The End of Football

[creekster]

Funny you should mention that.

There is a reason that the NCAA hasn't sponsored boxing since 1960.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Boxing_Championship

Sure. And the sport endures. The brain trauma is pretty bad. Clearly. But my point is suggesting the 'first salvo'' of asserting football causes brain trauma in 2009 (what would we do without the nyorker?) will result in the end of football is likely premature. Now she did leave an out by saying 'as we know it' or some such. And I suppose that is very likely true. But I've felt that way ever since they outlawed stick'em. Boxing is still with us. Mma is too. Football will be here for a long time. There's a reason Riddell can afford to pay that settlement.

[beefytee]

For the record, I mostly agree with Kay that changes are coming and youth, secondary ed., and collegiate football is probably in danger. I don't think the NFL will go away. I could see football play being banned for people under the age of 18 (or 21 since they can get away with it for alcohol).

[New Mexican Disaster]

The more information that comes about the more difficult it will be to justify the sport. I can see the end on the distant horizon, unless there are safety modifications to equipment that can take away some of the risk. I won't let my kids play it.

[hostile]

The more information that comes about the more difficult it will be to justify the sport. I can see the end on the distant horizon, unless there are safety modifications to equipment that can take away some of the risk. I won't let my kids play it.

I let my son play but it still freaks me out. If he said he didn't want to play I would have no problem with it.

[beefytee]

Sure. And the sport endures. The brain trauma is pretty bad. Clearly. But my point is suggesting the 'first salvo'' of asserting football causes brain trauma in 2009 (what would we do without the nyorker?) will result in the end of football is likely premature. Now she did leave an out by saying 'as we know it' or some such. And I suppose that is very likely true. But I've felt that way ever since they outlawed stick'em. Boxing is still with us. Mma is too. Football will be here for a long time. There's a reason Riddell can afford to pay that settlement.

It's true football has had its issues in the past with deaths and the threat of abolishment and they have adjusted (forward pass anyone?). There is definitely the possibility that they are able to make necessary adjustments again, but I think there is definitely a risk that the sport isn't nimble enough to adjust. There will always be some form of football out there, but there is a sizable risk that it loses the sponsorship of academic institutions and that youth leagues are outlawed or dwindle due to legal risks.

[pellegrino]

Interesting to see the tone of most of the responses so far.

"WTH? Buzzkill.

While you are at it, how about wandering over to those Traeger threads and telling us all about cholesterol and carcinogens in smoked meat."

"Boo. I thought this thread was the end of Katy Lied's football posts."

"Good thing boxing or mma doesn't result in brain trauma or they might already be gone."


No one really addressing the issue or providing any actual rebuttal, just a lot of emotional responses.

IMO, this is a real thing. I'm not convinced football will cease to exist altogether, but the sport as we know it may be gone in 20 years.

I have no rebuttal to KL's articles or the data they present. I think it's pretty much common sense that if you hit your head hard enough and long enough against other humans or solid objects then you're going to come away with brain trauma. That should not be up for debate. The question is whether we will be able to make technological advancements that will allow for safe, violent collisions (wow, that's an oxymoron), whether they will change the rules to make it safer, or whether they will ban football outright.

I think the third option is out of the question. Football had a similar problem about a century ago and it managed to survive. The game is even more firmly entrenched into society now and much more is at stake to really think that they will outright ban the game.

I do not think that technology will work fast enough to significantly prevent injury. Unless they develop some titanium space suit with a force field, but even then there will be issues.

I predict that football will look very different in 20 years. In order to survive the NFL and other leagues will change the rules and begin massive education effort and begin training athletes' about the proper way to tackle and also their attitudes about how to approach the game, thus reducing CTE. Pop warner leagues will come under further scrutiny and in some jurisdictions they will be banned. There will still be an inherent risk that certain people will take, but the number of people playing football will decrease, thus causing the talent pool to shrink and possibly causing the NFL and college football to shrink too.

