Also when you have beta male dads and moms ( along with Barky) saying they don’t want their boys playing football. That attitude really hurts long term.
You might be correct on that the “effeminate “ male attitude of modern suburbs might have something to do with it. Good point.
I am not sure how that plays out exactly though. From what I see the less masculine guys are ejected from the home via divorce. What families remain the father tends to be a pretty male and the wife pretty female. In any case those men ejected from the home no longer watch games on Monday night or Sunday night like they used to, so the sons are not exposed to it.
Not sure how to quantify it though. I think that would fall under the 11~12 % who turned off prior to the entire refusing to stand mess.
Well, I suppose I might fail your macho standards, but at my age I find myself less interested (not uninterested, just less so) than in the past.When my brother passed on in his late seventies, the death certificate listed a HS football injury as the cause of death. Long story short, if you knew the background you would not trouble to argue with that diagnosis. After the season of that accident, I never considered playing HS football again - and no one ever asked why. People would have asked why I was allowed to (which I wouldn’t have been). I’ve heard of mothers weeping and imploring their sons not to risk it because of that incident.
And there was a guy on that team who was so prone to concussions that they were considered routine. Knowing what we know now, you won’t be surprised to learn that he had brain problems as an adult.
Life happens; by the time he died my brother had survived more than a few of his classmates. You pays you money and you takes you choice. My son didn’t ask me for permission to play, either. But then, he was a lot slighter physically during HS than he is now . . .