99% have CTE. Football will be gone in 10 years. I'm serious.

[MelroseHawkins]

I actually think there may be an evolution of the game with severe rules for safety, almost turning into a flag football kind of game. Maybe less players on the field. I don't know, but I don't think it will ever go away completely, just evolve into something with less contact, especially upper body.

 

[Joshbrown]

It was the costas quote which prompted the bump.
The smart responders figured that out.
Creepy narcissists tend to only read their own alert.


































Reeling in multiple creepers with a single post was just a bonus.

 

[Fryowa]

Tough to say about Costas, but to be fair we didn't have the information until now.

I think boxing is a good comparison. For curiosity sake, I would like to see what the participation numbers look like in that sport once Ali started showing serious signs of decline. I looked up the current heavyweight title holders in boxing - I had never heard of a single guy. 20 to 30 years ago I probably could have told you the title holder and all of the top contenders.

Boxing is dead. The only people who do it are either stupid or underprivileged and feel it's their only ticket in life, which is unfortunate.

What blows my mind is that Freddie Roach, who admits he turned into a babbling, twitching invalid because of boxing, is training Geroges St. Pierre to come back to fight. Totally irresponsible, especially coming from the poster child (other than Ali) of why boxing is a seriously bad idea.

St. Pierre also told everyone after his last fight that he couldn't string thoughts together, had headaches, and would start randomly crying out of nowhere, and couldn't even remember his fight enough to comment on it. I saw him in an interview recently with Sports Illustrated and he appeared to have his shit mostly together, why he'd go back and take another chance at being Georges Roach is beyond me.

 

[Fryowa]

It was the costas quote which prompted the bump.
The smart responders figured that out.
Creepy narcissists tend to only read their own alert.
Reeling in multiple creepers with a single post was just a bonus.

Odd that you tell everyone I'm blocked but you keep reading and responding to me. So you either lied about it at the time or couldn't resist it. Which one?

 

[Joshbrown]

ROTFLMAO

 

[homes]

Tough to say about Costas, but to be fair we didn't have the information until now.

I think boxing is a good comparison. For curiosity sake, I would like to see what the participation numbers look like in that sport once Ali started showing serious signs of decline. I looked up the current heavyweight title holders in boxing - I had never heard of a single guy. 20 to 30 years ago I probably could have told you the title holder and all of the top contenders.

There are elements of football that do not exist in boxing. Also, I think boxing became less important when athletes started to make bundles of money in team sports. More money and more opportunities to make that money emerged. If football salaries stayed at the same rate as every other occupation (such that guys had to work in the off season), I believe that there would be more guys in boxing chasing the type of money that once was just in boxing. But once guys started making millions playing football (and you didn't even need to be the best like you did in boxing), pursuing a career in boxing became unnecessary. It's a market driven response, not a head injury risk response I believe. Further to my point, the best boxers now are the lower weight categories - could that be because they're not big enough to play football, so they don't have the same access to the big money that an NFL career provides the larger men? Plus, don't forget the rise in the popularity of MMA. Economics and a new (arguably more violent) contest have caused boxing to diminish in popularity. Economics is the primary driver in my opinion. Take away football, and I bet that boxing would see a rise in popularity.

 

[Joshbrown]

There are elements of football that do not exist in boxing. Also, I think boxing became less important when athletes started to make bundles of money in team sports. More money and more opportunities to make that money emerged. If football salaries stayed at the same rate as every other occupation (such that guys had to work in the off season), I believe that there would be more guys in boxing chasing the type of money that once was just in boxing. But once guys started making millions playing football (and you didn't even need to be the best like you did in boxing), pursuing a career in boxing became unnecessary. It's a market driven response, not a head injury risk response I believe. Further to my point, the best boxers now are the lower weight categories - could that be because they're not big enough to play football, so they don't have the same access to the big money that an NFL career provides the larger men? Plus, don't forget the rise in the popularity of MMA. Economics and a new (arguably more violent) contest have caused boxing to diminish in popularity. Economics is the primary driver in my opinion. Take away football, and I bet that boxing would see a rise in popularity.

To add to this
UFC octagon-type stuff has exploded since the days of Ali.
X-games as well.
Some people are wired for physical risk.