I don't think any of these changes will happen quickly, simply because there is too much money at stake, but this is the death knell for football as we know it. The game will be forced to change in order to survive.

[Shaka]

I've thought a lot about this. I have no verifiable data other than my own experience as a coach and official who has received concussion training. My experience is that the younger the player the less likely they will have a concussion. As a player's age increases then the chance of a verifiable concussion increases but are still very rare. In my ten years or so as a youth football official I can only think of a handful of times I had to institute the concussion protocol. This includes the oldest youth players in my area who are ninth graders. Even in high school games there were few instances where it became necessary to follow the protocol for concussions. This of course doesn't mean there aren't kids who have concussion problems. Ted's kid obviously has a history which led to retirement. One of my high school teammates was concussion prone and finished by the middle of his junior year. That particular kid played inside backer next to me and was a very hard hitter. His problem was his technique was poor and he led with his head. It wasn't a surprise to anyone that he had concussion issues.

I honestly think that some people are simply more prone than others to suffer concussions and exhibit debilitating symptoms. I've had four concussions that resulted in me being knocked silly or out. One playing soccer, one when an old wooden ladder was dropped on my head, one when I fell off a wall, and one in a car accident. As of now I've had zero lasting effects. Also I'm reasonably sure I did far more damage to my brain heading soccer balls than I ever did playing football.

[beefytee]

Also I'm reasonably sure I did far more damage to my brain heading soccer balls than I ever did playing football.

I saw a report on the local news about the danger of heading soccer balls and there is talk of outlawing it in high school soccer.

I wouldn't be surprised if that went away as well, at least at the youth level.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I don't think any of these changes will happen quickly, simply because there is too much money at stake, but this is the death knell for football as we know it. The game will be forced to change in order to survive.

Indeed. No more leather helmets without any kind of protection for the face.

[pellegrino]

Indeed. No more leather helmets without any kind of protection for the face.

were it that simple of a comparison.

[Shaka]

There has been some interesting changes to helmet design in the last ten years which I think have made a small difference. I think were are going to see some really off the wall designs in the next several years. I'd wager some of these will also include messing with the shape of the shell similar to what happened with hockey goalie helmets and hockey goalie style helmets for baseball catchers and umpires.

[Joe Public]

A book by Mark Fainaru Wada and Steve Fainaru called League of Denial is released in October 2013. This book documents efforts by the NFL to deny claims of CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.



http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/97...-espn-magazine

PBS put together a Frontline special with these guys:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...gue-of-denial/

I saw most of the first hour on TV the other night. One could draw some parallels between how the NFL responded to the deceased Steeler brain research in Pittsburgh and the current Incognito/Martin developments.

[Jeff Lebowski]

were it that simple of a comparison.

I would say that there have been substantial changes to helmets, pads, etc. over the years. But I don't see anyone claiming that it was "the end of football". Sure there will be an ongoing series of tweaks and adjustments to equipment and rules, but to say that football will be killed off in 20 years strikes me as nutty hyperbole.

[YOhio]

I have no rebuttal to KL's articles or the data they present. I think it's pretty much common sense that if you hit your head hard enough and long enough against other humans or solid objects then you're going to come away with brain trauma.

This is where I think most people stand. Did anyone think the game was safe? Are these stories and findings really that much of a surprise to anyone?

[Omaha 680]

I saw a report on the local news about the danger of heading soccer balls and there is talk of outlawing it in high school soccer.

I wouldn't be surprised if that went away as well, at least at the youth level.

I read a study that you have to be heading the ball with the frequency of professional players before it can begin to be a risk. As in hundreds of times over the course of one season. Which brings me to my question for those that are afraid to let their kids play football: there has always been risk of serious injury in football, but doens't all the data coming out suggest that it is the repetitive subconcussive blows over many years that lead to CTE? It is my understanding that NFL players are experiencing CTE because they spent decades getting subconcussive and concussive blows on a regular basis. Are there any documented cases of someone who just played to a through high school developing CTE, or through college for that matter?