NGT: Brain injuries increased in players who participated

surprising. You have to wonder if football doesn't have a limited lifespan as a sport.

That, if this study pans out, it might stand for the proposition that football should only be played by fully developed men, and not by children.

That would be a positive outcome and might save the sport.

kids should start playing football in high school, but not prior.

Each neighborhood had it own team and we all played each other regularly. I can recall seeing stars many times. That and add organized football I starting playing at thirteen, plus a few conclusions when I was older and I will admit I sometimes worry in the back of my mind about it.

In comment 12113864 Hammer said:

Quote:

That, if this study pans out, it might stand for the proposition that football should only be played by fully developed men, and not by children. That would be a positive outcome and might save the sport.

How would that save the sport?

If kids can't play football until they're adults they'll fall in love with another sport they actually can play.

Backyard 2 hand touch isn't going anywhere anytime soon. But full contact football clearly has an expiration date in this country.

We're one year away from Super Bowl 50. I think there's definitely a less than 50% chance that there's a Super Bowl 100.

Too much money there.

It would probably take an entire generation of majority of parents not allowing their children to play and then once those children are grown and having children there no longer would be as many fans that have the same passion for the game.

So basically three generations would have to go by for it to lose a large share of fan interest. And even that may not do it.

could let their child play football these days.
From a neurological standpoint, there are so many diseases and conditions the medical community knows so little about. What's worse, solid treatments for most don't really even exist. Why expose a child to the risks?

the sport has been played by countless people from all walks of life at youth and high school or college levels. Full contact sports are risky, as scary as CTE is, and I don't mean to detract from that reality, the proposition is the same as it's ever been.

Awareness of risk is always a positive. CTE is not the end of the road for full contact sport for those that wish to pursue it, at any level.

are an inherent risk to prolonged exposre to a full contact sport like football. The NFL has made a great PR move in framing the problem as a "big hit" concern. Repeated sub-concussive hits the like of which linemen and backers take 40 or 50 times a game, far less controllable than that one big hit a player takes and can be taken out.

I've never taken this as less than a serious issue. But a league that knows what we do and pursues expanded playoffs, 18 game schedules or anything of the like is just bullshitting you on how serious they are.

any physical sport is likely to have an increased amount of injuries on those who begin to play as young children vs those who pick up the sport later in life.

meaning from a PR standpoint. The way I worded that was not clear,

in that kind of contact sport..There's touch football and flag football meaning plenty of competition and more importantly fun and exercise..


Parents can say, "hey my kid escaped injury" not realizing what's down the road for the kid..If their child, as an adult exhibits cognitive dysfunction or worse, NO WAY will a parent attribute it to playing contact football at such a formative age 30-40 years before..

And yes, it's not OUR decision, it's the individual parent..I did not allow my son to play youth or school football(unless he wanted to punt/kick). Instead, he played Baseball and Basketball where the risk of the aforementioned problems were far less than in contact football(as differentiated from contact in Basketball)..

Hi, boys and girls. My name is Mr. Butts

the original stadium was built almost 2000 years ago, and is still standing.....we have hundreds of them built around the country and the world......the hunger for "games" is built into our DNA.....in the future, the cloning institute will be replacing knees at halftime...brains will take a little longer.....

If things go badly for football -- i.e. massive liability issues with insurance companies refusing coverage -- I could see many high schools dropping it in 10-15 years, colleges doing the same in 20-25, and fan interest declining rapidly.

Will soccer fill the void? Will baseball rebound? Fascinating to speculate...

Yeah, if lawsuits and insurance companies forced it then it could be sooner. I was thinking only of how it may slowly become less supported from the fan base simply by disconnect of majority of people having no connection to it any longer.

Their will always be kids playing football.

consequent to a fighter getting seriously injured in the ring, I remember some speculation about fighters cutting weight = dehydration = less protective fluid around the brain. two a days in the hot summer sun, dehydration has to be a major issue - wonder if that is somehow related to the brain injuries.

there is little scientific evidence on how to define a concussion along with any proper treatment methods.
Then there's the idea of sub-concussive forces that can potentially lead to CTE. A blow to the head isn't even needed to achieve this phenomenon.

Forget children playing football, it amazes me that ANYONE plays the sport.

In comment 12113871 spike said:

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kids should start playing football in high school, but not prior.

I agree, flag football until 8th or 9th grade. I can't see putting kids under the age of 14 in pads really.

In comment 12113893 Geomon said:

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Too much money there.

Also correct

Look at boxing, everyone says it died because of the violence and knock outs. But then how do you explain ultimate fighting, which is even more dangerous, damaging, and even more popular.