IMO, it is taking longer than I though it would to get rid of football.

[CK_John]

A while back I said that football would be gone in 5yr. It's still here but the med evidence is finally making it to the media and I assume it will take another 5 yrs or so.

Study: CTE Found In Nearly All Donated NFL Player Brains

http://www.npr.org/2017/07/25/539198429/study-cte-found-in-nearly-all-donated-nfl-player-brains

[LexVegas]

1. They will likely modify the game to some degree but it will never go away. nt

[greeny2323]

2. Crazy

Sorry, but it was crazy to think football would be gone in 5 years.

The medical impact is important, though. And studies should continue for other sports as well.

[HAB911]

3. Not until idiots without conscience stop pumping money into it

[logosoco]

4. Seems to me when there is money to be made it can be hard to get

folks to do the right thing.

And I guess there are still enough people who like watching people bashing into one another. I never got it myself. I like baseball!

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. I like baseball!

[Kentonio]

5. Need to watch the statistics for kids playing high school football and see if there's any drop

You'd think there would be after news of this spreads, but the sport is so ingrained into America that it'll probably be 20 years before it really declines. You just know the right wing media will push back against the medical experts at some point.

[HAB911]

8. Reminds me of incandescent light bulbs

[surrealAmerican]

7. It's not going away.

Forty years ago, boxing was "going away" for similar reasons - yet it's still here.

Football is too big to fail in this country.

[yallerdawg]

30. Yes.

Now we got UFC and MMA and whatever - just a step away from "bareknuckle."

We may ask - "Are you not entertained?"

[Warren DeMontague]

9. Jesus.

[hexola]

10. I know!

nt

[Weekend Warrior]

11. It will be another five years....

In five years.

"IMO, it is taking longer than I though it would to get rid of football."

That's not an opinion. It's a stated fact.

[Ilsa]

12. Other sports are on the rise in high schools, like Lacrosse, but here's another factor:

Real estate.

Football, lacrosse, soccer, etc, all can share use of the same stadium facilities, for the most part. Baseball and softball and different, though, because of the baseball diamond and cone shape of the stadium. I've heard that Little League baseball is slightly less prevalent because of this. So, football can still share facilities, making it easier to ignore in terms of current costs in high schools.

Football will fall out of favor sooner as more younger parents get on board with the long term health consequences, I think. But it'll take a few more decades. I think the only way to save football is to change the rules and the game somehow. That will be a huge adjustment.

I think what needs to happen is college and pro coaches taking a stand on this, maybe even resigning. Someone like a Nick Saban or Steve Spurrier needs to have a frank talk about not wanting to be a part of a sport that destroys brains in the long run. They will need to start a movement.

[BannonsLiver]

37. Lacrosse will never be a big draw as a spectator sport

[aikoaiko]

13. I predict in 5 years you'll be wrong again.

[BannonsLiver]

38. These posts are aimed at getting at conservatives

There seems to be a belief among some that sports like football are watched exclusively by conservatives. It's not about concussions or brain injuries.

[Orrex]

14. Football isn't going away until universities find another bottomless cash cow to replace it

[CK_John]

15. Or the university is not needed.

[Orrex]

16. Now that's an interesting thought

Universities are likewise a huge cash cow. I'm curious to see how they might be eliminated.

[CK_John]

18. Automation will only need the top 10% graduating from K-12. Therefore

60% of universities will not be needed, let alone a football team.

[Orrex]

19. I'm skeptical

There is an incredibly large cash incentive for keeping universities open. Not small colleges, perhaps, but NCAA competitors, to be sure.

Large private institutions will persist, as will large state schools. Smaller schools will fade away or will partner with other facilities, but they're not beneficiaries of the football cash cow anyway, and they represent a tiny fraction of the overall dollars involved.


And as long as those large universities exist, they will most likely continue to include football.

[CK_John]

21. The medical reports alone open up universities to millions due to court cases for harming the

the student players. Also the up coming students will be more interested in IT than football, a couple of law suits could change the board very quickly.

[Orrex]

27. Nah.

Also the up coming students will be more interested in IT than football,

Yes, schools will undoubtedly pack stadiums and will secure billion-dollar network deals based on their IT curricula.

couple of law suits could change the board very quickly.

Nah. They'll be waivers and liability caps. Also, the long term impact of traumatic brain injury is often not evident until decades later, by which time it is all but impossible to prove that the universities are responsible, especially if a player goes on to the NFL after graduation.

