I came to that conclusion years ago (and I was born and raised a Steeler fan in the outskirts of Pittsburgh).
My beliefs were reinforced when I recently read this book...
Posted on 10/18/2010 10:35:15 AM PDT by Mind Freed
NEW YORK -- The NFL could soon start suspending players for dangerous helmet-to-helment hits, vice president of football operations Ray Anderson told The Associated Press on Monday.
A day after several scary collisions in Sunday's games, Anderson acknowledged the league might need to do more than fining players to prevent such hits. "There's strong testimonial for looking readily at evaluating discipline, especially in the areas of egregious and elevated dangerous hits," he said in a phone interview. "Going forward there are certain hits that occurred that will be more susceptible to suspension. There are some that could bring suspensions for what are flagrant and egregious situations."
Anderson said the NFL could make changes in its approach immediately, with Commissioner Roger Goodell having the final say. League officials will consult with the union, but he didn't expect any opposition.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.espn.go.com ...
Quickly now, name me more than two NFL players that have been seriously injured and had to retire as a result of head to head hits in the millions of hits recorded in say, the last 40 years? Helmet manufacturers do a great job of protecting these players. Too good of a job if you ask me. The protection afforded these athletes with modern equipment has cut down tremendously on the relative minor injuries that would have stopped a less cocooned athlete.As illogical as it sounds, it is time to start stripping off some of these layers so we can be protecting the players more.
There seems to be a body of medical research suggesting that beyond some fairly small minimum, all the protective gear is counterproductive. It minimizes spilt blood, mashed ears, and broken noses ... but maximizes brain trauma, internal organ bruising, and joint damage.
So, yes: Get rid of the heavy body armour, lose the boxing gloves. Let's hear it for smashmouth football and bare-knuckle boxing!
That hit on Desean Jackson didn’t look dirty at all. In fact,it definitely looked like a classic Ronnie Lott type hit. This is the NFL, once they start watering down the rules we may as well just watch tennis or golf.
In the NFL, market size (AKA: the number of TV viewers) rules!
The Lions are hampered by a weak market but their worst enemy is their owners.
And, yes, i’m a Lions fan.
I came to that conclusion years ago (and I was born and raised a Steeler fan in the outskirts of Pittsburgh).
My beliefs were reinforced when I recently read this book...
Can't argue that...to be that pathetic, for that long, one would almost have to pay their players to be doormats...
...Mr. Ford would never.....
....ah....ummm....
.....nah!
In the case quoting facts you state that the hits are legal and in your OPINION the hits are UNACCEPTABLE.
It's easy to see why you are a buckeye/browns fan.
Go over to namby pamby land and take the tissues with you.
Watch soccer, no pads, no hitting, no scoring, no nuttin'.
The only thing that's allowed to hit the head is the ball, but that might not be acceptable to you.
it will change the game and the liberals will cheer.
Look up the (business) term, “Loss Leader”. I think the Lions are used as an example in the definition.
No one past the age of 10 years or 95 pounds can play football.
No scoring, everybody wins.
Fining players is not going to work. How many Defensive ends would pay $5,000 to pile drive Tom Brady into the ground to get him out of the game? Answer: 62; all but the two who start for New England.
I think if head to head contact is initiated on a defenseless player, the player initiating the contact should be ejected from the current game and suspended for the next week. The referee can stop play and go to the replay booth if there is question.
We need the star players to make the show what it is.
I find myself watching far less professional sports...just not that entertaining anymore.
Started following NASCAR a few years back...that too is becoming a predictable, over-commercialized script.
Guess there's always the World Poker Tour...or not.
Saw that Lingerie League for the first time this weekend, those gals were doing some hitting! Plus, playing in bikini’s and shoulder pads, basically. Highly entertaining, to say the least.
Troy Aikman and Steve Young both retired due to concussions. That’s my “quick 2 seconds of thinking” list. There have been many many guys taken out by head injuries. Some of what happens in a collision a helmet can’t do anything about, concussions happen because the brain hits the skull, a lot of what determines how likely that is to happen is the person’s brain stem, some appear to be longer and more flexible than most.
But what really scared everybody was the Chris Henry autopsy. Chris never missed a game due to concussion, not in the NFL not in college, he had no reported head injuries, yet when they cut him open and examined his brain they found massive tissue damage and evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. He was 26 years old and had the brain damage level of somebody in their 80s.
Admittedly, the book is not as well documented as I wish it had been, but then again, the only way to substantiate some of the things he wrote about would probably be by subpoena. A lot of sports journalists vehemently objected to his allegations, which in my mind, is simply another indicator of their complicity :-)
Thank you for your kind comments.
As John Madden famously said,”You have to remember there are THREE teams on the field.” by which he reminds us that there are way too many of biased referees in the NFL.
And some refs are simply afraid to call fouls on certain teams.
My mistake then. ESPN said it was helmet-to-helmet.
He hit the guy in the chest with his shoulder, which is completely legal and the play tackles the receiver which is what the defense is trying to do.
Letting a pitcher hit a guy in the head doesnt help the team pitching, so what would be the point?
And how is it unsportsmanlike to hit a crossing WR in the chest with your shoulder?
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