Posted on 02/15/2012 5:36:05 AM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
If the sport of football ever dies, it will die from the outside in. -- Jonah Lehrer
If an increasing number of economists and trend analysts are to be believed, we may one day look back at something like Colt McCoy's concussion against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2011 as one of many galvanic events that blew football apart, and reduced the country's most popular sport to a marginal pastime. It's unlikely that such a colossal financial concern as football could be killed off entirely, but as Malcolm Gladwell first wrote in the New Yorker in 2009, it's not crazy to think that an increasing number of player concussions -- and the NFL's real lack of concern about those injuries despite its public face -- could have Americans looking at football very differently down the road.
Gladwell's article, which compared football to dogfighting and revealed some truly horrifying information about the effects of concussions on the minds and bodies of football players...
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
Amen that. I’m with you on the pitchers’ duals - a good low-scoring game is like a true thriller - lots of of tension. Or to quote Willie Wonka quoting Oscar Wilde: “The suspense in unbearable — I hope it lasts.”
I think fans of any fringe sport, be it Soccer, or NASCAR or UFC, take that kind of attitude...as if they feel like they have to defend their choice of which sport they follow.
Hockey did reduce the size of pads that goal keepers can wear a couple of years ago. The size and increased understanding of weight training and so on has changed the very essence of some of these sports, which makes it hard to know how to tweak the rules without ruining the original intent of the game.
A ten foot basket means something totally different than it did 50 years ago. Same with the size of hockey nets. Same with a 100 yard field. Always a balancing act.
Yes you are right, but the “odor” of the NASCAR fan would be totally different than the “odor” of the soccer fan. The NASCAR fan would be more like the Wal Mart shopper than the Prius driver as an analogy. A writer could have fun with either - and it would not necessarily mean an attack on the sport per se.
I believe the average score is higher than it was 10, 20, or 30 years ago. It's been a low scoring game for as long as I've been a fan, yet the average scoring is higher now than ever.
Its an exciting game, physical, tough, highly skilled athletes playing at inconceivable speeds on a hard surface. Something for everyone, plus it happens to be the most exciting sport to watch live, at the arena.
Btw, the Red Wings are amazing, and have been for over 15 years: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/detroit-red-wings-hit-21-straight-home-wins-034152724.html;_ylt=AtbJXwgn5YjlyuD5VjBPvQ17vLYF
I find women’s curling more entertaining.
No shoulder pads, fantastic conditioning, minimal headgear (protecting against cauliflower ears,) and plenty of violence.
The injuries are considerably less because one can't run at 100% into the body of an opponent without reciprocal injury.
My Dad told me about a game he went to back at the old Olympia against the Canadiens.....it was scoreless until the fifth overtime, when finally Rocket Richard ended it.
“In 50 years, the “National Football League” in the USA may be playing what most of us call soccer today.”
Naw, the NFL will be playing flag football, co-ed.
-—The injuries are considerably less because one can’t run at 100% into the body of an opponent without reciprocal injury.——
Makes sense. The only problem I can see is a vulnerable receiver getting “pin-wheeled” and landing on his head.
“... the fact that mothers will NOT let their sons play football if they believe the risk of harm is too great”.
Perhaps with some Moms... the type that force their little boys to play with dolls and wear a sweater in July. NOT this Mom! My son plays high school football and I have seen firsthand the benefits: physical fitness, male bonding, working together as a team, and that translates into focus in grades. I think “football” Moms may be a different breed... do we pray and hope no child gets injured? Yes. However, we are also the first ones cheering a good “hit” and a good play. Football doesn’t worry me much... that fact that he will be driving soon has me TERRIFIED!
It won’t get outlawed, it’ll just run out of players. Given the information we have today on concussions, their frequency in football and their lifetime effects, good parents are already starting to keep their kids away from youth football. If they aren’t playing football in high school and before they won’t in college and probably won’t wind up in the pros. And because the game has never taken off internationally there won’t be that influx of players.
As a Carolina Hurricanes’ season tix holder, I too love hockey. I do believe the NHL improved the game a few years ago when they loosened up the offside rule by widening the blue line and only calling offsides when it impacts the offensive flow of the game. Big improvement.
The international game, with wider rinks, does not suffer from the congestion the NHL game does, because the NHL game is made for rinks that can be put in multi use basketball arena’s which shrinks the ice by definition.
One key difference in hockey and soccer is the the offsides rule in soccer is a penalty for actually beating a person deep. You get penalized for doing what you should do. The offsides in hockey is for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and has nothing to do with the position of the other team’s players. That’s a huge difference for rules that have the same name and somewhat of the same intent.
As for its popularity: if it was a tad more high scoring - and more games were televised in hi def so you can follow the puck - it would be more popular than it is now.
It’s a bruise on the brain, that recent studies have shown always lead to some level of permanent damage.
My dad was a star high school football player back in the 1940s. They wore leather helmets. He played all out and was knocked totally unconscious more than once and suffered other concussions. Once he continued playing the whole game and had no memory of it the next day.
He went on to get his Ph.D. in anatomy and taught at the medical school for many years. In his late 50s he had an episode of total memory loss where he did not know my mother’s name or how to get home from work. He recovered from that quickly and was fine for several more years. Then he had several more of these episodes in his 60s and began a long steady decline into dementia. He died in 2009 at the age of 81.
I don’t know if there is a connection, but...there it is for what it’s worth.
I cannot stand watching movies and tv dramas where a blow to the head is portrayed as a harmless temporary anesthetic.
Yeah, that's where a DVR comes in handy to pause it to go grab another beer. :-)
But, 45 minute non-stop halves without annoying commercials is a good thing.
Were you there during the Cup series between Carolina and the Wings? I recall watching (before DVR's) a triple overtime game played down there.
We were at the over flow big screen outside the arena for game 3 - which determined the cup winner probably. My family had such a great time I convinced them to get season tix starting 04. That day was probably the best day of tailgating in NHL history. All the Detroit folks teasing Mayberry about their hockey team, and the Canes fans playing right along by dressing up as Andy and Barney and offering the Wings fans barbecue and so on all day long outside the arena. Most fun day ever in Raleigh I think.
Was there for game 7 Finals in 2006 too. Neighbor of coach Lavoilette in fact at the time. Amazing atmosphere. I ended up near the cup like 5 times in 7 days.
Caniac’s are a fun group, the only thing Dukies, Tar Heels and Wolfpackers agree on down here.
Now there is UFC. It is a lot more brutal than boxing. They have old matches on SPIKE TV to generate interest and name recognition, and I find it about 100 times more interesting than boxing to watch.
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