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NFL players from the 1960-1970s were fortunate if they ever made anything approaching $100k/season ( hence the proliferation of off-season jobs), and most played for much less than that..
Excellent point and the tale of many great players from that era is even more tragic than what has happened to the current players. There are/were Hall of Famers living in broken down trailers suffering from brain trauma related issues with barely a penny to their name. These were the guys who built the sport into what it is, but earned very little for doing so and were forgotten.
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Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey
They don't pay taxes either , and they milk billions a year out of tax payers....
NFL teams are among some of the best economic activity generating businesses in many cities. The teams pay taxes and plenty of them. They also don't "milk" billions out of taxpayers. In general taxpayers help fund major stadium construction to defray the cost. The city then earns lease revenue off of the team and other events in a complete win-win. No city has ever regretted having a NFL franchise.
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Originally Posted by NJ Brazen_3133
The whole point of football is to get the hand egg into the endzone without getting tackled. If you cant do it and are worried about head injury, dont play.
Do you really believe anyone even a doctor when they tell you, that it is okay to get your "bell rung"? I would call that doctor out for bull****ting right there. Hire a lawyer and sue. If it is uncomfortable the first time, doing it over and over again is never good. You dont need a doctor's advice for that.
Are these guys even suing the team doctors too?
I played college football from 1998-2002 at a D1 school. The "bell rung" mentality was very much alive and well. It wasn't that people didn't know it wasn't great for them it's that the entire organizations including the medical staffs were saying players were fine when they weren't. The NFL allowed a culture to exist where concussions and other brain injuries were swept aside and/or ignored in a systemic manner despite the fact they had extensive information about them. The NFL and the teams had a duty to do everything they could to protect the players and they didn't.
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Originally Posted by johnfrisco
Great point now, but who would want to play in the NFL knowing you have a strong possibility of virtually being brain dead by age 50?
It's not just NFL: What parent would let their kids play football today? #1 Knowing the risks; #2) One can argue they are at even greater risks since their brains are still developing.
I know there is know way of banning Professional Football---it's like fighting the tobacco companies and NRA at once.
Plus it is the most popular sport in the US. It's a tough situation.
There are plenty of people who would line up to play in the NFL knowing the risks. Youth football is a whole other issue. My son would play football in a heart beat if I let him, but I won't let him, he's too young, IMO. It's ridiculous that they start tackling as young as 5 and play in age and weight brackets so you can have something like a 50 pound 9 year old squaring up with a 95 pound 9 year old. IMO, football is one of those sports where you don't need to play it as a kid in order to make the high school team and have a chance to go to college and beyond. With that said though, all sports carry risks. The concussion risk in hockey (both street and ice) is just as high as it is in football (some studies say higher). Even baseball has a much higher incidence of concussion and head trauma than people realize despite being considered "safe". Ultimately the problem with youth football is that there is no way to actually play real football with little kids without taking unnecessary risks.
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Originally Posted by EBWick
If CTE (the brain trauma found in many dead NFLers who suffered concussions) is diagnosed with ex-players who only played youth or HS football, the sport as we know it is over. The youth numbers have been dropping in many parts of the country.
Youth football programs have been under siege for several reasons:
1. People do feel it is risky for kids to play and as a former college player I agree with them. Many of my reasons are laid out above.
2. Kids have a lot more options these days when it comes to picking a sport. Many of the traditional sports are losing players to emerging sports. For example, Little League baseball is facing a ton of pressure from lacrosse.
3. Kids tend to now specialize in one or two sports and play them year round. Soccer, baseball, lacrosse, swimming, etc. are all now year round sports for kids. My son is a very competitive baseball player and literally plays year round.
4. Most people recognize that unlike skill/experience sports like baseball, basketball, hockey, lacrosse, soccer, etc. football is something that you can start playing later in life (high school) without it really impacting your ability to succeed at it. You'd be amazed the number of D1 college and pro players that never played youth football. This is an odd phenomenon among sports as usually your better players started playing as kids. For instance it's probably impossible to find a pro hockey player that hasn't been playing since they were three or four.
By the time they make it into the NFL they know the risks well. Few refuse to enter the league.
As far as older players not living well, some do and some don't. I've known a lot of the older players through my wife's former job. Some pissed it away. Some never made big salaries in the first place. Got to know John Unitas who survived by attending the autograph sessions. When the games over they have no career to fall back on in many cases.
Long term injuries in the joints is much more common then the brain. In Europe they play games just as rough or rougher with much less protection then the NFL requires.
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I've heard NFLers say they wouldn't let their kids play the sport
And many do. Finding second and third generation players is not hard.
Excellent point and the tale of many great players from that era is even more tragic than what has happened to the current players. There are/were Hall of Famers living in broken down trailers suffering from brain trauma related issues with barely a penny to their name. These were the guys who built the sport into what it is, but earned very little for doing so and were forgotten.