Look, I'm not a particular fan. I went to PSU and lived in State College PA for most of the 90s, and I never watched even 15 seconds of a game. Personally I couldn't care less if the sport as a whole disappeared from the universe tomorrow.


But your projection simply isn't realistic, and I see no credible reason to suppose that football is disappearing any time soon.

[Amishman]

20. Why is it a cash cow? Because it's really really popular

The sport won't go away, kids like to play it and fans like to watch it

What will happen is advances in safety equipment (better helmets and pads) and perhaps a few rules adjustments

[Tommy_Carcetti]

17. Is "football" code for Trump?

Because he's shaped like a football?

[HeartachesNhangovers]

22. College, semi-pro and pro players are adults,

they know the risks and they do this voluntarily. Their bodies, their choice.

However, I don't understand how any parent could allow their child to play football, knowing what we know about brain injury (and other serious injuries!).

If you want to kill football, forget about the NFL - ban it at the high school level.

[CK_John]

31. College players are students even if they are looked on as paid help,

also semi-pro and pro could be protected under the federal agency that covers employees hurt on the job.

Already a pro has announced he his returning to MIT and giving up pro ball due the medical info.

The only money left will be for lawyers.

[HeartachesNhangovers]

35. OK, but now you aren't talking about elimination

anymore. Covering football players under SDI - if that isn't already the case - would just be normalization and setting up the sport for a long, "healthy" future.

[Downtown Hound]

23. Sorry man, but football is a multi-billion dollar per year business that isn't going anywhere. n/t

[CK_John]

32. Money is spongeable.

[Downtown Hound]

41. The game has already seriously tightened the rules

Last edited Thu Aug 3, 2017, 09:07 PM - Edit history (1)

on what types of tackles are allowed. I guarantee you that football will be around for many, many decades to come, and if you think otherwise, you are kidding yourself.

[jmowreader]

24. A few problems with your assessment

The biggest is Americans like everything about football, except the CTE. People like to play it, to watch it, to have it in their schools, and to sponsor it. You may as well say you thought apple pie and American Motherhood would be gone in five years.

Next problem: PLEASE tell me you don't think CTE is restricted to football. Any contact sport - soccer, basketball, hockey, boxing - produces it. I'd like to see some brain scans of tennis players; tennis is definitely a non contact sport, but all the hard running and sudden stops must cause the brain to impact the inside of its case. Football gets all the CTE press, but it's not the only CTE-generating sport.

We can cut down on the CTE without getting rid of football. One of the reasons I like Kam Chancellor (defenseman for the Seattle Seahawks) is the way he tackles - he uses his head by never hitting anyone with it. He hits with his shoulder, with his chest, with crossed arms, just about anything except his head. Kam will retire from football with very little CTE. (His victims will not be so lucky.)

The future of football is making head hits at the high school level too painful to do. Put another ref in the stands with high powered binoculars, and give him complete autonomy to judge head contact.

Team penalties:
First deliberate head hit: game ends and team forfeits
Second hit: additional one game suspension
Third hit: season ends

Individual penaltie, cumulative over four-year career:
First deliberate hit: one game suspension
Second hit: one full season suspension...if a school plays 10 games and Johnny commits spearing in week 7, he can't play until week 8 of next season
Third hit: loss of eligibility to play football in college

[Moostache]

33. I do not believe this is true...

Kam will retire from football with very little CTE. (His victims will not be so lucky.)

The impact to his brain in some of the collisions he instigates are not limited to the person being hit...the hitter takes as big of a jolt - for every ACTION, there is an equal and opposite REACTION - as the hittee.

The only ways to improve any of the safety of football is to eliminate the 3-point stance on the lines (make all players on the line start from a 2 point or standing stance to avoid the launch points and multiple sub-concussive impacts those players endure) AND make ANY impact to a player when leaving your feet an illegal play, with the exception of diving at a players legs to trip them up or tackle them around the ankles.

Diving head first into or over "the pile"? Gone...
Launching yourself at a player like a missile? Gone...
Running Backs launching into defenders is supposed to be illegal, but very rarely is it called that way...

Tackle Football is a different sport than the Impact Football that is currently played. Helmets give a false sense of security because they allow players to do things that would otherwise crack their skulls without fear of that outcome. I am utterly amazed that no one in an NFL game has died on the field yet due to a broken neck.

Bread and Circuses...as old as the Coliseum and just as brutal today as it was in hand-to-hand combat.

The other worrisome thing about that CTE study? The increasing % of the afflicted based on time in the game...NFL players nearly universal, college players with a staggering majority, down to starting to see it in high school players...eliminating youth football is not the answer...eliminating "Impact Football" is the only path forward long term.

