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OT - Borland Retirement

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Surprised that I have not seen a posting on this 'hot' topic issue in the NFL. The players appear to be very divided over it with some calling him 'brave' and others a 'quitter.' The NHL response has, of course, been a whitewash praising their own player safety. Written media seems to generally support his decision while TV media is more against, especially Fox and ESPN, who have NFL broadcasting rights. Big surprise.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-s...ment--but-respect-his-decision-152300979.html

Can this signal the end of the NFL?
 

RedSoloCup

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I am not sure why the script came out as 'the end of the NFL'. That seems like hyperbole.

It's a bit overblown to say this is where it jumps the shark. Maybe this guy is smarter than the rest, but many of these guys are aware that it's a business and they are taking risks so they can be set for life and/or be famous.

I get that it's the slow season, and that's the only reason why there are media camps trying to assault and defend the sport.

Just my take on why it is in the news at all..
 
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Lol. Maybe a great personal choice for him, but let's not pretend that there are not 500 free agents willing to take his spot on a roster right now.
 

CTMike

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Lol. Maybe a great personal choice for him, but let's not pretend that there are not 500 free agents willing to take his spot on a roster right now.
Yep. This is why the NFL is perfectly safe.
 
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Football is in trouble with this issue. It's not going to implode overnight, but I have to believe there will be a gradual waning of interest as the participation of young people declines (which it will because of this issue). I do think there is a scenario where in the next 10-15 years U.S. football looks a heck of a lot more like rugby than our traditional football.
 
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Football is in trouble with this issue. It's not going to implode overnight, but I have to believe there will be a gradual waning of interest as the participation of young people declines (which it will because of this issue). I do think there is a scenario where in the next 10-15 years U.S. football looks a heck of a lot more like rugby than our traditional football.

I think this nails it. The NFL will be fine for now. Where I think you see a decline is participation at the youth level. I think high schools and colleges (the non revenue schools) are already taking a long hard look at whether it makes sense to continue offering football. Will schools like Amherst, Williams, Trinity, etc. continue to support the sport going forward? I'm not so sure.
 
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Even if that is true? How many high school kids play the sport annually 2 million? Cut that number in half there are still going to be enough kids for colleges and the nfl. Will the level of play take a hit? Probably but I don't think American football will ever look like rugby.
 
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If high school football participation gets cut in half the economic impact on the NFL would be enormous. That's the issue. Continued participation at all levels and what it means for fan following.

I've said this before. Knowing what I know now, I would not have let my son play youth or high school football. I know I am not alone in that thinking. Far from it.
 

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A real problem with youth football is the contact in practice as well as proper technique. The NFLPA now limits full contact to one day per week and game days. Obviously that is where the fastest, strongest, and most sophisticated players are, but the rule is not universally followed at college, high school, or youth leagues.

We took my son to get his hair cut a couple weeks ago and a couple mothers were talking about youth sports. One of them commented that she would allow her son to play up until high school, because that is when the players are big enough for concussions to potentially cause damage. Aside from being incredibly false, I also can't get over the galactic stupidity of the comment. In essence, this women will let her son play football for 6 years, allow him to make friends with other players, and fall in love with the game (while getting multiple concussions anyway). Then ban the activity once he turns 14, the age when kids first begin resenting their parents and proceed to forever and irreparably shatter the bonds he made with teammates over the previous half decade.

I am not yet sure what we will do once my son gets to youth sports age, but I'd like to think we won't limit his options, and that's just the thing. In Connecticut, most of us have options. In other places, football is the only way out.
 
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Boxing is much worse. Yet it is in the process of being replaced by more dangerous and violent sports, UFC and MMA.

So, I think the NFL remains around. The real threat, as stated above, is to youth football.
 
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If high school football participation gets cut in half the economic impact on the NFL would be enormous. That's the issue. Continued participation at all levels and what it means for fan following.

I've said this before. Knowing what I know now, I would not have let my son play youth or high school football. I know I am not alone in that thinking. Far from it.

I am thinking along the same line. Not many of my son's friends (2nd grade) are playing football in his class, just 3 out of 30 (2 classes). And I live in Jersey, one of the top High School football recruiting grounds in the country. That is not a good sign. The talent pipeline in poorer areas will continue though as sports represent one of the few tickets available to those kids out of dodge sadly. That said, football is an expensive sport. So the talent will continue to migrate to the power Catholics In Jersey as the resource poor public continue to get cherry picked by the privates.

The other issue will be liability at the high school and college level as more data comes out pointing to how dangerous head injuries are and that football by nature is a violent sport where athletes are getting stronger and faster all of the time and people's heads and gear cannot keep-up. The threat of suits will force many high schools to drop the sport, especially if participation declines. At the college level, how many colleges will be able to afford the liability insurance coverage against such suits, assuming such coverage is viable to insurers? Even within the P5, I doubt many can. Thus, if college football gets reduced to 20/30 schools, 1) will people pay to attend and watch and 2) is that enough talent to keep 32 NFL teams going?
 
