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I don't know if this has been seriously discussed before, so I'll bring it up here.
We all read the news...it seems like every day another ex football player is blowing his brains out due to CTE. it has now been seen in the brains of deceased high school football players as well. The repercussions of this are slowly but relentlessly playing out...youth football is reporting continuous declines in the numbers of kids signing up, and I don't see this changing but only getting worse as more and more CTE cases pop up in the news. I read an article that said that insurance companies are now refusing to insure youth football games due to the CTE factor. Without insurance, you cant have a football league. This is only going to get worse.
Eventually, the public outcry will either force the game to shut down completely, or change to such a degree that it becomes almost unrecognizable to us today. Here is one idea that may not completely eliminate the CTE factor, but at least drastically reduce it.
Take the helmets off.
It sounds counter intuitive, but it actually works. I grew up playing rugby, another game built on contact and hard hitting. The one thing I as a former rugby player noticed almost immediately while watching my first American football game was the way tackles were made. A lot of leading with the head when initiating contact, almost every time. Whether hitting high or low, the head was right in front. And I'm not talking about those tackles were the guy comes flying in head first, but routine tackles. As we all know, leading with the head means that your head gets the brunt of the hit. Repeat that several times a game, several games a year for a decade or more and say hello CTE.
In rugby, you don't wear a helmet so you learn VERY quickly to NOT lead with your head. As they say, experience is the best teacher. After the first few concussions/broken noses you learn the correct way to tackle post haste. We had an intramural rugby team when I was in college here in the US. We would have American guys try out due to curiosity. We always had to keep smelling salts on hand because we could guarantee that one of these football guys would end up knocked out due to trying to tackle the "football" way.
Removing the helmet, and initiating harsher penalties for aiming at the head/neck region, say an unsportsmanlike penalty, get two in a game and you are ejected. This would do the job of drastically reducing those head shots that do the most damage to the brain. Yet you can still have hard hitting, exciting football that isn't just a touch football game.
The other benefit to the players is that removing the helmet automatically boosts the recognition that they all crave. It was funny I was watching something years ago. A guy claimed to be a big Minnesota Vikings fan. He was taken to a fast food joint where several men worked the counter. Three of the fast food workers were Vikings, including Adrian Peterson (when he was still on the team). The 'fan' didn't recognize any of them. Take of the helmets and their brand recognition goes through the roof. A win win for everyone.
The XFL should adopt no helmets to try to differentiate themselves from the NFL.
Not a bad marketing gimmick, but the problem is that we all know that the NFL is top dog. Where it goes, everyone else will follow. I would guess most, if not all of the players in the XFL want to get to the NFL so it makes little sense to tackle differently if that is not going to work in the NFL. Also if the NFL wants to be taken seriously when it says it has player safety as a top concern then they should take leadership in this.
It's not a bad idea, but it doesn't take away the many subconcussive deceleration hits that happen over and over at the line of scrimmage.
Yes that is true, and I did say that this would not totally eradicate the dangers, but I think that it would reduce the dangers to a low enough level that the public is ok with it. Boxing is a sport has as many if not more issues with CTE and it's still going strong.
Yes that is true, and I did say that this would not totally eradicate the dangers, but I think that it would reduce the dangers to a low enough level that the public is ok with it. Boxing is a sport has as many if not more issues with CTE and it's still going strong.
1. A TON of the football-watching public doesn't believe in or doesn't care about CTE. They don't need to be placated.
2. As of right now, the evidence they have is that the subconcussive hits are the biggest factor, start accumulating at a young age, and progress even if you quit football.
3. Rugby is another sport with high risk of cte. Not to mention an insane rate of spinal injuries. It's not the solution.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by biafra4life
I don't know if this has been seriously discussed before, so I'll bring it up here.
We all read the news...it seems like every day another ex football player is blowing his brains out due to CTE. it has now been seen in the brains of deceased high school football players as well. The repercussions of this are slowly but relentlessly playing out...youth football is reporting continuous declines in the numbers of kids signing up, and I don't see this changing but only getting worse as more and more CTE cases pop up in the news. I read an article that said that insurance companies are now refusing to insure youth football games due to the CTE factor. Without insurance, you cant have a football league. This is only going to get worse.
Eventually, the public outcry will either force the game to shut down completely, or change to such a degree that it becomes almost unrecognizable to us today. Here is one idea that may not completely eliminate the CTE factor, but at least drastically reduce it.
Take the helmets off.
It sounds counter intuitive, but it actually works. I grew up playing rugby, another game built on contact and hard hitting. The one thing I as a former rugby player noticed almost immediately while watching my first American football game was the way tackles were made. A lot of leading with the head when initiating contact, almost every time. Whether hitting high or low, the head was right in front. And I'm not talking about those tackles were the guy comes flying in head first, but routine tackles. As we all know, leading with the head means that your head gets the brunt of the hit. Repeat that several times a game, several games a year for a decade or more and say hello CTE.
In rugby, you don't wear a helmet so you learn VERY quickly to NOT lead with your head. As they say, experience is the best teacher. After the first few concussions/broken noses you learn the correct way to tackle post haste. We had an intramural rugby team when I was in college here in the US. We would have American guys try out due to curiosity. We always had to keep smelling salts on hand because we could guarantee that one of these football guys would end up knocked out due to trying to tackle the "football" way.
Removing the helmet, and initiating harsher penalties for aiming at the head/neck region, say an unsportsmanlike penalty, get two in a game and you are ejected. This would do the job of drastically reducing those head shots that do the most damage to the brain. Yet you can still have hard hitting, exciting football that isn't just a touch football game.
The other benefit to the players is that removing the helmet automatically boosts the recognition that they all crave. It was funny I was watching something years ago. A guy claimed to be a big Minnesota Vikings fan. He was taken to a fast food joint where several men worked the counter. Three of the fast food workers were Vikings, including Adrian Peterson (when he was still on the team). The 'fan' didn't recognize any of them. Take of the helmets and their brand recognition goes through the roof. A win win for everyone.
I love football. What you're describing isn't football. Rugby and Australian Rules Football suck.
Football isn't going anywhere as long as there are billions of profit dollars involved.
We don't "love" the NFL players faces ... we love their play !!!!
Please don't encourage more pussification of America. NFL has become too wimpy already. This is a football forum ... takes this to the political forum where the wimps live.
Public outcry over football injuries?! you're joking right? all the public cares about is being entertained, football doesn't need saving. Most of these players are millionaires after playing just a couple seasons, that alone tells you how profitable it is.
I love football. What you're describing isn't football. Rugby and Australian Rules Football suck.
Football isn't going anywhere as long as there are billions of profit dollars involved.
We don't "love" the NFL players faces ... we love their play !!!!
Please don't encourage more pussification of America. NFL has become too wimpy already. This is a football forum ... takes this to the political forum where the wimps live.
Ah yes, the old head in the sand mentality. Keep telling yourself that.
You do know that at one point fighting to the death was a popular sport for entertainment? Point being that what was once loved, CAN eventually become hated...unless the sport is proactive and takes steps to avoid it.
Football WILL one day either go away or be heavily modified if more players keep blowing their brains out by age 45. And maybe that is what it will take. Maybe one day one of your favorite players takes his life. Or more stories of ex players suffering with CTE. Already legends like Brett Favre, Bo Jackson have said they would not allow their sons to play football.
More and more insurance companies are now refusing to insure youth league football, and it's only going to get worse.
But hey, you're right. Everything is all hunky dory. Keep telling yourself that.
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