The NYT War on Football Continues

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The more appropriate response would be that he shouldn't let his very real daughters play soccer. Of course, football still has the highest rate of concussions among youth sports, but girls soccer is No. 2. The rate of concussions is much higher in girls soccer than it is with the boys. (I forget the exact numbers. I'll see if I can find them again.) I'm not sure what the reason is. One theory is that their necks aren't as strong, so they are more prone to whiplash type injuries, which can leads to concussions as well as neck problems.

 

Maybe Obama was just taking a shot at the south and it's favorite pastime:

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2013/01/21/130121taco_talk_packer?mbid=social_tablet_e&pink=4E9TFd

Solidity has always been the South’s strength, and its weakness. The same Southern lock that once held the Democratic Party now divides the Republican Party from the socially liberal, fiscally moderate tendencies of the rest of America. The Southern bloc in the House majority can still prevent the President from enjoying any major legislative achievements, but it has no chance of enacting an agenda, and it’s unlikely to produce a nationally popular figure.

As its political power declines, the South might occupy a place like Scotland’s in the United Kingdom, as a cultural draw for the rest of the country, with a hint of the theme park. Country music and NASCAR remain huge. Alabama teams have won the past four college football titles. After the Crimson Tide’s big win over Notre Dame on January 7th, a Web site called Real Southern Men explained the significance in terms of regional defiance: “Football matters here, because it is symbolic of the fight we all fight. Winning matters here, because it is symbolic of the victories we all seek. Trophies matter here, because they are symbolic of the respect we deserve but so rarely receive.” That defiance is a sure sign, like Governor Rick Perry’s loose talk of Texas seceding, that Southernization has run its course.

 

What complete and utter bullshit.
Chip-on-shoulder, macho redneck mentality all the way.
Pissing contest, penis envy, exclusionary patriotism, etc., etc., etc.

 

Yeah, his imaginary son should play football. That attracts all the imaginary girls.

 

Heck, real football players tend to attract imaginary girls, too.

 

His imaginary son has had a tough year. First he gets shot by a neighborhood watch captain and now this.

 

Yeah, that does seem to be true.

 

Don't worry, he isn't mandating that you develop a conscience and stop enjoying the brutality; just that some people who enjoy football nonetheless are beginning to question the physical toll it takes on athletes who, for the most part, will never make a penny in professional football.

Football didn't die when noted wuss Teddy Roosevelt demanded that the game be reformed in 1905. I'm sure the current governing bodies of football will figure out ways to make the game safer.

 

Get rid of hard helmets and pads, plus require tacklers to wrap their arms around the tackled player.

 

Put gay players on defense.

 

In all seriousness, I would like to see someone in the federal government -- ahem, Rep. Lamar Smith -- put a little bit of public pressure on the NCAA and its almost-nonexistent brain trauma policies the way Congress previously shamed the NFL into doing something, which is better than nothing.

In fact, I wrote about this shortly before Obama's interview was published:

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/40980196