Posted on 09/23/2017 11:54:16 AM PDT by Olog-hai
A victim himself of the sport, Marc Buoniconti wants youth football banned.
He hasn’t always felt that way. Now, as his Buoniconti Fund and the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis also researches head trauma, the former college linebacker paralyzed from the shoulders down in a game nearly 32 years ago has a different view.
As he has learned more about concussions and has seen his father, Hall of Famer Nick Buoniconti, have significant cognitive issues in recent years, Marc Buoniconti is adamant that children should not play football.
“For me, my opinion has changed 180 degrees,” Buoniconti told The Associated Press. “Years ago I would always tell people that absolutely I will let my son get on the field, play football; I love football. The things you learn at football — the teamwork, the camaraderie, learning how to win, how to lose, the practice, the discipline — everything is so important that you learn in football that you can apply to your life. It was amazing for me what I learned on the football field was so instrumental when I went to the Citadel because of all I had to go through there with all that training and discipline that it really prepared me. But the more I learned about concussion through the research, through the experience of my father, I honestly can no longer tell parents that their loved ones should play football. I just can’t do it in my heart.”
Buoniconti is thinking about calling for a ban on “Little League football” and perhaps extending it through high school. He fears that the hitting inherent in the game is too dangerous for kids, even if no concussions have been sustained. …
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Low IQ’s + tribal mentality = Inner city Blacks
It will never change.
Yes, it's going the way of boxing. Can you name the Heavyweight Champ? I can't. I'll bet most serious sports fans can't. Did you ever think that would happen?
Pretty soon, the NFL fade off the same way.
Remove the hard plastic from the shoulder pads and helmets, thus eliminating the metal reinforced face guards, and the change in hitting will change the risks dramatically.
Besides the usual academic failures of public schools (liberal politics and behaviors), the emphasis on sports has gone way overboard.
The facilities they demand, the latest in uniforms, the travels costs, and the insurance has made the costs of public school insane. (and this is from the dad of two sons that, between them, won three state titles in hs fb, over 15 yrs ago. It was fun, but it was very expensive.)
Over 80yrs ago, my late dad learned teamwork as a first grader in a one room schoolhouse near Corry, Pa: the local farmers would drop off big chunks of trees at the schoolyard. The older boys would split the wood. The smaller boys would stack the wood. And the smallest boys would watch and learn.
Fast forward about 35 yrs later, I’m a teen watching a husky 20 something trying to impress his girlfriend, by trying to ring the bell tower using the big wooden hammer, at the local county fair. He comes close several times. Dad was thin, and fit (most livestock farmers were), dressed in slacks and a dress shirt. He walked up. Took the hammer, and made it look easy: ding ding ding. The husky guy was just befuddled.
Dad had swung an axe so much, and learned the proper technique.
If kids would have to learn the proper technique of tackling without plastic protection, I’m convinced the injuries would drop dramatically.
Getting our ox gored definitely has an influence on our thinking. -Tom
I think everyone knows how that turned out.
Anyone who thinks the Mannings are "metrosexual" or "feminized" is welcome to tell them that to their faces.
Nick Buoniconti, Jim Kick, Larry Czonka.
Back in the day they steam rolled.
fewer whites are going to play....I don’t know how I feel about this because it means our young men are not going to be taught how to be tough.....
I don't think it is going to take that long.
They are already losing their cultural dominance. I don't think they can survive as a boutique sport.
Lacrosse is big for team sports in Colorado. In Valdosta, Ga. they play flag football till about the 8th grade.
I always thought volleyball would become a major sport. It's exciting to watch and anybody can play. But, all I ever see is the beach bimbos. Shows what I know.
Remove the hard plastic from the shoulder pads and helmets, thus eliminating the metal reinforced face guards,
At the beginning of the 20th century there was a move to ban college football. Football changed the rules like outlawing the flying wedge etc. and survived. Football might have to look at big changes to survive.
Yes. When I played in the late 50s, you tackled by putting your shoulder into the runner, ideally around the hips/thighs. Head in front of the runner.
We couldn’t use our hands blocking either.
For me it probably was 1966 or 1967 that I played LL football. Played in junior high & high school, too small & too academic oriented for college. Played rugby in undergrad & grad school and a number of years after for a local club team. I loved rugby still love football but in many ways rugby is the superior and believe it or not safer game.
Agreed. If in doubt just find a world class rugby match. Football when it originated was a simple variation on Rugby. When that got too brutal, American Football added the forward pass, simple padding and leather helmets. Finally the padding permitted a style of tackling & blocking using the head-first approach.
Rugby is the game they need to learn. The mindset of the two games is very different. When I played HS football, the goal was to put the opponent out of the game. In rugby, the goal was to physically intimate the opponent. You wanted the opponent to ‘feel’ the tackle, but not to hurt him. Football was more like ‘gladiator’ games, wearing many pounds of ‘armour’.
In the ‘80s, McGill University hosted a ‘seven-a-side’ rugby tournament in which I played. Carleton U, where I attended, McGill, Queen’s, USMA (aka West Point), RMC Kingston (USMA and RMC often play each other in a number of cross border sporting exhibition events among military cadets) and one other American university team took part.
USMA had absolutely no technique, basically playing American football without pads; they were beaten by every Canadian team, sometimes badly, but won against the other US university team. The few ‘tries’ they scored, were purely the result brute strength and determination rather than skill and finesse.
Rugby, without all the ‘armour’, would likely result in fewer injuries EVENTUALLY. Unfortunately, among the older kids, they would play it like football without pads, at least until a number were hurt badly. Amongst the younger ones who had never worn football ‘armour’, there would likely be fewer serious injuries.
8-year olds. Can you give me a reason it’s a good idea for them to play tackle football?
It’s all about making the hit to get on SportsCenter.
How many people can even name ten current Major League baseball players today?
Yep
In rugby its all about getting control of the ball. So your emphasize is tackling the ball more then a “big hit” on the player. When the knee hits ground you must release the ball, basically its a “controlled fumble”. If the ball is free then play continues, if the ball is contested then a ruck or maul forms. This is a “pushing contest” with very specific rules abut how one gains possession of the ball. I could go on,, but the dog is demanding to go out!
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