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Ever wonder if all the men who use "old football injury" as an excuse really played football?
My husband hates sports. And he is as masculine as they come. He just can't stand to see all the rough "playing" and knows sometimes the team mentality can be very detrimental. Neither of our sons are interested in sports either and that is fine by me. Oldest is big into hunting and fishing (he certainly did not get that interest from his Dad) while the youngest one was very big into Scouts and music. Those activites can foster comraderie, self confidence and all levels of skills useful in life. How can learning to mangle and destroy an opponent physically lead to necessary life skills?
I just don't see the appeal. I'll bet alot of men fake it because they think a "real man" has to love sports. And don't even get me started on the womanizing aspect of professional sports!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ever wonder if all the men who use "old football injury" as an excuse really played football?
My husband hates sports. And he is as masculine as they come. He just can't stand to see all the rough "playing" and knows sometimes the team mentality can be very detrimental. Neither of our sons are interested in sports either and that is fine by me. Oldest is big into hunting and fishing (he certainly did not get that interest from his Dad) while the youngest one was very big into Scouts and music. Those activites can foster comraderie, self confidence and all levels of skills useful in life. How can learning to mangle and destroy an opponent physically lead to necessary life skills?
I just don't see the appeal. I'll bet alot of men fake it because they think a "real man" has to love sports. And don't even get me started on the womanizing aspect of professional sports!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree that men do not need to play sports to be masculine. My middle son is very masculine and really doesn't love sports. He plays 3 different instruments and his "team" activity is marching band in the fall and indoor percussion in the winter.
However, none of that means I should say "no football" for my other boys who really enjoy it. Football is a confidence builder for those that are good at it. It isn't the ONLY confidence builder but it does build confidence.
The objective of football is not mangle and destroy an opponent. The objective is to move the football over the goal line to score points.
I truly believe that kids should be allowed to explore whatever interests them. I don't choose my kids activities for them. Whatever they choose is fine with me.
If I had to "prohibit" an acitivity though it would be wrestling. BORING.
Ever wonder if all the men who use "old football injury" as an excuse really played football?
My husband hates sports. And he is as masculine as they come. He just can't stand to see all the rough "playing" and knows sometimes the team mentality can be very detrimental. Neither of our sons are interested in sports either and that is fine by me. Oldest is big into hunting and fishing (he certainly did not get that interest from his Dad) while the youngest one was very big into Scouts and music. Those activites can foster comraderie, self confidence and all levels of skills useful in life. How can learning to mangle and destroy an opponent physically lead to necessary life skills?
I just don't see the appeal. I'll bet alot of men fake it because they think a "real man" has to love sports. And don't even get me started on the womanizing aspect of professional sports!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is nothing wrong with not liking/participating in sports. I don't see where anyone indicated that masculinity was attained only through sports. That doesn't even make any sense - plenty of women enjoy sports also! Of course there are plenty of ways to cultivate the teamwork and cameraderie sports can provide.
I don't know what sport you are talking about however, that teaches kids to "mangle and destroy an opponent physically".....???
As far as "a lot" of men "faking it" (enjoying sports)...well, I'm sure there are a few but having sat through my share of practices I can tell you, I can't imagine sticking with most sports once you reach a certain level of competitiveness unless you are getting some kind of enjoyment out of it. It can be miserable frankly.
Womanizing aspect of professional sports.... Are there womanizers who participate in professional sports? Of course. And politics and movies. Are you going to boycot voting and movies because of that? What about business? The music industry? What about women's professional sports? Are they exempt?
It's ok to not like sports - I don't see anyone saying a person must be "sporty" to be masculine. I have seen several posters however being quite judgemental in the opposite way...Interesting.
This has gotten way off topic. This thread is about not being able to play football because of risk of injury...not my son is just as good as yours but he's not sporty...there is nothing wrong with boys or girls growing up and not wanting to play sports at all.
This has gotten way off topic. This thread is about not being able to play football because of risk of injury...not my son is just as good as yours but he's not sporty...there is nothing wrong with boys or girls growing up and not wanting to play sports at all.
I just don't see the appeal. I'll bet alot of men fake it because they think a "real man" has to love sports. And don't even get me started on the womanizing aspect of professional sports!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We were given tickets to an NBA basketball game... they were really good tickets, we were right on the floor! We were actually kind of excited because it was something we had never done before. So we went with our kids, expecting a fun time.
We left about maybe 45 minutes into the game. The cheerleaders were shaking their butts right in our boys faces. Their boobs were all over the place and we could almost smell their hair extensions and fake nails. The dancing was really gross... my husband was embarrassed, and said he felt like he should have brought money to tip them with... like he was at a strip club or something. We felt embarrassed that we had brought our kids to something like that. It felt really skanky.
Sorry - and this thread has gone off-topic a bit... we're discussing the reasons why we either don't allow our children to play football or in my case, why I'm glad they decided not to or were not interested in playing. It is a rough sport, with a lot of hype and expense, and the values are not always there.
Football - Thats not foot ball. That American game we call Grid Iron where they don sumo suits and crash helmets and bash into each other.
There are those who would suggest that the round ball game is called "foot Ball" but some of us call it soccer. Much less head banging.
Then when you come to Australia, you can have Rugby League, Rugby Union and Aussie Rules. The devotees of each would suggest that their game is the real "Foot Ball".
So yea I agree don't play Grid Iron. Play Foot Ball. <- Smirk I guess
Interesting that you say soccer has less head banging, given that even coaches of really young kids are teaching them to do headers, and once they know how to do it (and don't tell me that a second grader can do it correctly 100% of the time) there's no stopping them, especially the boys. It makes me crazy! Nothing like a concussion to start your Saturday morning. Not to mention the twisted ankles, bruises, and grass burns my kids routinely suffered on the soccer field. The best thing that ever happened in my family was when my daughter gave up soccer and started running cross country. Bonus: less small talk with snotty soccer parents. Now, if I could only get my son to pick another sport.
Boxing is the sport I wouldn't allow my son do for the reasons listed by the OP. I let him play football. Big difference between the two sports for children.
I agree!
We won't have to worry about football in this house, since we have girls (and the local fb coach is a sexist, and the only girls on his field are cheerleaders), but if our son (still born) wanted to play we would have let him.
The one thing I wil not allow is boxing. Too many deaths and serious injury per year. The odds are not in one's favor in that "sport". If my kids want a solo "combat sport", they can do MMA. Much less dangerous, and IMO a great healthy excersise.
If I had to "prohibit" an acitivity though it would be wrestling. BORING.
Boring? How so?
Wrestling is a key fundamental in self defense, MMA (think pro style like UFC), and great for flexability and confidence.
I guess to an onlooker that doesn't understand it well, it would be nothing more than 2 guys rolling around the floor hugging each other; but when you understand the holds, locks, counters, and escapes; it's pretty cool.
We won't have to worry about football in this house, since we have girls (and the local fb coach is a sexist, and the only girls on his field are cheerleaders), but if our son (still born) wanted to play we would have let him.
The one thing I wil not allow is boxing. Too many deaths and serious injury per year. The odds are not in one's favor in that "sport". If my kids want a solo "combat sport", they can do MMA. Much less dangerous, and IMO a great healthy excersise.
How about wrestling? Wrestling is a little boring but a very big confidence builder for wrestlers.
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<- Smirk I guess
