NFL losing fans

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January 4th, 2018 at 12:56:48 PM permalink
terapined
Member since: Aug 6, 2014
Threads: 73
Posts: 11786
Quote: kenarman
Yeah there are no shots to the head by the big guys sharpened elbows in the NBA. No balls to the head or catchers putting a shoulder into a head in baseball. Lots of head shots in any sport. I will grant you that football is probably the worst for CTE but it is not unique. Every watch a downhill skier crash? How about a car race crash of any of it's multiple flavors.


Elbow to the head in basketball, happens occasionally.
I played a ton of street basketball as a kid, never got an elbow to the head and believe me, we fouled. The rule, no blood no foul. Yet head shots were rare
I played baseball
I got hit by a pitch but it was body
Again, I personally played a ton of baseball and never got a head shot
I also played a ton of football. Every single play my helmet was getting hit. Every single play in practice, day after day then we had the game
My personal experience, practice was a lot worse. It was daily with constant hits to my helmet again and again and again during practice, day after day
Sometimes we live no particular way but our own - Grateful Dead "Eyes of the World"
January 4th, 2018 at 1:17:03 PM permalink
kenarman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 14
Posts: 4470
Quote: terapined
Elbow to the head in basketball, happens occasionally.
I played a ton of street basketball as a kid, never got an elbow to the head and believe me, we fouled. The rule, no blood no foul. Yet head shots were rare
I played baseball
I got hit by a pitch but it was body
Again, I personally played a ton of baseball and never got a head shot
I also played a ton of football. Every single play my helmet was getting hit. Every single play in practice, day after day then we had the game
My personal experience, practice was a lot worse. It was daily with constant hits to my helmet again and again and again during practice, day after day


I guess you led a charmed life teranpined. The quote below from ESPN is 4 years old and was only the beginning of the NBA taking action.

"Watch NBA basketball, and it’s only a matter of time before you see someone take a hard blow to the head. Pau Gasol and Anthony Davis have suffered high-profile concussions this season, but they represent a tiny fraction of the instances when heads are rattled by hitting elbows, knees or the floor. Even more common are whacks to the face, temple, top of the head and back of the head on what are usually considered "good, clean basketball plays." In basketball, blows to the head are nothing like as common as in football, but they are a regular part of play nonetheless."

I'm sure I could find sources for baseball concussions as well. I had my "bell rung" three times playing friggin fun ball for 20 years, those would probably be recognized as mild concussions now. I haven't even mentioned my Canadian sport of hockey which is probably almost as bad as the NFL.

Bottom line is any sport has risks. Do we want to ban everything? Sort of like the old joke I am sure you are familiar with "Safety Meeting - Nobody works, nobody gets hurt"
"but if you make yourselves sheep, the wolves will eat you." Benjamin Franklin
January 4th, 2018 at 1:31:54 PM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Quote: terapined
I used to be a huge football fan
until
CTE
I now feel sorry for all football players pro or college
I watch very little football due to CTE


That's where I'm at, too.

I'm reminded of the Romans. They enjoyed "sports" where people got killed, on purpose, fighting wild animals or other people. They also liked to see animals killing each other. You sometimes hear these referred to as "blood sports."

We tend to look back on them and feel smug in our superiority. But we have "sports" like boxing, where the objective is to give the other man a concussion, or bullfighting, where the purpose is to taunt and torture an animal to death. Not to mention less mainstream pursuits like cockfights and dog fighting.

Football is a very physical sport, naturally, but also highly cerebral. There's much in the way of tactics, strategy, misdirection and planning involved. It's a pity players get debilitating, lifelong injuries to their minds as well as bodies. Granted the dangers of CTE were not recognized or understood for years, but when the matter was brought to the attention of the league, the NFL tried to make it go away.

We don't watch football to see players get hurt. But many watch to see players get hit. I used to take the hitting and violence as an inevitable part of the game, but it's getting harder to just ignore it, or pretend it's not so bad.

That said, there's much we don't know about CTE. While many players are affected, many are not (at least not in serious ways). The emerging consensus is that it's caused not by some big hits, but by the cumulative effects of many smaller hits. It may be some type of people are more affected, leading to the disparity in outcomes, or it may be some type of people heal from brain lesions while others do not. In any case, the NFL is not the place to test such things by experiment.

The CTE problem can be fixed, but it would require such extensive rule changes, as to render Football a very different game. Given that the rather small, in comparison, changes of recent years were not well received by fans, the prospect of making the changes needed is almost non-existent.

