The end of football -- (serious article)

[freeagent]

If football goes, soccer will go before it.

At least there's a silver lining ...

 

[Dogface]

: I think what WILL happen is an adjustment of how coaches run practices, my high school coach has averaged 8 wins (in a max 9-10 game schedule) for the past 20 yrs, turned out at least 5 NFL players, and too many scholarship players to count, all while running a practice that is way ahead of its time. No tackling or even fully wrapping up whatsoever, and no full pads except for 1 day in preseason to make sure the equipment fits right. Add to that only 4 days of 2-a-days, no weight lifting program (his favorite saying is "the guy with the strongest bench press is usually the worst player on the team, I want skilled, fast guys, not guys who are gonna get muscle bound in the weight room."), and very light conditioning (it is the player's responsibility to want to succeed bad enough to get in shape before camp starts). He coaches at by far the smallest school in the league (220 boys, the others male enrollments are 450, 650, 720, 900, 1,200, 1,300), yet the biggest school in the league (roster size 120 varsity, 110 JV, 150 Freshmen) couldn't beat his school (40 varsity, 25 JV) from 2001-2010. In my four years only 1 player was injured to the point where he missed a game, there were never any serious practice injuries, and he has only had 1 severe head injury in 20 yrs of coaching. That is an astounding track record coaches anywhere would be hard pressed to match. I believe there are only so many hits a player can take in a day, week, season, career, etc..., before he starts to break down and the propensity for injury goes through the roof, eliminating hits in practice saves a player for game day, keeps the body rested and recovered and ready to be hit. What furthered my belief in this system was when I got to college and the coach did exactly the opposite, tons of brutal hitting in full pads multiple times a week. I think there were 9 torn ACLs, IN PRACTICE ALONE. Over 20 kids were lost for the season. No contact practices in no more than uppers are the way of the future and possibly the savior of football in America.

Hmmmmmmmmmm......... imagine that.
Conditioning with no weightroom?
Fast players?
20 years of successful seasons?
But wadda I know?

 

[CowboyP]

If football goes, soccer will go before it.

At least there's a silver lining ...

Amen!

 

[cren22]

Saw a very good stat today very relevant to this article: driving a car is 30x more dangerous than playing football. Let that one sink in, you are 30 times more likely to be injured driving than you are playing football.

 

[rainjacktx]

I caught just a little of Bryant Gumble's HBO sports magazine show the other night. They were doing a piece about some blood thinner drug that helps players recover faster.

I'm really short on the proper facts and my lack of short term memory prevents me from remembering names, so you might want to google the story if you want names, dates and phone numbers.

But anyhow, they were trying to link this particular drug, which has never been proven to contribute to brain injury, to the increase of brain injuries in the NFL. The ML for the Chicago Bears was interviewed, and he flat out said he could not afford to let the possibility of injury enter his mind. He also said that he would keep playing, and taking this drug regardless of the risks because a football player is who he is.

I think most elite level competitors share the same mindset, be it football, baseball, or any other sport. There is danger inherent in all sport at the highest level.

Is the rate of injury any higher now than 20 years ago in football? I doubt it. What I think is that technology has advanced to the point that we can see what effects different sports have on the human body at even the most minute levels. And all of a sudden we have a crisis.

I don't buy into it. I can see the wisdom in reducing contact in practice to a point, especially when you've seen a team decimated by injury due to the polar opposite philosophy.

 

[freeagent]

Well, I must be a stinkin' clairyyoviant ...

San Diego area school district settles with a kid who received a head injury in a football game ... $4.4 million. Couple of keys from the article ... kid complained of a headache during the week and asked coach to take him out early in the game (coach didn't).

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/ ... ead-injury

 

[cren22]

Well, I must be a stinkin' clairyyoviant ...

San Diego area school district settles with a kid who received a head injury in a football game ... $4.4 million. Couple of keys from the article ... kid complained of a headache during the week and asked coach to take him out early in the game (coach didn't).

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/ ... ead-injury

It looks like more a case of coach/training staff negligence than a football related injury. No coach should ever have final say on if a player stays in the game or not. No one but a trained medical professional should ever decide if a player plays or not. The article said the kid had been having symptoms all week long and was not only allowed to, but forced to play in the game.

 

[freeagent]

Friend, I'll agree the case could be made that there was some negligence on the part of the coaches and athletic training staff in this case. And the results, for everyone -- especially for the young man and his family -- is a case study on what not to do.

But I seriously wonder, especially among small private and public schools and home school groups, how many of us have certified athletic trainers and licensed medical personnel at every practice, much less every game?

I believe some states require that an certified athletic trainer be on hand at all contests. Well, if you don't have an athletic trainer on staff (which most small schools do not), you're gonna have to hire one of them starting at the junior high "B" basketball game all the way to varsity football. Heck, at Lifegate just doing a quick count in my head -- varsity and JH football (about 18-20 games), varsity and JH volleyball (another 35-40 games), girls and boys basketball -- again JH and varsity (add 60-80 games) and track (maybe 8-10 meets, tops). Okay, about half of those are road games, but what if the home team doesn't supply the trainer (or says they will until you get there and it's "oops, we forgot"). Do you cancel the game and go home?

I come up with 150 games (perhaps about 110-125 dates, since many of the basketball games are girls-then boys following). Let's say you can hire a trainer for $75 each occurence, you're still looking at something near $10,000 a year. And that doesn't cover travel, practices, or supplies/equipment. And I'd still have an EMS tech at football games.

I don't have an answer -- except that all coaches need to be trained in basic athletic first aid and concussion awareness, regardless of the sport.

And as I've repeated in the past -- I read something where NCAA says that, per capita, the most sports injuries occur in -- CHEERLEADING. And as I've also said, most padding I've seen added to a cheerleader outfit wasn't put there for safety purposes.