A Sobering Article about Football by George Will

A little perspective. I love to watch football and I arguably worship at its various alters based on my time allotted to following it. And sadly I am all to happy to participate in the exploitation of the athletes who yes, willfully seek their own glory and achievement, including paying for an education. So, for those gladiators who feed our frenzied hunger, here is a feeble, if not unnoticeable post to most, appeal to have at least gratitude for their potential sacrifice--A moment of silence and critical thinking, if you will.



http://www.newsmax.com/GeorgeWill/Football-Brain-Damage-NFL/2012/08/06/id/447666" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Again, maybe why we don't see near the high percentage of football legend players sons coming to byu or playing football at all.

Sobering. But, I still plan to go to the game.



THIS is part of why you will never hear The Bibster saying player X does not deserve a D1 schollie or sucks. Some are better than others. Sure.



THIS is why I think fans should have realistic expectations so that after our boys come play their hearts out and give it all they have, and beat who they are supposed to beat and not lose games they are supposed to win - they can earn a passing grade and feel appreciated - something to play for.



And then if they knock off 1 or 2 favored teams on the road - let them feel special. Because they are.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

A couple years ago I began reading studies of brain trauma and injuries. The scope was much wider than football and points to some very interesting findings regarding many unhealthy activities we participate in commonly in today's society that negatively affect the brain. With respect to football, I made a decision shortly after my studies to no longer allow my sons to play tackle football. My 2 younger boys, now 11 & 13, sometimes complain about not being able to play. Flag football is ok, but it's not very competitive where we live near Bingham high school in South Jordan. They participate in other sports, though.



It's true that younger ages probably won't have the same dangers with concussions in football, but my sons had dreams of playing high school or higher some day. Add to that the fact that football is so competitive today that kids practice 4 days per week until the season starts. I don't think that is a healthy life balance for youth, which is another reason I ruled it out.



If you want to learn more about this topic, I recommend the books and/or website of Dr. Daniel Amen: http://www.amenclinics.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.



I love watching BYU football, but this is a conflict of values since I think football at that level is not worth the dangers. Not going to quit being a fan of the game, hypocrite or not.

I think football will begin to swing the other way. They're going to have to change the way the game is played. I think player uniforms will begin to move back to "less protection." I think a big problem is that players feel they have more protection than they actually do.



They wear this hard helmets and think that they can use the helmet to tackle. I think they should move more to the origins of the game with softer helmets and cause fewer head collisions. Make defenders wrap up and tackle, not just hit guys.



Stop teaching RBs to lower their heads to plow through/over guys. Give guys a tackle zone (above the knees/below the shoulders) and penalize any/all contact out of those areas.



Widen & lengthen the field. We're still playing on the same size as we were 70 years ago when guys were no where near as big and fast. Create more space for fewer big hits and big pile ups.



I'm just brainstorming here for some ideas of what can be done.

Here's one. Fully enforce the helmet hit rules on both D and O.

This will continue to become more visible of an issue in the coming years, especially in non-professional sports, as in college and high school. Multiple mild concussions is showing up on brain scans to be as damaging as more moderate to severe concussions.

The problem in the NFL is the same problem found in many job areas: the hypocrisy of unions. The union says it wants the NFL to be safer for players, but then it backs players who hit helmet to helmet or who put bounties out to injure other players. You can't have it both ways, NFLPA, but I guess unions have never really cared about logic, anyway.