seeing how whole 8th grade team is now kneeling, maybe it's time
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 ...
Anybody else here play Pop Warner?
It is very amusing watching the NFL implode.
It is being attacked on all fronts. And they don’t have a clue why.
Less youths that play the sport today means less NFL fans 20 years from now, if the NFL is still around.
Trump should pull their “legal” monopoly and make it illegal to use taxpayer monies to build stadiums for private teams.
Ban American youth football? My wife says yes. I prefer we make it safer, reasonable steps, as we cannot ban the sport. Boycott NFL? Absolutely. Boycott NFL advertisers? Sure.
Well at least one of their knees will be well protected.
seeing how whole 8th grade team is now kneeling, maybe it's time
They don’t need to ban it. Its dying a slow painful death as it is. Except for maybe the South West, the rest of the States are seeing a huge decline in participation. And they should! By the time these kids are old enough to play football, they’re useless fat slugs who would probably die of a heart attack on the first scrimmage.
Time for what? Time to ban the kneeling, yes.
Yes I can put my finger nearly on the date in my town’s LL Football when they changed how they taught blocking & tackling. The previous season it was tackle and block with the shoulder, any helmet contact was incidental. The next season lead with the helmet. All get neck rolls and now the Helmut is your weapon of choice for blocking and tackling. Shoulder contact was now incidental. I remember my father muttering to himself, that’s crazy kids will get hurt. I don’t remember any one who actually did get hurt but not only were the kids small but so were the numbers. By the time I got to high school it clearly was the coached technique. You did hear of the odd head & neck injury but it was uncommon.
The man will be 77 in December.
While the NFL dithers doing nothing to reverse a 2-year viewership decline, the termites are destroying the sport’s very foundations. There wot be an NFL as we knew it in 15 years. In many ways it has already begun passing from the American Scene.
Yes and I wouldn't trade the memories for anything.
I did.
If they ban youth football, then they should ban youth soccer, as heading the ball at that age is a danger as well.
Trump’s son could be next top footballer coming out of the States after joining MLS side D.C. United
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3588094/posts
My son did, and he was an overweight 11 year old who begged me to let him play.
He got into shape, and was enthusiastic. It made a world of difference in his life.
8 year olds, not eight grade. Brain washed Negroes be keepin’ it real.
An orchestrated decline which was in all liklihood begun with hussein threatening the leagues anti-trust status at about the same time the media began whipping up the concussion meme.
Suck one, I played midget league football, had my share of concussions over the years. 20 something, playing no holds barred real football, no pads, tackle, knock down down drag out. I’m still kicking.What a bunch of wusses.
You can play youth soccer (sort of) without heading the ball. Pro football is groping for ways to outlaw certain forms of contact. They’re even talking about limiting the kicking game. That’s like taking putting out of PGA Golf.
even worse... professional victims at 8, wonderful
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