 

[homes]

I agree with most of the sentiment here, however I don't know if I hope like heck football doesn't go away. I can't shake a certain sense of guilt in knowing what the physical toll these guys are put through. Yeah, they know what they are getting into... eventually. I don't think middle school kids or younger can properly gauge what they are putting their body through. I did extremely demanding construction work when I was younger, and yeah I thought I knew the cost. Now I'm 36 and I'm in constant pain. I don't know if I would have done it in hindsight.



I looked it up. School has an enrollment of 1,385 9-12. They have 12 kids out for freshman football. I was in a class of 200 and we had like 70 kids out for freshman football.

It's a choice. No one should be condemned for the choice they make. And, to me, no one should feel guilty for the choice someone else made. What would be worse is if someone took away my right to make that choice. But, that's me.

 

[Fryowa]

ROTFLMAO

A meme and an 8th grade girl acronym. I'm impressed. Now you can answer the question maybe?

 

[Joshbrown]

It's a choice. No one should be condemned for the choice they make. And, to me, no one should feel guilty for the choice someone else made. What would be worse is if someone took away my right to make that choice. But, that's me.

This is key.
The definition of freedom is the right to take the risks an individual wishes to take. Whether they be financial; physical or (in da case of DaCreeper) emotional.

 

[Fryowa]

This is key.
The definition of freedom is the right to take the risks an individual wishes to take. Whether they be financial; physical or (in da case of DaCreeper) emotional.

I dare you to post without mentioning me. I don't think you can do it. You're like John Hinckley stalking.

 

[ChosenChildren]

Some observations:

1. Impose a weight limit of 225 pounds on players and make them play both ways.
2. Reduce the games to 10 per season.
3. Shorten the games to 12 minute quarters.
4. Give the players soft leather helmets or no helmets at all. I'm serious about this. The helmet is the issue.
5. Ban artificial turf. Go back to soft, grassy fields.
6. In other words, make the game more like rugby.

The game right now is simply too fast and the collisions are too great. Make it more of a contact sport rather than a collision sport. People need to wake up. These are young men that need to be protected. The game can change and still be entertaining.

 

[ChosenChildren]

another option...don't laugh: Allow blocking but no tackling. In other words, it is flag football. People would still watch. It would be a great sport. Lacrosse is great, and has a lot of contact, but there is no tackling.

 

[HawkGold]

I dare you to post without mentioning me. I don't think you can do it. You're like John Hinckley stalking.

Then he might come my way. I like it the way it is.

 

[BryceC]

It's a choice. No one should be condemned for the choice they make. And, to me, no one should feel guilty for the choice someone else made. What would be worse is if someone took away my right to make that choice. But, that's me.

This is key.
The definition of freedom is the right to take the risks an individual wishes to take. Whether they be financial; physical or (in da case of DaCreeper) emotional.

I agree 100%. However, my point is that young males are not good at assessing risk. This is an indisputable fact. I highly doubt Zach Easter would have made the same choice in hindsight.

 

[HomerChampless]

One thing missing, a control. What's the incidence of CTE in other athletes? or non-athletes? Lower, no doubt...but good science always has a control. I've read that soccer players also have pretty frequent CTE, so "non-contact" soccer isn't necessarily the answer either.

The irony is that better safety gear (primarily the helmet) has led to more violent collisions...and likely more CTE.

Soccer has the highest incidence of head trauma of any sport, I've heard. No one that I know of is demanding an end to soccer soon...Maybe head butting will be outlawed altogether.

I guess there'll be a political need to squelch contact football. Those politics are already in place.

 

[HawkGold]

Soccer has the highest incidence of head trauma of any sport, I've heard. No one that I know of is demanding an end to soccer soon...Maybe head butting will be outlawed altogether.

I guess there'll be a political need to squelch contact football. Those politics are already in place.

Soccer can easily be adapted and not change the game much. Not so with football. The political need is going to mostly be about youth and hs football which will change the NFL game.

 

[BryceC]

Soccer has the highest incidence of head trauma of any sport, I've heard. No one that I know of is demanding an end to soccer soon...Maybe head butting will be outlawed altogether.

I guess there'll be a political need to squelch contact football. Those politics are already in place.

1. You'd be wrong. It's football by a mile. However it's definitely the highest among women's sports.

2. There is a lot of talk of removing headers, and the league my kid is involved in doesn't allow them.

 

[Robowe]

This article is 4 years old, and the stats are from 2009, but it's really eye opening.

https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013...m-cycling-is-the-top-sport-for-head-injuries/