Destroying Football: The Left's Endgame

AT ^ | 8-9-13 | Timothy Birdnow

[Dysart]

The latest fad among football sportswriters and commentators seems to involve crowing about head injuries and long-term health effects from playing football.

BREAK

All this teaches a lesson to the children: private, individual action is dangerous and should be avoided. Life must be lived within the guardrails, carefully planned and safeguarded by society.

Even more distressing to the left is that sports started as a means of training for soldiers. That is why football is so appealing to America; it is a he-man sport, a vestige of the old America, where an association of free men stand together in battle. Yes, team effort is required, but there is also plenty of room for heroics, and the individual may make a huge difference.

But at football's core is a physicality bordering on violence, and to the left, that is anathema -- an atavistic impulse that must be squeezed out of our children.

So instead of a healthy game of tackle football at recess, liberals substitute Ritalin and maybe a good heated game of tag.

Consider the war against dodgeball. Progressives fret that it is traumatizing children and have been systematically banning the game. Why? Nobody ever gets hurt from dodgeball, but Progressive educators still want it gone. That is because of the actual acts performed in the game: one physically tries to hit another. The goal of the left has been to make physical aggression taboo; thus, dodgeball, which teaches children to be physically aggressive, must go.

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[j_tull]

Too late. I am going to try very hard to avoid the NFL this season. The thuggery and the new “no loweing your head before contact” rule change will put the outcome of games more completely in the hands of the officials, thus completing the leagues morph in the the NBA.

[gdani]

I find soccer and hockey to be boring. Sure, there's a lot of moving around, but hardly any scoring--zero-zero ties are not uncommon in soccer.

I barely watch soccer but also don't mind low-scoring games in soccer, hockey or baseball.

A lot of football games would/could in in scores like 2-1 if TDs were not inflated to 6 points. And don't get me started on the non-sensical PAT/extra point.

[USS Johnston]

"Breast Cancer Awareness": Just an excuse to feminize sports.

[Jay Redhawk]

I predict that by the year 2025 the NFL will feature gay men playing powder puff football. All uniforms will consist of only the colors of the rainbow, and America’s team will the Dallas Kittens.

[dfwgator]

I think they should change the rule, so that if you score on the two-point conversion, you get the ball back. It beats the onside kick.

[dfwgator]

I predict that by the year 2025 the NFL will feature gay men playing powder puff football.

That post gets "two snaps and your backfield in motion."

[Jay Redhawk]

LOL! That is the future!

[RayChuang88]

I think the biggest fear in the NFL is that a prominent player will get killed during the game. If that happens, the fallout will be so gigantic that we could actually see the beginning of the decline of American football as more and more mothers refuse to let children play football because of this potential bad precedent--and that will quickly reduce its popularity at the high school and college levels.

This may be the very opening that could result in soccer--like it or not!--to become much more prominent in the American sports scene. With the increasing influence of the Latino community (just about all of whom are diehard soccer fans), the fact a college soccer program is very cheap to run (no need for expensive protective gear) and the fact today's American football stadiums only need minor changes to have a FIFA-certified soccer field, you'll see within the next 15 years a huge surge in popularity of the sport.

Indeed, why do you think the American sports networks are bidding top dollar for soccer broadcasts. Comcast getting the English Premier League to be broadcast on NBC and NBC Sports Channel wasn't a cheap buy, considering that this is easily the most recognized soccer league in the world.

[Fiji Hill]

In 1971, Chuck Hughes, who played for the Detroit Lions died of a heart attack during the game in between plays. In baseball, beanballs have caused severe and permanent injury to several players and the death of Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians.

[Fiji Hill]

It is unnecessarily complicated to those with no football knowledge. The "tuck" rule, safeties, pass interference penalties when a player is looking back at the ball vs. when he is not, onside kicks, illegal motion penalties, etc, etc, etc.

Trying to explain football to a German--in German--is a formidable task.

[dfwgator]

Growing up as a Lions fan, I remember that day.

[Fiji Hill]

If you’re a Lions fan, you probably remember Bill Munson. He was one of my father’s students at Pioneer High School in Whittier, Calif.

[Common Sense 101]

Ad hominem attacks? Hardly, more like sarcastic retorts.

Exactly how does better equipment result in increasing injuries? Cite your source for this assertion.

As far as increased injuries... anecdotal evidence at best. At my son's high school the injuries are much lower than in previous years, despite my son breaking his leg last year... as a center. The school also has started taking baseline brain scans starting with the freshman as extra precaution.

To be blunt... I believe the injuries and the need for making the "big hit" started with Jack Tatum of the Raiders. Shortly thereafter, every DB and LB was looking to make the biggest hit to get on the "highlight reel"; the problem is most of those were (and are) on defenseless players coming across the middle or on peel back blocks. That, and the fact that the kids are bigger and faster today making the game much more physical... though I'm guessing most of the players of the 1960's era would argue differently.

[nascarnation]

Good comments.
Energy is proportional to velocity squared.
And collisions are definitely at higher speeds.

On a related note, “crazy engineer” Bill Simpson, a guy who has developed a lot of the safety innovations in motor sports, has come up with a new helmet that so far is having excellent results.

http://sghelmets.com/sg-helmets/

[RayChuang88]

But note the death happened NOT because of the effects of the physical impact of the play. As such, this is why the NFL has drastically changed its rules to better protect the quarterback, because if we ever get a situation where a top-flight quarterback is maimed or killed from severe physical contact during a play, the fallout will be GIGANTIC, to say the least.