Sterling Shepard’s Family Have Nudged Him To Retire

Those of you who were there remember how much fucking fun a day in that insane park was. An absolute blast on some seriously dangerous attractions - enough people dying in the early 80's that their wave pool was jokingly called 'the GRAVE pool'.

You'd drive home with a carload of contusions and bruises. All fun - but we didn't realize people were literally dying there.

Eventually litigation and insurers catch up to entertainment that doesn't take care of it's performers or it's audience.

The NFL is doomed to the same fate as NASCAR, as Action Park.

It's nobody's fault - it's an unsustainable model.

Not as much fun to watch slow racing, not as much fun to watch football when all your favorite players are on IR, but that's the nature of the business.

than CTE.

In comment 14642275 x meadowlander said:

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...it's a fact, it ruined the sport. Record lap speed was set by Bill Elliott back when Clinton was President. Turns out 225mph+ for stock cars causes INSANE accidents. FANTASTIC TV and really wonderful racing, but guys were getting maimed and killed at an unacceptable rate. So now, restictor plates basically mean you're watching trains race - it's all about the draft, boring as hell, viewership and attendance in decline. The sport is dying because of safety. I'm good with that. I wasn't watching to watch people die.

Yeah I hate restrictor plates, too. But while the accidents were spectacularly bad, who was actually maimed? Last guy I remember was Dale Earnhardt in a basically innocuous accident on the last lap of the Daytona 500 and that was because his seat belt broke after it had been altered for some reason. Those cars are built like tanks - maybe safer than tanks.
I'm just drawing a blank and I was a huge race fan up until 10 years ago, maybe.

The tactics and violence go hand and hand in its appeal. Testosterone makes men gravitate towards violence so unless you sap testosterone from men it is always going to have popularity to play and watch. I think it is a tremendous outlet for young men, the issue is when these lunatic coaches starting at the HS level, don't teach them the importance of harnessing that aggression off the field in productive ways. Winning at all costs starts there in many programs and more coaches need to be molders of young men ala Dabo.

I love football for two reasons, the chess match that goes on, and the inherent violence of the game.

In comment 14642249 Sneakers O'toole said:

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is the where the rubber meets the road on the CTE front. And the NFL pushed for an 18 game schedule. That's what they think of player saftey.

Sneakers is 100% on point here. It's going to be quite a while (if ever) before we get to the point where we know what an "acceptable" level of brain trauma. CTE is a result of cumulative hits to the head, along with possible genetic issues that may make some people more vulnerable.

What IS known is that cumulative hits to the head for those exposed 12 years or younger result in worst outcomes than those over 12. Also, those with longer careers have a greater chance for CTE.

I suspect in the next few years, we will see "Smart" helmets in the NFL that record impacts real time. Perhaps we might see the equivalent of a "Pitchers Count" in football, so if you get a certain level of impacts, you will need to sit out for a while.

I still think that in the meantime, we need to make rule changes that force tackling to go back to what it used to be back in the early part of the 20th century (form tackles, not impact blows, similar to Rugby tackling). You didn't really see the impact/using the helmet tackling on defense before the impact of TV (especially ESPN, who glorified it and made it popular).

The current NFL rules don't go far enough, and actually are counter productive (they limit not hitting the head, and not hitting too low, but they don't do enough to stop non form blow tackles. I think some sort of "softer" helmet (with better materials than leather) would be useful, people won't lead with the head if they are afraid of hurting themselves.

And I don't agree with all about the game being "less" exciting if you take the killer impact blows out. Rugby is just as physical, but a much safer sport because of the emphasis on form tackling.

Anyway, when you get the constant injuries because of impact tackling, it's not so exciting when your favorite players are on the IR, is it? That's the reality we face today.

In comment 14642307 section125 said:

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In comment 14642275 x meadowlander said: Quote: Yeah I hate restrictor plates, too. But while the accidents were spectacularly bad, who was actually maimed? Last guy I remember was Dale Earnhardt in a basically innocuous accident on the last lap of the Daytona 500 and that was because his seat belt broke after it had been altered for some reason. Those cars are built like tanks - maybe safer than tanks. I'm just drawing a blank and I was a huge race fan up until 10 years ago, maybe.

I'm talking late 1980's, early 1990's - some insane barrel-roll accidents back in the day, Bobby Allison, Ernie Irvin come immediately to mind, but there were many others.

Bill Elliot set the NASCAR lap speed record at Talledega in 1987 at 212 mph.

Restrictor plates arrived in 1988 for safety and 'competition' - pre-restrictor plate racing commonly had only a few cars on the lead lap by the end, Earnhardt's death is actually typical of the shitty racing I speak of with a TON of cars on the lead lap at the finish, a late caution and people driving like assholes to the checkered flag.

Earnhardt died driving the way he always did. Being an asshole to the end, this time blocking faster traffic so his kid or teammate could win. Noble, but reckless and that time finally cost him. (he'd done it COUNTLESS times before)

saying that he's felt fine for weeks and wants to play but hasn't been cleared.