Lem Barney thinks that football will be gone in 20 years

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If former college players win a lawsuit against a university or universities it could change things.
 

I just watched a YouTube video of J C Hassenauer go from a squat to jumping on to a platform 49 inches of the ground. The kid weighs 300 pounds and looked like a dang gymnast. And this is before he gets in a college lifting program and gets his "man strength". Can't imagine the power he will generate in the interior line in a couple years. Put someone equally big across from him and they are going to have some serious collisions. Bodies and brains aren't designed for that kind of impact day after day. The long term damage will eventually outweigh the popularity of the game.
 

Part of the problem in both football and hockey is that the equipment is TOO GOOD. All the advancements in safety have made players that think they are invincible. Use your shoulder or head as weapon; smash a guy into the boards or pick your stick blade up over your shoulders--you aren't going to get hurt.

I know this may be crazy, but I think better facemasks/shields/pads have traded off the reduction of large numbers of minor injuries for more horrific major injuries.
 

football is too big a part of our culture, it won't die, but it is rapidly becoming a different game than what it used to be. Football will evolve into a "safer" sport, but it will never go away.
 

kellyleeks said:
If former college players win a lawsuit against a university or universities it could change things.
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It would most likely just raise the price of tickets a little bit so that the colleges could pay for the increase in the cost of their liability insurance. Insurance companies would just continue to raise the rates they charge for insuring football-related injuries in the comprehensive plans they sell to colleges. When Ford and GM would be sued for massive sums of money and lost, they didn't quit selling the same types of cars that were deemed to be responsible for an occasional exploding gas tank or some other problem that happened once every so often and when conditions were just right.
People know about what cigarettes and tobacco can do to people...yet, the government continues to subsidize tobacco growers....the tobacco company stocks are in virtually every "income" type mutual fund generating lusty dividends quarter after quarter and senior citizens, widows and orphans and billionaires LOVE that yield.

Do you seriously think the billionaire old boys club that owns the nfl franchises will let something like head injuries stand in the way of their ever inflating values of their franchises? There are all kinds of hazardous occupations. Coal Miners, Oil Rig workers, the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines. Farming can present all kinds of dangerous health hazards for individuals. America has been built on the backs of individuals who were risk-takers and were willing to try their hands at beating those risks.

Football will not "go down..." There will be equipment changes, rules changes, etc. However, since there are almost equal risks of various types of injuries in sports like soccer, basketball, baseball, bike-riding, virtually any kind of play ground activity there will be adequate numbers of individuals playing football. Study the situation. identify the risks. Seek to improve the situation. But, also realize that there is a LONG list of other activities that are potentially hazardous to the health of individuals partaking in those activities.

A few law-suites may attract media attention and is good stand-by/fill-in material to run with on slow media days. However, there will be football at all levels. So kid's parents won't allow them to play football...and then will send them off on their bikes to play in the streets, feeling safe and secure in their unwillingness to let their kids play football as all kinds of unforeseen dangers lurk "out there..." on some other playing field, walk across the street, or right in their own home. Why, even too much inactivity creates hazardous health concerns for little Johnny or Joan.

Gang, just remember that there are risks in living. Also remember that professional players who are in their mid 30's are probably at a higher risk of having some residual consequences of 25 years or more of playing this game at increasingly more competitive levels.

And no matter how hard you try to totally eliminate the risks...just by living, there could possibly be some "hidden risk" that you overlooked that will rise up and hit you upside the head...

; 0 )
 


imthewalrus said:
It would most likely just raise the price of tickets a little bit so that the colleges could pay for the increase in the cost of their liability insurance. Insurance companies would just continue to raise the rates they charge for insuring football-related injuries in the comprehensive plans they sell to colleges. When Ford and GM would be sued for massive sums of money and lost, they didn't quit selling the same types of cars that were deemed to be responsible for an occasional exploding gas tank or some other problem that happened once every so often and when conditions were just right.
People know about what cigarettes and tobacco can do to people...yet, the government continues to subsidize tobacco growers....the tobacco company stocks are in virtually every "income" type mutual fund generating lusty dividends quarter after quarter and senior citizens, widows and orphans and billionaires LOVE that yield.

Do you seriously think the billionaire old boys club that owns the nfl franchises will let something like head injuries stand in the way of their ever inflating values of their franchises? There are all kinds of hazardous occupations. Coal Miners, Oil Rig workers, the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines. Farming can present all kinds of dangerous health hazards for individuals. America has been built on the backs of individuals who were risk-takers and were willing to try their hands at beating those risks.

Football will not "go down..." There will be equipment changes, rules changes, etc. However, since there are almost equal risks of various types of injuries in sports like soccer, basketball, baseball, bike-riding, virtually any kind of play ground activity there will be adequate numbers of individuals playing football. Study the situation. identify the risks. Seek to improve the situation. But, also realize that there is a LONG list of other activities that are potentially hazardous to the health of individuals partaking in those activities.

A few law-suites may attract media attention and is good stand-by/fill-in material to run with on slow media days. However, there will be football at all levels. So kid's parents won't allow them to play football...and then will send them off on their bikes to play in the streets, feeling safe and secure in their unwillingness to let their kids play football as all kinds of unforeseen dangers lurk "out there..." on some other playing field, walk across the street, or right in their own home. Why, even too much inactivity creates hazardous health concerns for little Johnny or Joan.

Gang, just remember that there are risks in living. Also remember that professional players who are in their mid 30's are probably at a higher risk of having some residual consequences of 25 years or more of playing this game at increasingly more competitive levels.

And no matter how hard you try to totally eliminate the risks...just by living, there could possibly be some "hidden risk" that you overlooked that will rise up and hit you upside the head...

; 0 )
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I agree walrus and you are uniquely experienced in the area of brain damage to comment.

;0)
 

Rescooter said:
I agree walrus and you are uniquely experienced in the area of brain damage to comment.

;0)
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So what is your point rescooter? If that's your opinion, you are entirely welcomed to express your opinion. Personally, I think you are too insignificant to do any damage to me. I've lived my life. I've taken some shots...given some shots...been knocked down...gotten myself back up and always say exactly what I wish to say. Have a good day rescooter. And, in the end: I have NEVER let a ba$.ard get me down...Now, run along and play rescooter. You are dismissed and I won't bother to ever respond to you...you are just another recycled scooter...and recycled scooters are worth a dime a dozen. "...now, get outta my yard..."

; 0 )
 

cncmin said:
Exactly - it's the advancements in padding - along with PED usage and much more advanced physical training - that have resulted in much more force being available for hits. The larger the force, obviously the greater the prospect of injury.

The answer may, ironically, be in the decreasing of other forms of padding, such as shoulder and chest pads. A young man is much less likely to violently throw their body at someone if the hit #@#%^ing hurts the one doing the hitting.
Click to expand...

I knew a few guys who played rugby and while they got banged up, they never seemed to get seriously injured. I think that's what you, and several others, are driving at. If you make a kid essentially a human missile in terms of padding and tell him to act like a human missile, collisions are going to be more violent for both parties.

My suggestion would be to really crack down more on the head-to-head stuff (as in "do it and you're tossed") and some of the other more dangerous plays, but it is a violent game and the players are getting bigger and faster and joints can only withstand so much. Hard to know what to do.
 

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