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The end of football?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by doctorquant, Feb 14, 2012.

  1. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    Here's a pretty interesting read:

    http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7559458/cte-concussion-crisis-economic-look-end-football

    Seems like lots and lots of things have to fall in just the right place for this scenario (or something similar to it) to unfold. Further, if something like this did happen, I think there'd be a massive move away from sports fanaticism in general, rather than simply a shift toward other sports.
     
  2. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Wasn't this Gladwell's topic in the New Yorker a couple of years ago? I swear I have read a learned piece from a well-regarded outlet with this very theme before.
     
  3. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    Why? Demand for sports content wouldn't go away. I think new and existing sports would fill the void and then some. Nothing is forever.
     
  4. dreunc1542

    dreunc1542 Active Member

    I can't wait until Handball gets its turn as the next big thing!
     
  5. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Ridiculous
     
  6. Gehrig

    Gehrig Active Member

    Armchair_QB telling like it is[cross-thread].
     
  7. We're a long way from the end of football, but we're moving in that direction. And I think that the smart people in the NFL (there are some) realize that, even amid the current financial bonanza they're enjoying.

    What we will probably see in our lifetime is football as a gladiator sport that has two well-defined castes -- one class of spectators/fans and another class of participants/warriors/combatants.

    Wealthy, middle-class white America won't let their kids play football. They'll be directed to sports less likely to cause permanent brain injury. The underclass will see football as a ticket to a college education and riches and continue to play despite the risks.

    The good news is there will continue to be sports writers, who will be able to craft narratives that cast the warriors in heroic terms, a genre for which there will always be a market.
     
  8. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    I think we'll eventually see it disappear from high schools.
     
  9. gravehunter

    gravehunter Member

    Anything but the X Games.
     
  10. Point of Order

    Point of Order Active Member

    Yep
     
  11. Rhody31

    Rhody31 Well-Known Member

    Eventually they'll just eliminate all sports because of the inherent risk of injury.
    People know the risks. No one puts a gun to their head and makes them play. If you play in the NFL, you have to accept the fact that you could possibly not have to worry about money for the rest of your life, which will probably end short and with you not remembering your name.
    Or you could find a regular job and not drive four BMWs.
     
  12. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    Wasn't an earlier version of this article written during the Theodore Roosevelt administration?
     
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