurt doing.

 

[PackMan13x]

I'm all for reducing the chance of brain damage. What cracks me up is that all the people complaining about the rules would be in the ER for a week if they took a clean hit off of a practice squad player.