Bob Costas says football is in trouble

[biggunsbob]

Football May 'Collapse like a House of Cards'

http://start.att.net/news/read/arti...lapse_like_a_house-rnewsernor/category/sports

 

[biggunsbob]

I'm of the opinion they are right but I think we are years away from it being gone. I sure know I loved playing HS Football but heck I only played my jv and junior year , and it tore my body up and chewed it out.

 

[Tonyballs2]

It'll never go away IMO. It's the ultimate sport. Do people tealize what it would take to abolish the game? It starts with the kids. No more minor league football. No more highschool. No more college!!! Ya right!! Lol. Never happening...

 

[Mitchrapp]

I'm of the opinion they are right but I think we are years away from it being gone. I sure know I loved playing HS Football but heck I only played my jv and junior year , and it tore my body up and chewed it out.

I played quite a few sports back then.. Less than a year of football, 9th grade JV. I was a wide out - and I got blasted too many times I lost interest. I kept on losing days. Decided to just stick with baseball.. Good glove, no bat. I got hit a few too many times - started getting afraid of the ball. There went my baseball career. Though I was king of wiffle ball in my neighborhood.

 

[dubbsco]

Tony, I wouldn't be so sure man.

No one thought boxing would ever die off. It was one of the world's most popular events damn near the whole 1900s. That was the teflon of the sporting arena, simple, and a huge draw. Now, it's damn near extinct. I realize there are different reasons as to why it's gone so far so fast, but the NFL has a massive problem on their hands.

Information is going to kill the sport. More and more studies come out about how dangerous the damn game is. Youth participation has already taken a serious nosedive, and NFL players are retiring younger and younger. I don't think "football" as we know it will go away, but it's going to look pretty damn different in 25-30 years.

 

[tomdalton22]

If it's true that CTE is directly caused by football injuries I would be happy if it went away. I doubt it happens though. There are too many people that are willing to take the risks. As long as there are players there will be a game.

 

[tomdalton22]

Tony, I wouldn't be so sure man.

No one thought boxing would ever die off. It was one of the world's most popular events damn near the whole 1900s. That was the teflon of the sporting arena, simple, and a huge draw. Now, it's damn near extinct. I realize there are different reasons as to why it's gone so far so fast, but the NFL has a massive problem on their hands.

Information is going to kill the sport. More and more studies come out about how dangerous the damn game is. Youth participation has already taken a serious nosedive, and NFL players are retiring younger and younger. I don't think "football" as we know it will go away, but it's going to look pretty damn different in 25-30 years.

wasn't there a boxing match a few months ago where the boxers made over $100M each? I don't think the sport is "almost extinct"....it just isn't popular anymore.

 

[Mitchrapp]

I agree that it starts with the kids but maybe more info gets out, and mom's makes kids choose something else. I know I wouldn't want my boy playing football. He's 20 now and I'm glad he chose something else.

 

[byco42]

I would not let any son of mine play football today. Thankfully, they only played a few years as it was. HS JV was as far as any of them got.

 

[tomdalton22]

I would not let any son of mine play football today. Thankfully, they only played a few years as it was. HS JV was as far as any of them got.

when I was a teenager (over 30 years ago) my parents wouldn't let me play because of the high risk of injury. They let me play any other sport...just not football. I was really pissed at the time.

 

[Mitchrapp]

when I was a teenager (over 30 years ago) my parents wouldn't let me play because of the high risk of injury. They let me play any other sport...just not football. I was really pissed at the time.

I knew parents that stopped their kids from playing football back then, I think it's happening more now. Boxing is dangerous, Hockey - I was thinking about playing Rugby in college. I had some good size 6'5" but a little thin at the time. I saw the team and they seemed to be all huge, mammoth built like a freaking brick house. It seemed the smart thing to do was pass..

 

[kdp1980]

wasn't there a boxing match a few months ago where the boxers made over $100M each? I don't think the sport is "almost extinct"....it just isn't popular anymore.

Exactly. Boxing just doesn't have the star power it once had, and has a direct competitor in mma, that at times is a much more gruesome/watchable sport. Boxing is nowhere near dead, and has some insanely talented up and comers that could rejuvenate the sport for years to come. Terrence Crawford and Errol Spence are my picks for the future of the sport at this point

 

[tinselwolverine]

What has two legs, three legs, and four legs?

A man, a tripod and a horse.

Sometimes the answer is so obvious that you completely overlook it.

What causes CTE?

Primarily, collisions of massively huge people colliding their heads at astonishingly high rates of speed over and over.

That's why the rates of CTE are up recently as opposed to yesteryear, when players weren't as big or as fast.

Now, what kind of players are players that are giant and fast?

That's simple - the good players.

So simply, just don't let anybody who's good play.

Restrict participation to slow, uncoordinated awkward little runts and nerds and doofuses.

You'll see - CTE rates will plummet.

Also, Costas talks about the talent pool dwindling for the NFL because people aren't starting until they're 18.

That's not really dwindling - it's the same size talent pool. It's just that there's less talented.

But if in the talent pool everybody becomes equally less talented, who's going to be able to observe the difference?

@ 0:24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2Ax5hIxl5g

 

[kdp1980]

Football will be no more or entirely watered down in 10 years imo. It can't survive this, and the danger of the sport cannot be controlled without completely destroying the game. Enjoy it while it lasts is my motto

 

[Tonyballs2]

Tony, I wouldn't be so sure man.

No one thought boxing would ever die off. It was one of the world's most popular events damn near the whole 1900s. That was the teflon of the sporting arena, simple, and a huge draw. Now, it's damn near extinct. I realize there are different reasons as to why it's gone so far so fast, but the NFL has a massive problem on their hands.

Information is going to kill the sport. More and more studies come out about how dangerous the damn game is. Youth participation has already taken a serious nosedive, and NFL players are retiring younger and younger. I don't think "football" as we know it will go away, but it's going to look pretty damn different in 25-30 years.

Different I can agree with. The awareness is out there now and I get it but ya, I can see the game changing. I just can't stand the boxing comparisons because boxing is the most corrupt sport on the planet and always has been. Even though we have some dirty snakes involved in football lol.

 

[Tonyballs2]

If it's true that CTE is directly caused by football injuries I would be happy if it went away. I doubt it happens though. There are too many people that are willing to take the risks. As long as there are players there will be a game.

And there will ALWAYS be players

 

[tinselwolverine]

And there will ALWAYS be players

For real.

Some people will always be willing to do dangerous shit for whatever reason they do them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3AQKc6kRCs

 

[tigermud]

Lot of money to be made if someone can figure out a helmet design that softens the blow enough

 

[tomdalton22]

Lot of money to be made if someone can figure out a helmet design that softens the blow enough

A concussion occurs when the brain hits the skull. There is only about 7mm of fluid between the brain and skull. When the head stops suddenly the brain will keep moving. Even with the cushion of a helmet the brain still bounces around. The helmet you are looking for is impossible to create given the speed of today's athletes. I have read that a helmet only reduces the possibility of a concussion by 20%.

 

[tinselwolverine]

A concussion occurs when the brain hits the skull. There is only about 7mm of fluid between the brain and skull. When the head stops suddenly the brain will keep moving. Even with the cushion of a helmet the brain still bounces around. The helmet you are looking for is impossible to create given the speed of today's athletes. I have read that a helmet only reduces the possibility of a concussion by 20%.

But...

what if we could cybergenetically freeze that fluid inside the skulls of every player just prior to game time, so that when the brain, instead of being free to slide around and collide with the skull, was held in place by its icy shield?

What about THAT?