no more nfl within 30 years?

Does anyone need football.

If banning football would save just one life, don't we have to consider it?

 

When the New Confederate States of America start their own nation, football, NASCAR and guns will all central parts of life. Never mind how many people get killed.

Dale Earnhardt dying didn't kill NASCAR.

 

If you outlaw football, only outlaws will play football?

 

Your argument has a real random/ shotgun quality to it.

For the Kramer era does the dementia / CTE number exist? It would be interesting to compare to ordinary citizens to see how much higher it is for NFL players.

 

Robots

 

Too expensive and wasteful.

Now that we have the computing power to build accurate simulations, we just skip ahead to that.

 

You've given me a great idea for a movie treatment, and I'm going to write the bastard.

Just think: the sport of football has grown too dangerous, so we replace the players with robots. We get an ex-player or coach to coach these robots, somebody like Hugh Jackman. And I'll write in a kid role, so it's a father-son movie. Hot damn, I'm about to break into Hollywood, boys!

 

i'm not sure how anybody can look at the nfl today and not see sufficient evidence of head injuries resulting from just-the-way-the-game-is-played everyday to make wholesale changes now. of course, the nfl is looking out for it's own head, too. and that's problem: self-interested organizations of wealth, influence and power have a history of failure when it comes to self correcting.

advancements in helmet technology are great if you're a race-car driver or ski racer or cyclist. for them, helmets offer protection in the event of a crash. but in football, the helmet is the war materiel du jour and a better one only serves to sharpen the sword, not blunt it.

seems clear to me that the "modern game" grew from equipment changes -- from leather lids to hard plastic ones, and on down the line. it made sense at the time -- but football of the olden days was about tackling for control, ala rugby. today it's about deploying projectile missiles at the opponent. i don't blame the nfl for this; it is what it is. but if the projectile missile component of the game is the problem, then ever hardened nose cones, however well they fit or project in science labs, need to be subtracted from the equation.

rugby, for what it's worth, has more problems with spinal cord/neck injuries than football, last time i checked. but it is an awesome game, just as physical as football but with less frequent collision-type hits. and if we're projecting 30 years down the line, a more rugby-like brand of football is the one i see.

 

I'm sure no CTE records exist from the 60s or 70s (and 80s and 90s) because it's only visible in a post-mortem scan. I'm not sure you could even pick the ischemia up in a microscopic section. Might be interesting to go back through and interview the widows and children and see if we could stitch together even an anecdotal record of early-onset dementia in players of prior eras.

I think 30 years from now full-contact football will be like cockfighting. Persistent, but frowned upon.

 

Thanks to Tom Jolly and The NYT

 

Take that facemask off that football helmet and you'll see fewer of those projectile missile type tackles.

 

How could a man named Jolly create so much misery? HOW?