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We took my son to get his hair cut a couple weeks ago and a couple mothers were talking about youth sports. One of them commented that she would allow her son to play up until high school, because that is when the players are big enough for concussions to potentially cause damage. Aside from being incredibly false, I also can't get over the galactic stupidity of the comment. In essence, this women will let her son play football for 6 years, allow him to make friends with other players, and fall in love with the game (while getting multiple concussions anyway). Then ban the activity once he turns 14, the age when kids first begin resenting their parents and proceed to forever and irreparably shatter the bonds he made with teammates over the previous half decade.

I agree that this is incredibly stupid. Either you let them play or you do not. My parents never let me play football, my Dad was great HS baseball pitcher so I played baseball and some basketball. During my teen years, I suffered 3 concussions, 2 playing basketball and once covering home on a wild pitch playing baseball. There are dangers in all sports.
 
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How much is Suh being paid? The NHL has the most affluent fanbase and hockey players get paid the least out of the top 4 leagues in the US.
 
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A real problem with youth football is the contact in practice as well as proper technique. The NFLPA now limits full contact to one day per week and game days. Obviously that is where the fastest, strongest, and most sophisticated players are, but the rule is not universally followed at college, high school, or youth leagues.

We took my son to get his hair cut a couple weeks ago and a couple mothers were talking about youth sports. One of them commented that she would allow her son to play up until high school, because that is when the players are big enough for concussions to potentially cause damage. Aside from being incredibly false, I also can't get over the galactic stupidity of the comment. In essence, this women will let her son play football for 6 years, allow him to make friends with other players, and fall in love with the game (while getting multiple concussions anyway). Then ban the activity once he turns 14, the age when kids first begin resenting their parents and proceed to forever and irreparably shatter the bonds he made with teammates over the previous half decade.

I am not yet sure what we will do once my son gets to youth sports age, but I'd like to think we won't limit his options, and that's just the thing. In Connecticut, most of us have options. In other places, football is the only way out.

Football will probably continue a marginal talent bleed into other sports or activities with long-term injuries being one of many reasons. But I couldn't imagine my mom stopping me from playing football or hockey as I was about to enter HS. If her son doesn't have the stones to draw that line he shouldn't be on the field anyway imo. But now kids are so structured and protected by parents (in certain demographic mostly) that it doesn't surprise me. That said, I feel like I could pressure my daughter into participating in one sport over another, and there's that temptation when you zone in on a skill set that has the greatest upside. I've come to realize that's not the way to go but it wouldn't even have been a question the way I was wired back then.
 
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I agree that this is incredibly stupid. Either you let them play or you do not. My parents never let me play football, my Dad was great HS baseball pitcher so I played baseball and some basketball. During my teen years, I suffered 3 concussions, 2 playing basketball and once covering home on a wild pitch playing baseball. There are dangers in all sports.
Absolutely. I got likely concussions in baseball, soccer, and hockey growing up and all before high school. I say likely because I was told to shake it off and never went to the doctor. It's pretty amazing how far the treatment of possible concussions have changed in the last ten years. It was just "getting your bell rung" for me and now my stepsisters in high school are going to the Doctor for any possible concussions and getting neurological tests to determine when they're fit to start playing again. All sports are dangerous though.
 
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The other issue will be liability at the high school and college level as more data comes out pointing to how dangerous head injuries are and that football by nature is a violent sport where athletes are getting stronger and faster all of the time and people's heads and gear cannot keep-up. The threat of suits will force many high schools to drop the sport, especially if participation declines. At the college level, how many colleges will be able to afford the liability insurance coverage against such suits, assuming such coverage is viable to insurers? Even within the P5, I doubt many can. Thus, if college football gets reduced to 20/30 schools, 1) will people pay to attend and watch and 2) is that enough talent to keep 32 NFL teams going?

This is the key issue. Do colleges have a better chance of holding off the type of litigation that the coordinated and well-funded NFL could not? College players who never made the NFL (so the vast majority of guys) have a more sympathetic story than the NFL players who at least got paid entertainment-industry-scale money for the risks they were taking at the time. All the college-only players got was a comfortable place to sleep, school-branded clothes and degrees in communications and sociology (if they even graduated). It's going to be a bloodbath.
 
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Absolutely. I got likely concussions in baseball, soccer, and hockey growing up and all before high school. I say likely because I was told to shake it off and never went to the doctor. It's pretty amazing how far the treatment of possible concussions have changed in the last ten years. It was just "getting your bell rung" for me and now my stepsisters in high school are going to the Doctor for any possible concussions and getting neurological tests to determine when they're fit to start playing again. All sports are dangerous though.

I agree that all sports carry risk, no question. I think the major difference though is that nearly every play with strong, fast men running hard and fast at each other just about guarantees that there is a risk of concussion in football on every play play. In most other sports concussions are typically a problem on only freak plays (collision at the plate in baseball, two heads colliding on a head ball in soccer, etc.) or illegal (cross checking into the boards in hockey, stick to the head in lacrosse, etc.), which all leagues are trying to eliminate as we have seen in hockey and other sports. That's the unique risk and liability of American Football in comparison to most other sports.
 
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