Eigth grade. Small town 1970's. Practice field didn't have a lot of grass on it. Like playing on concrete. In practice got undercut while leaping for a catch and landed on my head. I was knocked cold for around 3 minutes they said. Came to and the coach was asking me how many fingers he was holding up. That was the extent of my evaluation.
I noticed I had blood on my ear pad inside the helmet. Always wondered about that. But guess what? Out on the field practicing the next day.
How far have we really come in recognition and diagnosis? Maybe progress at the high school, collegiate and professional level, but you have to question some of the concussion protocols to be quite honest. We have all seen players get knocked silly but go right back out in the same game. And without mentioning names, we have seen some of our own Hawkeyes get knocked silly only to play the following week. Because they have cleared "concussion protocol". To me this just defies common sense. We now know you are at greater risk of subsequent concussions, especially if rushed back too soon.
So people bitch and moan about rules changes with the goal of making the game safer, but there will be a need to be make even more changes IMO or the game simply won't survive as we know it.
I really question how much safer the game is at the younger levels. I attended a jr high game a few years back and a young man clearly got his bell rung on a kickoff coverage. He was on the end of the field, but closest to his own bench. The play ended up on the opposite side of the field and no one paid attention to him as he stayed kneeling for around 30 seconds. Finally a teammate from his bench walked out and helped him to the end of their bench. There was no medical staff on site and ZERO coaches ever checked on him. He later went back in.
Now how many times does this happen throughout the country any given day? How many games at that level are required to be medically staffed?
And finally, is there really any benefit in having 5
-year olds playing tackle football? A lot of denial still out there IMO.