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What Would the End of Football Look Like?
Grantland ^ | FEBRUARY 13, 2012 | KEVIN GRIER AND TYLER COWEN

Posted on 08/23/2015 12:39:56 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

he NFL is done for the year, but it is not pure fantasy to suggest that it may be done for good in the not-too-distant future. How might such a doomsday scenario play out and what would be the economic and social consequences?

By now we’re all familiar with the growing phenomenon of head injuries and cognitive problems among football players, even at the high school level. In 2009, Malcolm Gladwell asked whether football might someday come to an end, a concern seconded recently by Jonah Lehrer.

Before you say that football is far too big to ever disappear, consider the history: If you look at the stocks in the Fortune 500 from 1983, for example, 40 percent of those companies no longer exist. The original version of Napster no longer exists, largely because of lawsuits. No matter how well a business matches economic conditions at one point in time, it’s not a lock to be a leader in the future, and that is true for the NFL too. Sports are not immune to these pressures. In the first half of the 20th century, the three big sports were baseball, boxing, and horse racing, and today only one of those is still a marquee attraction.

(Excerpt) Read more at grantland.com ...


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: concussions
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To: MinorityRepublican

Go Pack, Go!


41 posted on 08/23/2015 1:19:48 PM PDT by ballearthout
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To: MinorityRepublican
Pro football ended for me in 1982.

Any sport that has millionaires pouting loses my interest.

The only sports I have any interest in are NCAA sports 9warts and all) and minor league baseball.

And women's curling.


42 posted on 08/23/2015 1:20:54 PM PDT by Gamecock (Many Atheists: "There is no God and I hate Him!")
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To: MinorityRepublican

Football – along with “professional” wrestling – is the Heavyweight Division of the Celebrity Worship Club where watching 300 pound men being paid 6 and 7 figure salaries to knock the piss out of one another will somehow make the lives of those who witness this activity better and more worthwhile.
The Beautiful People Division, which serves a similar purpose (generally sans the violence) is currently headed by some Armenian American Princess named Kim Kardashian. She is known for the substantial size of her gluteus maximus muscles, so large they have been assigned their own zip code and are believed to have an independent weather system. As is the case with the Heavyweight Division, watching and reading about the comings and goings of the members of this division is also believed to enhance the lives of the average citizen.
In the early days of the American Republic, there was also a Political Division. It was disbanded due to loss of interest after the election of Woodrow Wilson.


43 posted on 08/23/2015 1:20:57 PM PDT by Dick Bachert (This entire "administration" has been a series of Reischstag Fires. We know how that turned out!)
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To: Charles Henrickson

I think you nailed it.

Even in baseball, the players are much bulkier than in the 1960s. You see a video from then, the baseball players look like ordinary people (and you see a lot of coats and ties in the stands!).


44 posted on 08/23/2015 1:27:51 PM PDT by MUDDOG
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To: Rusty0604
Yes, we should just play soccer like the rest of the pansies in the world.

Gee, I wonder what sport those 3 Americans on the French train played in high school? Can't have people learn discipline, courage and manliness in a world where the sheep are supposed to do what they're told.

45 posted on 08/23/2015 1:28:07 PM PDT by Defiant (I will vote for the candidate that the GOPe and media hate the most.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Football going away?
I thought it ended when Tom Landry departed.


46 posted on 08/23/2015 1:28:10 PM PDT by X-spurt (CRUZ missile - armed and ready.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

This:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OKwRsnWO84


47 posted on 08/23/2015 1:28:53 PM PDT by CGASMIA68
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To: Defiant

Funny, I thought the exact same thing as I was writing my post.


48 posted on 08/23/2015 1:31:38 PM PDT by Rusty0604
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To: jcon40

All eyes would definitely be on the “snap”.


49 posted on 08/23/2015 1:32:40 PM PDT by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
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To: MinorityRepublican
What would the end of football look like?

All these responses and nobody is close to that answer - until now.

Golly. You would think Freepers could read English and would know what the end of a football looks like. Geeze.


50 posted on 08/23/2015 1:32:59 PM PDT by InterceptPoint
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To: X-spurt
I thought it ended when Tom Landry departed.

Turn out the lights, the party's over.


51 posted on 08/23/2015 1:34:10 PM PDT by 867V309 (Trump: Bull in a RINO Shoppe)
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To: SamAdams76

“Have you seen the size of some of those linebackers? A hug from one of them could be fatal.”

As they say...ain’t that the truth!

The first pro football game I ever went to I saw first hand just how big those monsters are! TV just doesn’t do their size justice.


52 posted on 08/23/2015 1:40:33 PM PDT by MichaelCorleone (Jesus Christ is not a religion. He's the Truth.)
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To: MUDDOG
Even in baseball, the players are much bulkier than in the 1960s. You see a video from then, the baseball players look like ordinary people (and you see a lot of coats and ties in the stands!).

That trend is reversing. The top young prospects are traditional baseball builds again.

Another reason the old guys looked smaller is that today they use tiny bats. In the old days, most used the heaviest bats they could swing.

53 posted on 08/23/2015 1:40:44 PM PDT by Forgotten Amendments (Sheep need leaders. Politicians work for US.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

More felons on the streets, obviously.


54 posted on 08/23/2015 1:41:47 PM PDT by Da Coyote (Di)
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To: MinorityRepublican

There would be a lot of divorces when men were forced to talk with their wives on Sundays...


55 posted on 08/23/2015 1:52:19 PM PDT by freespirit2012
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To: Forgotten Amendments

Not too long ago I saw some footage of the 1968 World Series (Tigers v. Cardinals) and was really surprised how slender the players looked.

So I checked some of the player weights in the Baseball Encyclopedia, and concluded that most of the guys back then were well under 200. The big guys like Norm Cash were 195-200.


56 posted on 08/23/2015 1:52:50 PM PDT by MUDDOG
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To: MinorityRepublican
40 percent of those companies no longer exist.

Highly misleading. Mobil and Amoco no longer exist as separate entities, but merged with Exxon and BP, respectively. That does NOT mean they failed.
57 posted on 08/23/2015 1:55:23 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
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To: glorgau

I agree


58 posted on 08/23/2015 1:57:45 PM PDT by Stand W ("Gentlemen! You can't fight in here! This is the WAR ROOM!")
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To: ichabod1

A better choice would be to go back to heather helmets and having players play both offense and defense.


59 posted on 08/23/2015 1:59:38 PM PDT by SoCal Pubbie
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To: MinorityRepublican

I was thinking that to save the stadiums and all the revenue or most of the revenue that they just have the one leather helmet and no pads kinda like your picture.

Then, less rules about fighting. Let em have at it like hockey! The fans would still come and it coud still be fun and competitive.

On the fighting, you could fight but you would still be punished like in hockey. This would dampen down the overall amount of fighting and thus injuries, I think.


60 posted on 08/23/2015 2:01:27 PM PDT by Cen-Tejas (it's the debt bomb stupid)
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