Time Magazine Cover Story: Is Football Worth It?

That isn't a reason the pro game is safer. That's a reason it's more dangerous.

Those huge, fast, strong bodies are housing the same brains they always did, and when they collide, the brain slams against the skull with greater force. No equipment prevents that.

 

All you need to do is look at the health issues faced by retirees to understand the physical risks of playing professional football.

 

Baseball is more dangerous than football?

How many pitches are thrown a year and how many hitters actually get hit in the face? Or how many pitchers actually take a line drive to the head? Sure it happens but the chances are minuscule at best.

It's so dangerous that they play almost everyday, take a look at retired ball player and take a look at a retired football player. You tell me who is fairing better. It's a ludicrous statement.

 

I covered Sacred Heart long before it had a football team, and I have long-distant relatives on my mom's side who gave Tipton its name. I don't know how I didn't hear about this kid dying before now.

I agree with those who think an on-field death in the NFL is an eventuality. It's crazy how big players are today, pro and college.

I saw ESPN Classic the other day in a restaurant, and they were showing No. 1 Notre Dame against No. 2 Michigan, and my god, the players were so much smaller then than they are today. It looked like a totally different game than college players are playing today.

 

A kicked soccer ball most certainly can cause a concussion:

And, we don't know the cumulative effect of many sub-concussive blows to the brain.

 

You can't possibly believe that. We haven't even begun to see the effects of widespread use yet.

 

There's little doubt in my mind that many of the risks are overstated.

 

There have been TONS of NASCAR drivers who died as a result of injuries sustained in competition.

 

When Time makes a pronouncement they're usually wrong -- or late. Like when it annointed David Byrne as the new King of All Auteurs for his execrable True Stories, or their fear-mongering cover story on herpes, just as the AIDS epidemic took hold.

 

A University of Georgia player named Von Gammon died in 1897 from head injuries sustained in a game against Virginia. Wasn't on the field according to what I read, but here's the interesting thing: the Georgia legislature passed a bill banning football, but Gammon's mother convinced the governor at the time, William Yates Atkinson, to veto the bill.

 

The NFL has had at least two players die of heart attacks after games, Stan Mauldin of the Cardinals in 1948 and Dave Sparks of the Redskins in 1954.

In the AFL, Howard Glenn of the New York Titans collapsed in the shower after a game in 1960 and died. It was later discovered that he had been playing with a broken neck. Obviously, times were different back then.

 

This is exactly right. In many cases, the ban is not in place due to known side effects. It is there because the drugs have not been tested enough yet. Perhaps they will be proven safe in time, but that has not happened yet.