One way or another, football will decline and disappear within the next two decades or so.
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
January 4th, 2018 at 4:16:13 PM permalink
terapined
Member since: Aug 6, 2014
Threads: 73
Posts: 11786
Quote: kenarman

"Watch NBA basketball, and it’s only a matter of time before you see someone take a hard blow to the head.

I had my "bell rung" three times playing friggin fun ball for 20 years, those would probably be recognized as mild concussions now. I haven't even mentioned my Canadian sport of hockey which is probably almost as bad as the NFL.


Absolutely pro basketball can get rough
The diff
Its not every single paly that a head gets hit and when it happens, one guy is getting the blow
3 times in 20 years in baseball for you. That rare. That means it averaged 7 years between getting a bell rung
In football, its every single play with multiple players getting hit in the head. Every play. Multiple players on every single play. No doubt hockey is right up there for CTE
Here is the problem. Helmets don't protect you from CTE.

To me CTE is scary
Brett Farve cant remember jack
Your mind and your memories make you who you are. Its part of being human, your memories
I cannot imagine a life without memory
Sometimes we live no particular way but our own - Grateful Dead "Eyes of the World"
January 4th, 2018 at 5:28:35 PM permalink
kenarman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 14
Posts: 4470
You are absolutely right about the helmets not helping. It is the collision inside your head that causes the damage. That is why rugby with minimum helmets is safer than football. The players don't have a weapon on their head and a feeling of invincibility.
"but if you make yourselves sheep, the wolves will eat you." Benjamin Franklin
January 4th, 2018 at 9:00:52 PM permalink
Fleastiff
Member since: Oct 27, 2012
Threads: 62
Posts: 7831
Quote: kenarman
You are absolutely right about the helmets not helping. It is the collision inside your head that causes the damage. That is why rugby with minimum helmets is safer than football. The players don't have a weapon on their head and a feeling of invincibility.
I think this is the same argument about Boxing Gloves. London P:rize Ring Rules were safer than Marquis of Queensberry Rules.

Life is not a cocoon but neither is it a gladiator pit.

Except as we make it so for the economic benefit of those who own the gladiators and own the stadium .... or the broadcasting rights.
January 7th, 2018 at 7:29:26 AM permalink
SOOPOO
Member since: Feb 19, 2014
Threads: 22
Posts: 4157
I believe adults with proper information should be able to make their own decisions. My dilemma is should High School football be banned? And as far as head injuries, watch Bull Riding.......
January 7th, 2018 at 7:49:01 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: SOOPOO
I believe adults with proper information should be able to make their own decisions. My dilemma is should High School football be banned? And as far as head injuries, watch Bull Riding.......


H.S. football is already starting a slow decline. I can see some pols trying to ban it in some places, but not others. In some places to suggest banning it would be to say "DON'T ELECT ME!" Do expect to see it fall out of favor in wealthier, white districts. Some places might have to resort to six-man football, but eventually some schools will find it so hard to field teams they will end it.

The momentum for NFL and football decline has started.
The President is a fink.
January 7th, 2018 at 8:22:35 AM permalink
kenarman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 14
Posts: 4470
I wonder how far away autonomous robot football is if we no longer want to field humans?
"but if you make yourselves sheep, the wolves will eat you." Benjamin Franklin
January 7th, 2018 at 1:56:04 PM permalink
TominNV
Member since: Dec 3, 2017
Threads: 0
Posts: 15
Quote: kenarman
"Watch NBA basketball, and it’s only a matter of time before you see someone take a hard blow to the head. Pau Gasol and Anthony Davis have suffered high-profile concussions this season, but they represent a tiny fraction of the instances when heads are rattled by hitting elbows, knees or the floor. Even more common are whacks to the face, temple, top of the head and back of the head on what are usually considered "good, clean basketball plays." In basketball, blows to the head are nothing like as common as in football, but they are a regular part of play nonetheless."


So even the article citing brutality in basketball admits that dangerous hits are still less common than football. The problem with the viciousness of football is multi-faceted. And concussions are only one part. The other issue is the high amount of non-concussive hits that can hurt the brain. In an NBA game everyone agrees it takes time until we see a hard blow to the head. In an NFL (and college and high school) it happens to multiple players on the field every single play. The other issue is the force behind each hit. NBA players are skinny and aren't targeting each other. NFL players are among the most powerful men in the world and turn their bodies into weapons used to attack the opponent every single play. Another problem isn't just with head and brain injuries, but joints too. Plenty of other sports are hard on joints, but it is much more common for a form NFL player have difficulties even walking in their 50s because of damaged knees.
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