Formaldehyde
Both Fair And Balanced
Shoulder pads are also a very major issue.
But the biggest problem is with special teams. When you have two 220+ lb players running at each other at full speed, bad stuff will inevitably happen.
The death of American football.
- Thread starter emzie
- Start date
But the biggest problem is with special teams. When you have two 220+ lb players running at each other at full speed, bad stuff will inevitably happen.
Disgustipated
Deity
Change the rules in the NFL to 150 pounds max. 
That would make it an interesting sport, although I doubt it would be particularly popular. You could call it nerd football.
That would make it an interesting sport, although I doubt it would be particularly popular. You could call it nerd football.
Butterball
Bear
Fantasy Football = NFL = Fantasy Football. They feed each other.
I propped against a league prop in a inter service match, he was great around the field with his 95kg bulk.
But it took him two hours after the match to get his chin off his chest from trying to lift our side of the scrum up so his hooker could get his foot up to strike for the ball.
We union props carry 115-130 kg for good reason.
rugbyLEAGUEfan
Deity
Moot point . League scrums are not taken seriously and bedsides , scrums are boring .
C'mon Otago , if we're gonna do this at least bump and troll my rapidly dying NRL thread.
C'mon Otago , if we're gonna do this at least bump and troll my rapidly dying NRL thread.
I see no reason why American football cannot go to making all hits Rugby Union types tackles where the arms must be used.
Do those hard helmets help or hinder safety ? if they hinder dump them and go to soft helmets only.
Dump the shoulder guards they are not needed and do more harm than good.
But, they can keep the tights
Do those hard helmets help or hinder safety ? if they hinder dump them and go to soft helmets only.
Dump the shoulder guards they are not needed and do more harm than good.
But, they can keep the tights
http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/...-duerson-concussion-lawsuit-put-nfl-defensive
659 lawsuits filed against the NFL over concussions and CTE. If the NFL, as alleged, actively lied to players about the dangers of repeated concussions, I think you're looking at billions in damages.
659 lawsuits filed against the NFL over concussions and CTE. If the NFL, as alleged, actively lied to players about the dangers of repeated concussions, I think you're looking at billions in damages.
Serutan
Eatibus Anythingibus
Or, like in the Johns-Manville case, you could wind up with the plaintiffs owning the
league.
ummmm........
Extremely normal.
Or, like in Exxon Valdez, you could wind up with a huge verdict tied up for years on appeal and eventually paid with the difference between judicial interest and actual interest with no real effect on the league at all . . .
wilycoyote
King
Yeah... The type of people that play football will continue to do so even if they know just how dangerous it is, as that is exactly how it has been for decades. This sport won't die, it is too popular. It isn't like it is attracting the types of athletes that become PhDs later in life. For many people, the prospect of making a hundred million dollars over a ten year career is enough for knowing that they will probably have a touch last decade of life. This concept of the end of the NFL is WAY overrated. Remember, war has been known to be dangerous for thousands of years, yet the USA is extremely interested to at all times wage at least one war. It is a national tradition to ignore the long-term consequences for the quick buck!
Kraznaya
Princeps
wilycoyote
King
Horse racing isn't violent for humans. Gladiator combat has never existed in America (at least in its "to the death" form). Boxing didn't die due to its violence. It died for other reasons. You know that MMA, which is more violent than boxing, is on the upswing... not with me, but with rednecks?
Formaldehyde
Both Fair And Balanced
MMA is actually far safer than boxing because the gloves don't have the padding which means the head isn't subjected to far more concussive blows during a fight. And the notion that it is "far more violent" and only popular with "rednecks" is preposterous.
You missed his point. It's not that those sports were dangerous, but that they were once the most popular sports in the US.
But as an aside, horse racing is the most dangerous sport after cheerleading.
wilycoyote
King
You missed my point. Certainly sports come and go, but not because they are too violent. Maybe fans will decide they don't like football anymore and it will die, but there will always be people willing to play it if there is money involved (boxing still exists!).
How does taking away the gloves and allowing kicking result in a safer sport than boxing? I don't follow it, so I guess I'm open to that possibility.
I stand by my redneck comment. I challenge you to find a MMA fan that doesn't wear those shirts with tattoo designs on them. A sport entirely based on fighting doesn't tend to attract the most civilized type of fan.
holy king
Deity
Go back to your original post,
To which he pointed out that a sports popularity is not an indicator of how popular it will be in the future. Just as boxing and horse racing were once the most popular sports in the US, football too could go the same way. Would football still be played? Perhaps. But not like it is today.
Funny enough though, MMA is safer than boxing, and it comes down to not having gloves.
Padding does not reduce the force your head takes, it just makes it less likely your skin will break open. It also allows you to hit harder -- my hand will break before your skull does. Combining those two, you have people hitting harder and people hitting with more weight in their hands. It's not a surprise that MMA has fewer knock outs than boxing.
wilycoyote
King
Okay, I see the problem here. I thought that the idea that a sport could lose popularity goes without saying. Thus, I didn't mean to really focus upon that point. That isn't the issue of this thread. This thread isn't stating that the NFL is going under for popularity reasons (it is more popular than ever right now). The issue is that somehow its violence would lead to its fall.
I do think that the NFL will make changes to improve player safety, such as eliminated kickoffs and changing what constitutes a legal tackle.
Also, my comment that the sport is too popular to fail is really meant to be taken on a couple of decades timescale. Clearly, two hundred years from now, the NFL might be defunct and it wouldn't surprise me at all. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if the USA didn't exist in two hundred years.
