I made up the idea that subsidizing athletic programs for kids to develop and enhance self esteem, introduce positive role models, and make for a better, more productive and happier adult?

Sorry, I can't take credit for that.

I'm open to suggestions about how to minimize injury and avoid head trauma, but you guys have to cut out the ad hominem attacks. They don't advance the ball at all.

Meh, hasn't stopped me from joining MENSA or getting a doctorate.
you: football costs the high schools a ton
me: they make a ton in ticket revenue to pay the costs
you: Does that make it okay to risk early onset Alzheimers in high school kids

But it is true. Stick him at DE and the linebackers are there to pick up slack. I've never seen a youth QB that can wing a ball far enough to burn a bad FS.

This is youth football coaching 101.

Having played at a very low level, where half the squad don't even have any interest in the NFL/any football at all outside of the league we played in, I can tell you that the vast majority of people will notice when someone on the team screws up, regardless of position. Sure it might be less obvious at a position like DE (not FS though, that's super obvious if you screw up), it's still noticed pretty regularly by people who have virtually no experience watching the game.

I think the obvious solution is to have more schools play rugby. It's cheap, still has an element of violence that helps building camaraderie and requires 15 people on the field at one time so there is plenty of opportunity for participation. One team won't be able to incorporate as many players as a football team but it's a hell of a lot easier to have multiple teams in a school.

Huh? They do have a choice. Suppose I can can choose x, y or z and now you come along and offer me w: (risky football for millions). x, y, z don't magically disappear, you can still choose them.

If someone's sufficiently rational and informed and we observe him do "almost anything" for a certain price, we've good reason to believe he's better off as a result.

I don't care about the physical injuries too much. Breaking bones is not that big of a deal. It's the dementia that frightens me.

lol, awesome argument.

Trying to get back to the main problem. That problem being the fact that football drastically increases the risk of early onset alzheimers.

Plus the ticket thing is a complete non-sequitur. It may apply to your high school, but it does not take a mensa doctorate to understand that you can't apply that to all or even most schools.

Whatever works for you. ****ty players are going to get exposed wherever you put them. Either way, I don't get why this matters in this discussion.

If there is ever a way to test for CTE without an autopsy, football is gone. Finding CTE in dead high school players is sad.

When a 6th grade RB breaks a TD run, which happens like 25% of the plays if you have a stud RB, nobody really thinks that it's Billy's fault since the kid probably zig-zagged through the entire defense and 5 guys probably should have brought him down.

Is there any solution acceptable to you other than "don't play football"?

It is specifically the nature of tackling and blocking at any speed that is causing these injuries?

In your view, does a sport like lacrosse or rugby carry the same risks?

Are there advances in padding technologies that can redistribute force away from the brain or slow deceleration in such a way to make the impact of the brain on the skull less severe?

Is there anything that can be learned from other fields of study or other sports such as auto racing to help reduce the hazards to our kids?

YOU were the one that claimed that schools were spending a ton of money on having football programs. This was your non-sequitur.

It appears to be true in my experience. Football draws by far the most paying fans to games around here and Minnesota isn't exactly a football hot bed. It makes money to pay for the baseball team, track team, even the chess team (I was a high school chess coach)

Aren't we discussing whether the cons of football outweigh the pros?

There might be. I am not a doctor or a scientist or an engineer so it's hard for me to come up with an awesome solution to this problem. If we know nothing more than we know now, and we can't improve the technology then football as we know it should not be allowed in high schools imo.

It's the constant collisions that cause the brain to hit the side of the skull at high speeds. So it's the nature of pretty much every part of the game of football.

Again, I am not a scientist. But I think those sports don't carry the same risks. Both don't have the same type of constant play after play collisions. Remember, the helmet does not actually protect the player from these CTE problems. If anything they make the player more willing to risk their head in a hit. This is not a problem as far as I know if lacrosse or rugby.

I think you would have to put a pad in the player's brain to sofen the blow of the brain against the skull. Don't get me wrong, I wish there was a way. But I just don't think there is one.

Not sure. I am sure the NFL is doing their best to figure this problem out right now. Because if they don't come up with something good, they are doomed. If CTE shows up in run of the mill high school no bodies, then schools will have to pay out big money.

There are large parts of the country that would go into open revolt if football were summarily banned. Literally half of the town or more shows up on Friday night or Saturday afternoon to watch high school football in some towns around here (far northern California/Jefferson State).

They are spending a ton of money. Football is an expensive sport. Someone claimed it was not.

Yes, that's what we are discussing. CTE is a huge con. A death nail in my opinion. It certainly sucks to find this out. It would be nice if there was a cure or a means to prevent it and keep football the way it is. But by all accounts there is not.

I never said it wasn't expensive. I said it was accessible to kids of all socioeconomic backgrounds. You took that to mean I said it wasn't expensive, which is clearly not what I said.

Little googling shows concussions in Rugby are pretty common, maybe not as common as in NFL though.

Understand that its been established that football is way different than the occasional konk to the head in other sports, but felt like sharing my own concussion stories anyway.

I had no idea back then really but now I'm positive I had at least 4 or 5 concussions playing soccer in high school or intramural or rec-league in college.

One time the goalie elbowed me in the forehead as I was going up for the ball and I was knocked out cold for a few secs. Whistle blew, got up quickly in a daze. Smacked into the goalpost because everything was spinning. Was running back to position and coach asked me if I was okay. I was said I was and then he informed me that the field was "that way." Guess I had crossed the sideline or something.

Ran into my own teammate while still dizzy, and then threw up hard after the game.
Probably was pretty funny to watch from the stands.


Another time I had about 7 headballs come my way and the last one from a 60 yard goalie punt left me unable to see out of one eye. I got out of the game. A few hours later I was unable to walk normally, stumbling and weaving like I was an old drunk. I was laughing at myself because I knew what I looked like. It was weird. When I got to work that night I was told that one pupil was huge and the other teeny apparently....and that I clearly had a concussion and it was probably pretty bad. My reaction, "really? This is what a concussion is?"

That was 1991 and I guess I just assumed that a concussion meant you were knocked out cold for more than just a couple seconds or something. That wasn't uncommon thinking then really.

Fair enough. It is an expensive sport. It's only accessible is because of taxes to provide children an opportunity to risk their brains for almost no benefit that they could not get doing something else.

wat

Competitive sports aren't for everyone. Foster your child's strengths.

What is the something else that provides the same benefit? I've taken issue with baseball and basketball for reasons stated above.

Any other sport. Your arguments against other sports was not that great. I bet you can get the same benefit out of soccer, lacrosse, wrestling, gymnastics or whatever. It does not matter.

Soccer is not an option for most of the kids that would end up on the football team's line. I know nothing of lacrosse, you may be right I'll look into it. Wrestling and gymnastics are hardly team sports in the same way that football is.

So because a kid is chubby at age 6 or 8 and would end up on an O-Line means he can't work himself into shape playing soccer?

Of course not, but his parents obviously aren't providing the necessary environment for working a kid into shape to run 5+ miles in a game nonstop either. Kid is at a disadvantage.

That is all well and good unless we are talking about disadvantaged youth who count burglary and grand theft auto among their strengths.

itt crashjr grasps at straws to try and protect the idea of a deeply flawed sport.