rolling American football death spiral thread

If League of Denial is right about microconcussions (aka the accumulation of minor head trauma from regular, normal hits), it could apply to any contact sport. Football is the worst of course because it's so fast and so repetitive.

i think w/football the players have a false sense of security bc of the helmets. they hit hard with the helmets along the line, and they're protected on the outside of the skull but the inside doesn't have that benefit. rugby players get knocked on the head too but they'd be less likely to do it all game long. i think CTE in hockey has been a thing though?

Have each football teams play 3 times a week and see if that helps. And then the NFL would make more money. Win win.

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/page/popwarner/pop-warner-youth-football-participation-drops-nfl-concussion-crisis-seen-causal-factor

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/10/americas-newest-culture-war-football

poor football ;_;

so are countless comment pundits correct? would taking the helmets away from players solve this issue?

it might change certain behavior helpfully, probably mostly for linemen, but you'd be left with some gruesome accidental contact inherent to large fast people running into each other/the ground

we wouldn't have to wonder if we'll ever see a player die during a televised game for much longer

You're not going to change 14+ years of ingrained behavior (any given NFL player has been playing tackle with pads and helmets since he was eight or nine years old) overnight by taking away helmets. Nor are you going to reverse the existence of 320-pound men who can run a 4.6 40 - they didn't exist when football was played with padded leather helmets.

rugby

seems like it wd be easier if u just banned football

u can't ban the nfl; it's a non-profit

so are countless comment pundits correct? would taking the helmets away from players solve this issue?

― Mordy , Monday, December 2, 2013 8:18 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No, its a stupid idea

If the experts cited by Frontline were really onto something, he says, "society would look like Night of the Living Dead."

welllllll

because, as we know, the vast majority of Americans have played in the NFL

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10366514/former-detroit-lions-rb-jahvid-best-suing-nfl-helmet-maker

Not sure if this is going to become anything, but the fact that a 24 year old is suing the NFL over concussions is pretty significant

"society would look like Night of the Living Dead."

I hate to tell you, but...

"would taking the helmets away from players solve this issue?"

I don't think so, the move to helmets and pads really starts as there was quite a few deaths back in the dawn of the sport at the turn of the last century. Teddy Roosevelt being one of the people that led for changes in the game to make it less violent and deadly.

Yet Rugby players don't have this problem in anything the numbers American football players do

They may not have the forward pass but they do have the forward kick in open play

The nature of the scrum and how the ball moves in rugby is pretty different than American football where the game starts from a set every play with active motion behind the line and having the forward pass. From that you don't get as many full speed blind side hits like you do in American football.

NFL changing the rules to emphasize the pass I think has had unintended consequences on these blind side hits, as clubs study each others plays and there are tons of times defensive players look at a setup and know exactly where the ball might go, as so much of modern passing are timing patterns where the QB is just throwing to a certain spot the field. They just basically wait like an assassin for the ball and receiver to get to that point and just totally unload on the offensive player. Those kind of "helmet to helmet" hits are where the NFL football have been trying to make the changes and on plays where the player gets blind sided like getting hit by a truck.

NFL players are just athletic freaks, the range of size and speed of some of these guys at this point is pretty staggering. Even the average college offensive line will have five guys averaging 300 pounds each. Back in the 80s when the Fridge played, he was huge, now he would be just a bit over average and some of these huge men are amazingly fast for their size.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/01/health/jenkins-nfl/index.html?c=homepage-t

Illegalize zone defenses. Massive blow up hits don't happen in man to man

Did Javid best sue cal and the PAC-12 too? The guy was basically a vegetable before he got to the League due to concussions.

yeah the cal play when he got injured was one of the roughest things i've watched

i was watching some episodes of friday night tykes + it's pretty horrifying and I no longer believe organized tackle football should be legal, at least in that age bracket

http://www.theonion.com/articles/totally-irresponsible-parents-remember-to-drop-son,34610/

re: Rugby, I read something that suggested concussions have been under-diagnosed.

Reading and enjoying the fascinating Against Football right now. Paints a good picture of the sport as an exploitative business and a cultural sickness.

a week ago i heard that Seattle won the last Super Bowl, and laughed

people flipped a shit around here that's for sure

when they had a victory parade I think the whole blighted countryside of western Washington crowded into five square blocks

@DennisThePerrin
When I see #NFL fans fight in the stands, I think: 1) Yes, dance to your masters' tune! 2) Why spill a perfectly good $18 lite beer?

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2014/09/nfl_players_life_spans_and_domestic_violence_rates_could_pro_football_actually.html

@DennisThePerrin
When I see #NFL fans fight in the stands, I think: 1) Yes, dance to your masters' tune! 2) Why spill a perfectly good $18 lite beer?

― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, September 24, 2014 3:20 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

When I see "Dennis Perrin" i see a massive pussy

i see a guy who tweets like english is his second or third language.

I never heard of the guy so I tried to research him on the Internet. Unfortunately all that came up is his twitter account. Apparently some non-entity

so you guys could bond over that

Perrin is a pretty big NFL fan

fuck your motherfucking asshole sport btw

stop c+ping his stupid tweets, thanks

cosign

heywood jablome

(good tight end for Notre Dame in the '70s)

no

i can't figure out at this point if morbz posts them bc he legit thinks they're clever/witty and ilx needs to see them, or if he's just trolling us bc he knows no one thinks they're clever or witty.

fuck your motherfucking asshole sport btw

^easy, killer

I used to be able to throw a pretty good American football death spiral. Bad shoulder now.

It's now known as the "Sanchez"

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/13/sports/football/actuarial-reports-in-nfl-concussion-deal-are-released.html

so three HS kids die at/after practice in one week, a couple weeks ago

NYT story about the Tallahassee police cleaning up FSU players' messes was sickmaking

but on it rolls

@DennisThePerrin · 21h
To make this wretched season complete, New England must win. The Patriots deserve to be the NFL's standard bearer. #SuperBowl

@DennisThePerrin · 21h
On a positive note, the NFL had a bad PR year. Nothing that would sink the ship, but you have to start somewhere. #SuperBowl