There are plenty of people who would line up to play in the NFL knowing the risks. Youth football is a whole other issue. My son would play football in a heart beat if I let him, but I won't let him, he's too young, IMO. It's ridiculous that they start tackling as young as 5 and play in age and weight brackets so you can have something like a 50 pound 9 year old squaring up with a 95 pound 9 year old. IMO, football is one of those sports where you don't need to play it as a kid in order to make the high school team and have a chance to go to college and beyond. With that said though, all sports carry risks. The concussion risk in hockey (both street and ice) is just as high as it is in football (some studies say higher). Even baseball has a much higher incidence of concussion and head trauma than people realize despite being considered "safe". Ultimately the problem with youth football is that there is no way to actually play real football with little kids without taking unnecessary risks.
Baseball, lol
In baseball you have a higher risk of getting mouth cancer from all the tobacco they chew because the players are bored as heck standing there like zombies
I've heard NFLers say they wouldn't let their kids play the sport. That is damning.
What many of them say is that they wouldn't let their kids play as children. Meaning, they wouldn't send their kid out to play Pop Warner. I know plenty of people who played college, some people who went pro and quite a few coaches at various levels. Pretty much all of them share the belief that playing full-on tackle at such young ages is foolish. Especially when you consider the fact that the game is heavily modified and very, very little of youth football experience translates to high school and beyond.
My son (almost 9) has been begging to try football, but I won't let him play. I may consider it when he is around 12 if he seems to have an aptitude for a skills position, but more likely he will never play until high school. I have a few reasons, but primary is that youth coaches are simply volunteers with very little experience dealing with and identifying injuries. They also tend to be willing to take risks and may not really be able to properly teach the skills to play the game safely. Most importantly among those skills many can't teach is proper tackling form. There are pro and college players who can't tackle right to reduce the risk of injury and we expect 5 year olds to do it? Finally is the fact that the benefits simply don't outweigh the risks. Playing youth football simply doesn't translate to higher levels of the game. You can walk on the field as a freshman in high school and beat out kids who have been playing since they were 5 because you have the right physical development and raw talent. I've seen it happen many times.
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Originally Posted by rscalzo
By the time they make it into the NFL they know the risks well. Few refuse to enter the league.
As far as older players not living well, some do and some don't. I've known a lot of the older players through my wife's former job. Some pissed it away. Some never made big salaries in the first place. Got to know John Unitas who survived by attending the autograph sessions. When the games over they have no career to fall back on in many cases.
Long term injuries in the joints is much more common then the brain. In Europe they play games just as rough or rougher with much less protection then the NFL requires.
And many do. Finding second and third generation players is not hard.
Joint issues were something that everyone accepted as part of the risks. Having your brain turn to jello wasn't really considered a major concern for a long time. While some players threw their money away and others never made it, I do think the NFL has a responsibility to former players in the form of a pension/stipend and/or healthcare.
There are plenty of pros who now have kids in the league. Again, it's not football the game most are concerned with as it is having young kids play.
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Originally Posted by johnfrisco
Baseball, lol
In baseball you have a higher risk of getting mouth cancer from all the tobacco they chew because the players are bored as heck standing there like zombies
Well, I was talking about youth sports, not pro. Youth baseball has a much higher injury incident rate then people think. As for the game in general, not really my personal favorite, but I enjoy watching my son play and helping coach his teams. Baseball takes on a different dimension when you have something invested in it. It took me until my son became obsessed with it to really "get" the game.
I think the settlement amount of $765million to be paid over 20 yrs is very low, it will be shared amount 18000 retired NFL player. This is from a business that makes over 9.5B a year. It is downright insulting, but that is just my opinion.
If these numbers are true, simple math says its only 42k per person. In the grand scheme of things that's nothing.
I played DT, OG, in HS for Elizabeth (89-93) and left RU football due to financial reasons my first year. We all played with injuries. There were a number of us that went back into the game when we knew we should probably sit out at least one more. Unless it stopped us from playing, we brassed up and kept it moving. I had 4 concussions in HS and one during practice at RU. I've had a knee hyper extended, shoulder dislocated, bones in my hand broken so bad I still cannot make the number 3 (touching thumb to pinky) on my right hand, and a herniated lower back disk that also still gives me issues. Even with my issues, I wouldn't have traded those years for anything.
If it weren't for dropping out of college I would have LOVED an opportunity to play for the NFL, though, I never considered myself anything but mediocre.
If my boys ever want to play in HS I completely and whole heartedly will support them. Though, given their pensions for sitting on their butts doing nothing but playing video games and watching youtube videos, Id be thrilled with them playing ANY sport.
i dont see why the nfl should be in any way liable for the future health of the players.
Because they knew the risks and what impact these injuries had on player's futures, yet they kept silent for the big $$$
The NFL is 100% negligent and got off easy. It's the lawyers who will be raking in most of the settlement money.
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