Deion Sanders: Dangerously Ignorant.

Um, so wouldn't banning heading eliminate the number one problem, and most of number two?

 

No, it isn't. But the words had to be added because people get hurt heading the ball when they don't know what they're doing ... same as anyone else trying to do something after a lack of - or just plain poor - training.

 

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

 

No. It is an integral part of the game. Banning heading in soccer would be no different than banning hot water in order to keep coffee from burning people.

Have you ever seen a nicely headed goal off a cross? Ban heading and wannabes everywhere will be trying to finish off runs with bicycle kicks and goodness knows what else. If you think head injuries are an issue now, imagine someone on the pitch getting booted in the head by someone with poor body control after attempting a bicycle kick.

Then, suddenly, those head-to-head issues don't look so bad ...

 

If you want to argue against banning heading, fine.

But, you acted like heading the ball wasn't the cause of head injuries. Well, attempted headings that lead to injuries would end if headings ended.

Heads to posts are also a result of attempted headings. Even head to ground injuries are often due to heading attempts.

 

No, they're not. At all.

It could be a goalkeeper who banged his head trying to make a save near the post. It could be a takedown, one that occurs so quickly as to not give someone a chance to better protect himself. It could be a fall backward in which someone's head hits the pitch, concussing the player.

So, again, it has zero to do with heading the ball.

 

I'm sorry, but you're way off here, Sam.

I've had this discussion with soccer coaches and trainers. There is absolutely a sentiment among people who know more about the sport than either of us that heading the ball is a big part of the problem.

Also, remember, we're seeing more and more evidence that it isn't the big hit that is causing the lasting brain damage. It is many smaller hits that can do the same thing, which is where headers in soccer come in.

 

If they could use their fucking hands, problem solved.

 

Wrong, OOP. Completely wrong.

Did a piece years ago. Talked with, among other people, the CEO of Full90, which produced the headgear introduced to better protect players. The issue was never - before or since - been about heading the ball or heading the ball excessively. It is head-to-head, head-to-post and head-to-ground, all of which have been studied and are much bigger issues than excessively heading the ball.

The man, Jeff Skeen, started the company because of excessive head injuries suffered by his daughter, Lauren. None of them were a result of heading the ball.

The one conclusion that is common with American football: There is no way of knowing unless we monitor a player with a long career who heads the ball, does little else and basically donates his/her brain to science after death.

But to make this about excessively heading the ball is unfounded. Wrong, even.

 

Your one source there is behind the times, then. I've spoken with doctors, trainers and coaches who will tell you that they are coming to realize that repeated blows to the head, even ones that do not immediately cause a concussion, are leading to long-term brain damage. One I spoke with compared it to mileage on a car. Build up enough and things start to break down.

To try to definitively claim that headers are not the issue just demonstrates ignorance on the subject. Next time try to be more on top of things before you try to claim that somebody else is "completely wrong." This is a subject doctors are still learning about. Your guy needs to realize that the assumptions he's basing his work on aren't necessarily true.

 

So Jim Nantz and the American football-industrial complex have us arguing about the much less frequent rate of much less serious injury in girl's soccer? Good work, American football industrial complex!

 

Your giving Jim Nantz too much credit. Go back and look at many of the SJ discussions over the years on this topic. It's always been part of the mix.

Even if headers are an integral part of the game it seems foolish not to consider eliminating them given the high concussion risk.