Is Football Dying? (nothing to do with ratings or over saturation)

[Wundrbread33]

4 minutes ago, iBBB said:

Are you hearing what you're saying?

 

You just laughed when I said that no one if forced to play football and you supported that with this? That is what you call being forced to work somewhere? Gtfo. That's not even close to being forced. Try again. 

Plenty of kids are forced (at the very least heavily pressured) to play football by their Dad's.

You didn't have teammates like this? I had plenty that did so for "Dad's dream."

[Jangler]

5 minutes ago, iBBB said:

Are you hearing what you're saying?

 

You just laughed when I said that no one if forced to play football and you supported that with this? That is what you call being forced to work somewhere? Gtfo. That's not even close to being forced. Try again. 

 

If you're only choice in life is playing football or dying (or letting others die), there are bigger issues in your life than how dangerous NFL is.

come down off your ivory throne and look around. Players past and present are playing for one reason. to take care of mother and no other reason. 

[iBBB]

2 minutes ago, Wundrbread33 said:

Plenty of kids are forced (at the very least heavily pressured) to play football by their Dad's.

You didn't have teammates like this? I had plenty that did so for "Dad's dream."

You don't play pro football as a kid. I get what you're saying but being pressured at early age is not the same as being forced to play at pro level. I don't think yall understand what the word forced means. 

[Jangler]

6 minutes ago, electro's horse said:

stanford is close to being able to test for CTE in living individuals.

That will probably be its death stroke as we know it. 

It won't go away, it'll just change dramatically. it's gone through massive changes before. Hell, Teddy Roosevelt made rule changes to keep it from being banned because so many people died every year playing it. 

fug the treehuggers 

[iBBB]

5 minutes ago, Jangler said:

come down off your ivory throne and look around. Players past and present are playing for one reason. to take care of mother and no other reason. 

There is a fallacy somewhere in that response. I hope you find it. 

By the logic of what you just said, people that don't play pro football are unable to take care of their mother and loved ones. 

[Jangler]

4 minutes ago, iBBB said:

There is a fallacy somewhere in that response. Let's find it. 

 

By the logic of what you just said, people that don't play pro football are unable to take care of their mother and loved ones. 

lol I'm not @TheRed

[NAS]

21 minutes ago, Jeremy Igo said:

Go back to leather helmets. 

 

Concussion problem solved immediately. 

 

Seriously, go watch a rugby match. Those guys tackle with their head up every time. Wrap up, proper technique, NEVER lead with their own head. Result: Much fewer concussions. 

THIS, there will be a few more broken noses and teeth, but fewer concussions.  

[joemac]

In 20 years the NFL will be 7 on 7 flag football. All passes - final scores something like 75-68.

Kinda like the arena league.

[Montsta]

31 minutes ago, electro's horse said:

stanford is close to being able to test for CTE in living individuals.

That will probably be its death stroke as we know it. 

It won't go away, it'll just change dramatically. it's gone through massive changes before. Hell, Teddy Roosevelt made rule changes to keep it from being banned because so many people died every year playing it. 

Would be interested to see a Luke Kuechly brain vs. say a Dan Morgan brain. 

Sure Luke has had a lot of concussions, but he gets one and doesn’t play again for five games. Would be interested to see how that affects the presence of CTE vs. some of the old school guys that would get multiple concussions in one game and keep playing. 

[OneBadCat]

I think it will change dramatically. As it should. Just look at Luke and everyone’s concern over him. A seemingly upstanding dude. His concusssions have been troubling to watch. If he wasn’t one of the best in the game he probably would have called it quits by now.

In addition to rule changes there also needs to be a bigger focus on the natural athlete and getting players back to normal weight ranges. The bigger stronger faster mentality has pushed the body to its limits and the amount of force is generates. That effects brain trauma as well. 

Going back to leather helmets seems like a good theory but my bet is that it would just result in other serious injuries. Sure, if you or I made a backyard team with leather helmets. We’d be smart enough to ease up. We also aren’t generally strong enough to put each other in the hospital. But I guarantee Navarro Bowman would still be crushing dudes.

[Nails]

32 minutes ago, Jangler said:

come down off your ivory throne and look around. Players past and present are playing for one reason. to take care of mother and no other reason. 

Players in other poorer countries play soccer or do something else.  There are other ways to take care of mother.

[MikeD83]

Yes. It may always exist in some form, but the number of kids playing is already dropping substantially. However, there will still be kids in poor communities who see footballl as their way out, and are willing to sacrifice their health for a chance. When the chance for fame and fortune begins to dwindle, the sport will be gone.

I love football, and I loved playing football, but I will never let my son play full contact football. The risk is not worth the reward. I teach elementary school, and the number of 10-11 year old boys I have taught who have already gotten concussions from youth football is concerning. 

[Zaximus]

Yes, it is.    It's a combo of a lot of things.     It's the CTE stuff.     It's the fact that CTE is even worse in young people so parents are not letting their young kids play it now.    If I had a young child, I would probably not let them play.      It's also the over-saturation, it's on too many days, etc.    The biggest thing I think, at least right now, is the quality of the league is terrible.     The NFL has tried so hard to push games in certain directions (another discussion) that they've destroyed the game with terrible officiating.    They keep bringing back the SAME bad officials, so you know something is going on.     People are just tired of the bad product, simple as that.    Eventually the CTE thing will be the biggest reason because without people playing it at a young age, they won't move into it.

I believe in 10-15 years baseball will take over as the number one sport, it's on the up and they are doing proactive things at making the game better and higher quality.    It also feels less about "the money" than football which I think turns people off.

Also, e-sports are going to continue booming and will be taking up people's spectator time in the future.  

[LinvilleGorge]

"E sports"... LOL!!!

Honestly, tackle football shouldn't exist until the varsity HS level. Everything JV and under should be flag football IMO