Vicious hits in CF..

[dabrockster]

In the last 3 weeks we have seen some pretty hard hits but last nights on the Oregon player was one that made me cringe.. Part of me wonders if we are likely to see a player die on the field..

What do you think?? Do you think the hits will tone down or increase each year.. Do you think the NCAA will look to do something to address the aggressiveness of the players..

[Surfah]

In the last 3 weeks we have seen some pretty hard hits but last nights on the Oregon player was one that made me cringe.. Part of me wonders if we are likely to see a player die on the field..

What do you think?? Do you think the hits will tone down or increase each year.. Do you think the NCAA will look to do something to address the aggressiveness of the players..

People used to die on the field all the time.

[Indy Coug]

When was the last time that a player died on the field due to an injury? I can only think of deaths due to congenital heart problems.

[Surfah]

From 1931 to 2006, the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research has reported 1,006 direct and 683 indirect fatalities resulting from participation in all organized football (professional, college, high school, and sandlot) in the US. While the yearly number of indirect fatalities has remained near 9.0 per year, the yearly number of direct fatalities has declined from an average of 18.6 per year between 1931-1970, 9.5 per year from 1971–1990, to 4.3 per year from 1991-2006. In 2006, with an estimated 1.8 million participants in organized football, the survey reported a relatively high 16 indirect deaths but only one fatality directly attributable to football play (a high school running back who suffered a fatal spinal injury when tackled).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_...rican_football

[fusnik]

I've been thinking a lot about this lately.....

If I were to have a boy I don't know if I will let him play tackle football at any level. The long term negative consequences, even those from playing at the HS level, seem to outweigh any bebefit.

Hypocrit I know as I'm a watcher of football but the head and knee trauma our modern day gladiators endure weighs heavy on the mind for any future child I may have.

[Surfah]

I've been thinking a lot about this lately.....

If I were to have a boy I don't know if I will let him play tackle football at any level. The long term negative consequences, even those from playing at the HS level, seem to outweigh any bebefit.

Hypocrit I know as I'm a watcher of football but the head and knee trauma our modern day gladiators endure weighs heavy on the mind for any future child I may have.

Golf. It's a great game.

[Indy Coug]

Golf. It's a great game.

Based on America's Funniest Home Videos, I think golf fatalities might be more common than you'd think.

[fusnik]

Golf. It's a great game.

We might be best served to teach our boys golf.

One of my best friends played in the NFL dudes hitting 30 and is literally a cripple and who knows about any negative long term unseen head trauma, ala Chris Henry.

[dabrockster]

People used to die on the field all the time.

While that may true, I think a person dying on a field on national TV etc is very small.. Some of these hits could easily result in a broken neck etc leaving the person to die right there on the field..

Many die from impacts on the field but usually it is a few days later..

What I am suggesting is that these hits lately seem to be at a whole other level then I have normally seen..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_...rican_football

from this data it looks like it has gone down. I assume the increase of equipment etc play a role in that, but are we now seeing players getting too comfortable in their equipment and relying on them to keep them safe to a certain extent...

[Devildog]

I've been thinking a lot about this lately.....

If I were to have a boy I don't know if I will let him play tackle football at any level. The long term negative consequences, even those from playing at the HS level, seem to outweigh any bebefit.

Hypocrit I know as I'm a watcher of football but the head and knee trauma our modern day gladiators endure weighs heavy on the mind for any future child I may have.

I have coached little league football for the last 7 years (Ute Conference). My sons started playing at 8 and my oldest is 15 now.

We have had a couple players break bones almost every year. We have had some players suffer ligament and tendon injuries also. By the end of the season most players are playing with nagging little injuries.

It is the nature of the game. Football isn't a game for everybody. Some kids are tougher than others.

My younger kid (13) now plays hockey and last year put another kid out of a game (he was taken by ambulance) with a concussion.

For some people life is a contact sport.

Suck it up buttercup.

[cougjunkie]

I have coached little league football for the last 7 years (Ute Conference). My sons started playing at 8 and my oldest is 15 now.

We have had a couple players break bones almost every year. We have had some players suffer ligament and tendon injuries also. By the end of the season most players are playing with nagging little injuries.

It is the nature of the game. Football isn't a game for everybody. Some kids are tougher than others.

My younger kid (13) now plays hockey and last year put another kid out of a game (he was taken by ambulance) with a concussion.

For some people life is a contact sport.

Suck it up buttercup.

I think he is fine with the nagging injuries as you call it. I hate to break it to you but chances are neither of your kids will go anywhere with football. So what he is saying is that it may not be worth the aches and pains that you experience now as an adult from playing as a kid.

Me personally I would not trade my experiences for anything and I still have problems from years of football. But I totally understand where Fusnik is coming from.

[Hot Lunch]

I think he is fine with the nagging injuries as you call it. I hate to break it to you but chances are neither of your kids will go anywhere with football. So what he is saying is that it may not be worth the aches and pains that you experience now as an adult from playing as a kid.

Me personally I would not trade my experiences for anything and I still have problems from years of football. But I totally understand where Fusnik is coming from.

I have 7 screws in a shoulder, it sounds like a squeaky door at times, I have an ankle that I roll about every other week now (I actually rolled it last night in the middle of the night when I got up to take a piss) and my knees hurt often all because of my days playing football. I wouldn't trade the experiences and the lessons I learned playing football for anything.

[Devildog]

I think he is fine with the nagging injuries as you call it. I hate to break it to you but chances are neither of your kids will go anywhere with football. So what he is saying is that it may not be worth the aches and pains that you experience now as an adult from playing as a kid.

Me personally I would not trade my experiences for anything and I still have problems from years of football. But I totally understand where Fusnik is coming from.

I'm just sharing my perspective of Fusnik's comments... I'm not calling him out.

You're not breaking anything to me either.

My years playing football are fond memories for me also. They also contributed understanding and experience when career choices came around for me in my own life.

Things I learned in football... like teamwork, work ethic, pushing past perceived physical limits, etc. helped me in my time as a U.S. Marine.

Life really is a contact sport for some. Football is great training for those people.

[Tim]

I'm just sharing my perspective of Fusnik's comments... I'm not calling him out.

You're not breaking anything to me either.

My years playing football are fond memories for me also. They also contributed understanding and experience when career choices came around for me in my own life.

Things I learned in football... like teamwork, work ethic, pushing past perceived physical limits, etc. helped me in my time as a U.S. Marine.

Life really is a contact sport for some. Football is great training for those people.

What we can learn from a number of the comments here, including yours, is that it's best to go into it with our eyes open, and to help our kids have their eyes open to the possibilities as well. If they're the type of kids who want to play contact sports, they should be allowed to as long as they understand the risks. If they decide they don't want that risk and prefer non-contact activities/sports, we should support that as well. They key, I believe, is for there to be an awareness of the risks going into it rather than a surprise if/when those risks cash themselves in. Thoughts?

[Clark Addison]

I didn't even play High School ball, so there are a lot of folks who can speak to this much more than I can, but I would be concerned if my kids wanted to play football. The concern would be not so much the stuff that Hot Lunch is talking about (though I'm sure it is no picnic), but the brain trauma studies that have been going on. It could well be that, when all is said and done, the scare is completely overblown, but it appears that there is at least a chance that a LOT of players, even those who play only through college or even high school, may be at risk of long-term brain injuries. That would be very scary to me.

Like Fusnik, I sometimes feel a bit guilty for being such a footbal fan, when there is a chance that it is severly damaging huge numbers of young men.