The end of football?

Exactly right. Folks complaining about football getting soft began moaning in 1905.

Football will adapt as we learn about CTE and other problems caused by players as young as 6 or 7 banging heads on every play. If it doesn't adapt, then good riddance.

 

Forget concussions. Youth football is a cesspool of insane coaches and people angling to steal money from the league/team coffers. Also there's no good reason to play tackle football before the age of 12.

 

Too simplistic and all-consuming.

There are plenty of good experiences in midget football and plenty of good coaches. You hear about the bad ones. Just like Little League.

 

Speaking of the football changing in response to injuries, here's the fantastic Clark Booth piece from Super Bowl X.

http://nocera.blogs.nytimes.com/death-and-football-by-clark-booth/

 

At the risk of being self-promotional, two pieces to chew on:

http://bit.ly/x9t7Oh

http://stonephillipsreports.com/2012/01/hard-hits-hard-numbers/

The Phillips report in particular deserves more attention. Small sample size, but still - very interesting.

I have a lot more thoughts on this - particularly on the cultural aspects of youth football, high school in particular - but would like to see where others take it.

 

Don't have time right now to read the first one fully, but I read a bunch of it, and it's well done.

I really think this is going to be a fascinating story to watch play out over the next decade. We're just scratching the surface of where it's going to go.

 

Mark my words: Football will be extinct within 50 years because of the fools who started this concussion baloney.
Or it will resemble something like the sad current state of boxing.
The lawyers are starting to dig in now so there is no stopping this train.
The do-gooders will only have to look in the mirror to see who's to blame.

 

No joke. I get the impression youth leagues would die around here if it weren't for moms trying to become league treasurer to support their gambling habits.

 

By "fools" that started "concussion baloney" do you mean the NFL that began taking this seriously two years ago? Do you mean the doctors who studied Chris Henry, who was killed, then autopsied and determined to have had a brain that looked like an 80-year-old with dementia even though he'd never been diagnosed with a concussion? Do you mean anyone who considers writing something other than "had his bell rung" to describe a player who gets a concussion? Do tell.

 

I'm sort of mystified by all of the "football will never fade!" posts, and suggestions that we would somehow lose our "national spirit," whatever that is.

Just look at history. Not long ago, the big three were baseball, boxing and horse racing.

These things change. Even absent the concussion issue, there's no particular reason to think football would remain dominant. Tastes change over time. Add the concussions, and there are all kinds of reasons to think it could have a future like boxing.

 

Wuss!

 

Hey, we've all been pussies since Tlatchtli was the major sport.



Knock the 10 pound ball through the hole with your hip. Loser gets decapitated.

Aztecs probably thought that would never die. The wussification of Mesoamerica!