[hueymahl]

46. Mostly agree

The game is already evolving to limit impacts. Just this year the NFHS (high school governing body) eliminated the "crack-back" block, e.g., the block where the WR cracks back inside to block the LB who normally does not see it coming. Tackling has already changed, as has rules on leaping, blocking, kick receiving and certain types of tackling. The game is becoming more passing in large part due to these rule changes.

BUT, your last paragraph is completely unfounded. There is zero evidence that pro players suffer CTE "nearly universal". And I have not seen any studies that suggest that college players suffer it any more than the general population. And I have not even seen a sky-is-falling article suggesting that HS players suffer CTE. Even the studies done on pro players only show that some pro players had CTE. There have not been any studies comparing Pro players to the general population (though I concede that some respected scientists are extrapolating from the existing flawed studies that this is likely).

[lpbk2713]

25. The Super Bowl is the biggest money making event in the world.

No one wants to kill that goose and give up all those golden eggs.

[hunter]

26. Football will end when solid diagnostic tools for this kind of injury are developed...

... other than postmortem.

When this happens there will be a flood of lawsuits against high schools, colleges, universities, and pro football.

[JoeStuckInOH]

28. I would probably not vote for any candidate trying to get rid of Football.

And I can't logically reason as to why that's somehow more important to me than other single-issue voter asshats I complain about... So I'll accept it if that makes me a hypocrite. But I would not want High School, College or Professional football eliminated.

[CK_John]

34. I never thought of it as an election issue but that could be a great

election issue for a brave candidate and if it's tied in with proper medical care, parent responsibility, local school board,
school providing up to date equipment, and school processing qualified personnel.

It would also be a perfect way to announce your candidacy and take top of the pack on every local TV/Radio station.

Remember to listen and let everyone vent and ask (often) "how do we protect the children???".

[Cicada]

29. HL Mencken 100 years ago:anyone guilty of golf serves 6 months

Yet we still have golf.

Hard to kill these games, even ones as obviously destructive as football and golf.

But what sane parent will let a child play contact football now? If any team trades on a market, time to short the stock.

[zipplewrath]

36. This problem is bigger than football

This is going to be an issue in all sports with "contact". Hockey, soccer, lacrosse, etc. We are only beginning to understand the damage done by small and large impacts.

[BannonsLiver]

39. Absolutely true and it's not just contact injuries either

We don't get fully understand the relationship between sports that require high levels of aerobic activity and heart problems like cardiomyopathy. There have been a number of high school and college basketball players drop dead in the last several decades.

[hueymahl]

40. In defense of football

First, that study is badly flawed. Each of those brains examined were from people who showed symptoms of mental problems. Kind of like studying 101 people who were bleeding and finding that 99% of them had a cut. So basically, it tells us nothing about the percentage of football players who have CTE nor whether that percentage is higher than the population at large or other athletes.

This article does a pretty good job of describing the flaws: http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2017/07/the_press_is_overhyping_the_latest_study_on_cte_in_the_nfl.html


Second, football is not going anywhere, at least not in our lifetimes, for all the reasons, good and bad, listed by other posters. It will continue to evolve, but it is not going away.

Third, football should not go anywhere. It can always be made safer, just like almost any sport, but it is an incredibly valuable teaching tool. It is simply the greatest team sport ever. No other sport can be played by such a wide variety of body sizes and skill sets. No other sport requires the same coordination of effort among 11 people at the same time. It is a physically and mentally demanding sport that challenges young people to go beyond what they thought they could do (other sports do this too). The life lessons it conveys about teamwork, dedication, and joint responsibility are hard to replicate in other sports (and almost any other activity). Hockey, basketball and soccer comes close, but those sports are reserved for specific body types. The chubby kid in middle school does not have any sports he can excel in except football.

I know this is not a popular opinion right now. But especially for those of you that have never played or coached the game, I encourage you to keep an open mind.

[CK_John]

42. I don't think you understand the cadre of ambulance chasers that

will use this medical info to grind football to a halt.

[obamanut2012]

43. Youth contact football WILL go away

Which will change college ball, and thus the NFL.

[Awsi Dooger]

44. Another brilliant Happy Adjuster assertion

Taking the bias and applying an absurd conclusion.

Why settle for 2% adjustment when we can make it 100% What a party!

Oh how I wish that type made the daily betting lines. I wouldn't have to waste time with index funds.

[CK_John]

45. I don't understand?