Done with the Steelers

Quote: AZDuffman

I thought of it just before Limbaugh started saying it, time is running out for the NFL. People laugh, but the concussion thing is going to be like boxing was late 1800s, when guys often died after a match. First you will see high schools getting out of football, then more and more colleges. In 20 years it could be down to just the current powerhouses. Or else the contact rules get really tight, call it "tackle-touch" football.

Already, fantasy football is more the thing for the younger set. Unless your team is really in it, that is what is driving the fan base for now. And FF is about OFFENSE! So I predict the defenses will keep getting straightjacketed. Less contact, more offense, more fantasy stats.

http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/the-shady-money-behind-americas-sports-stadiums

The taxpayers will be on the hook for these stadiums and utility's for years, even if they go to touch football, and the owners will still get to keep their tax free millions.

From link: <Over the past 15 years, more than $12 billion in public money has been spent on privately owned stadiums. Between 1991 and 2010, 101 new stadiums were opened across the country; nearly all those projects were funded by taxpayers. " "Stadiums are built with money borrowed today, against public money spent tomorrow, at the expense of taxes that will never be collected.

...." Step one: A down-on-its-luck team is purchased by a group of billionaire investors. Step two: The owners nod to their "moral responsibility" to keep the team in its hometown,while simultaneously lobbying for a new stadium. Step three: The team threatens to abandon its hometown for greener pastures—and newer facilities—in another city. Step four: The threat scares up hundreds of millions of public dollars in stadium financing. Step five: The new stadium opens, boosting the owners' investment,..">

Quote: petroglyph

http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/the-shady-money-behind-americas-sports-stadiums

...." Step one: A down-on-its-luck team is purchased by a group of billionaire investors. Step two: The owners nod to their "moral responsibility" to keep the team in its hometown,while simultaneously lobbying for a new stadium. Step three: The team threatens to abandon its hometown for greener pastures—and newer facilities—in another city. Step four: The threat scares up hundreds of millions of public dollars in stadium financing. Step five: The new stadium opens, boosting the owners' investment,..">

I would love one day for a mayor to say, "Here is my offer of your new stadium. Nothing. Not even the building permit, which you will need to pay for personally."

We all know it will never happen. But think if it did! The team negotiation position with a new city crumbles.

Teams that got new stadiums in the 1990s are already back for more. When do we say, "ENOUGH!"?????

The game is dangerous. There is no argument about that. Safety measures have evolved over time, but truly concussion proof equipment would degrade the speed of players to the point where it would be more comical than exciting to watch (think Sumo Suits). On the other hand, retired players constantly blowing their brains out is not a sparkling legacy for the biggest televised sport in America.

In some sense, Baseball has suffered from the same "safety first" thinking. The U.S. team in the little league world series was adversely affected by the limit on a player's "pitch count" in the recent international championship game. The replacement player who was sent in was a catcher who promptly got shelled. Sad.

Quote: Ayecarumba

The game is dangerous. There is no argument about that. Safety measures have evolved over time, but truly concussion proof equipment would degrade the speed of players to the point where it would be more comical than exciting to watch (think Sumo Suits). On the other hand, retired players constantly blowing their brains out is not a sparkling legacy for the biggest televised sport in America.

The concussion problem is happening because the players have too much equipment, not too little. Players know if you make the hit then it is little chance you get really hurt. Cut back on it and they might slow up quite a bit. Counter intuitive I know.

Being an NFL player cuts your life expectancy something like 15 years or more, and often it is just freak stuff not even related to the game. But this has always been part of the sale, we watch these men because they take risks we will not. That gets respect.

Player hit harder and play faster than years back. If the play matters, people will put it on the line, and damn the future consequences.

Is "concussion syndrome" a problem in other sports with the potential for head impacts, and little or no protective gear? Are retired professional rugby players suffering from early onset dementia, depression, and suicidal tendencies in numbers much higher than the general population? If not, is it because the players are more careful about contact because they don't wear helmets and pads?

Quote: Ayecarumba

Is "concussion syndrome" a problem in other sports with the potential for head impacts, and little or no protective gear? Are retired professional rugby players suffering from early onset dementia, depression, and suicidal tendencies in numbers much higher than the general population? If not, is it because the players are more careful about contact because they don't wear helmets and pads?

I think it can happen, but you don't hit in the same way in rugby, and you don't hit high.

This is good comedy on the wasted tax money on Stadiums

Go Pats!!!

Quote: chickenman

Go Pats!!!

Perhaps I should edit, being the resident gun nut, to clarify that I won't actually kill you.

But I'll f#$%ing kill you =p

Death to Brady!