Is football violent?

[cynatnite]

This was an interesting discussion we had tonight with some friends. I think it is and I hope to discourage my son from participating in the sport if he develops an interest in it when he gets older.

What do you think?

[flvegan]

1. Not really. Matter of fact, if you tune into some of the English Premier League games

you'll find it to be not only exciting, but also a bit of a gentleman's sport.

[LeftyMom]

6. She meant real football, hippie.

Not that silly game that involves foreign dudes flopping about like beached dolphins on methamphetamines, trying to get the attention of a referee because an opposing player breathed on them.

[flvegan]

11. I'm yellow carding you for that response.

[LeftyMom]

13. I do hope that means something dirty.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

49. ROFL.

Right on!

[spiritual_gunfighter]

61. Haha that is a perfect description of "soccer" n/t

[FreeStateDemocrat]

29. According to The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury, 325 men and boys have died

either directly or indirectly from playing football at the high school and college level between 1982-2008 (26 years). Direct injuries are defined as those fatalities which resulted directly from participation in the fundamental skills of football (such as tackling and blocking). Indirect injuries are those injuries that are caused by systemic failure as a result of exertion while participating in football activity or by a complication which was secondary to a nonfatal injury (such as heart failure and heat stroke).

[rd_kent]

78. Football, not footie!

[FLAprogressive]

2. I wouldn't discourage your son from participating in it.....

...I don't think the sport promotes violence at all. Sure, it's much more full-contact than say, baseball....but I wouldn't say "violent".

[cynatnite]

3. During the sports part of news, I've seen quite a few clips of brawls...

and thrown punches during football games. Compared to other sports football does seem to have a higher percentage of violent incidents.

[FLAprogressive]

4. It's not a *regular* occurrence....and I think it happens with every sport to some extent

Plus, brawls like that almost never happen in youth sports.

[bluesbassman]

5. Only in New Mexico.

:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k52QWFeP7OY

[LeftyMom]

7. Not in a well-run league.

My baby sister played and there was NEVER a fight at one of her games. A parent started yelling at a coach after a game once and trying to provoke one, but the whole mess broke up without anything more than some shouting.

[Ozymanithrax]

8. Football is stylized warfare...

Two armies, controling their own territory must carry an object to the most protected area of the enemies territory.

They do so using structured voilence where opposing playeres smash each other to the ground.

Damn skippy fooball is violent. But it is better than playing Mayan ball games where the winning team was sacrificed by having their hearts ripped out of their chests.

[depakid]

9. Not good for the knees and the brain (especially a developing brain)

Then again, hockey is also violent, and not particularly good for the teeth.

[Submariner]

10. The football brain damage studies hitting the media recently

should be reason for concern. Evidence shows the slight concussions from playing football cumulatively add up to some real problems for retired players. On HBO's Real Sports this week it showed quite a few high school students who were now para- quad-riplegics from playing football.

[phasma ex machina]

12. Darryl Stingley spent more than half his life in a wheelchair, a symbol of the violence of the NFL

[LostInAnomie]

14. There's a difference between using physical force and actual physical violence.

Simple contact and physical force does not equate to violence. If they aren't intending to do actual damage and there isn't malicious intent behind the force, I don't count it as violent. It is simply playing a physical game by the rules agreed to by all.

Some people incorrectly equate any physical force to violence. Most people out there playing football are just out there to have a good time. They aren't intending to do harm, and they don't have any malicious intent behind their actions.

That's just my opinion though. I enjoy physical sports.

[mamaleah]

15. If football is violent then hockey is a gladiator spectacle.

And I love hockey. Not that I necessarily understand it all the time, but I do love hockey. It is far more violent than football.

[Elwood P Dowd]

18. You are wrong. Football is much more violent and deadly, especially the NFL.

Look at the number of former NFL players that are disabled or dying young. It takes it's toll on the brain, and the problem is getting much worse as the players continue to grow bigger, stronger, faster, and hit harder. Stand on the sideline of a college or NFL game, and you will change your opinion as soon as you see some 250-pound linebacker do a head-to-head with some 220-pound running back. One or both might get carried off the field with one of many concussions they're likely to suffer during their career.

I only played high school football, but at 62 I now wish I had never played the game. Back in those days I only had trouble getting out of bed the morning after a game. Now I have trouble every single day because of all those bumps, bruises, and broken bones I suffered 45 years ago. The sport is way more violent now.

[Forkboy]

46. As a hardcore hockey fan I have to disagree.

While it is surely a rough and at times violent sport, every single NFL play has more violence than most entire hockey games. Most of the hits in football are far more violent than the hits in hockey, which are usually safer than they look (I played a ton of hockey myself, so I know looks worse than it really is).

Having said all that, neither sport is meant to be safe, which is why they're so much fun to watch and play. :)

[Posteritatis]

63. OTOH, many hockey fans throw tantrums when one league or another bans fighting.. (nt)

[Forkboy]

79. Other sports don't require fighting the way hockey does.

I can tell you from personal experience that hockey is a far dirtier sport when fighting isn't allowed. The nature of fighting in the NHL allows the players to police themselves better than any other sport. If you do something dirty in hockey you will answer for it. It's not a matter of "if" but "when", and because of that the players are way more respectful that in any other sport. I realize on the outside it may not appear that way, but within the game there is a level of respect like no other sport in North America.

Look at baseball in the American League. A pitcher can throw a beanball at a guy and never have to step up to the plate himself. In hockey if you do something cheap you can't hide.

Not trying to say hockey players are angels, but you're talking about a sport with a solid puck flying around at 100 mph, long wooden sticks, razor sharp skates....and it's on ice. Rough things are bound to happen. It's not a sport meant for the delicate. :)

[Posteritatis]

80. So it's a less violent sport despite fighting being *necessary*? (nt)

[Forkboy]

83. Yes.

I'd rather fight a guy one on one than have some weasel poke me on the back of the knee and blow out a tendon without having to answer for it. The knowledge that he'll have to answer for it keeps him from doing it in the first place. What good is a 3 game suspension when the guy you injure misses a full year? For the most part the fighting in hockey is there to eliminate that. Dirty play will increase without it, I know this first hand.

If one doesn't know the game I know how it looks, but I can say from many years of experience that hockey is not what outsiders see it as. The same people that do the fighting write children's books and play classical piano in the offseason. It's not the thuggery it may appear, and a lot of what you see on ESPN is not the context it has in the game itself. In the last 25 years baseball has had more bench clearing fights than hockey (hockey has had zero, baseball countless), but no one talks about baseball being violent and a bad example. Instead it's right up there with Apple Pie. What would happen if the pitcher and the batter had to square off alone, with no one to back them up but themselves? A Hell of a lot less pitchers throwing bean balls, that's what.

And don't get me wrong, personally I don't really care for the fights, I just know why it's there. Besides keeping other players honest it's just flat out the most intense sport I've ever played, and emotions run high. It's a physical game (when played right), and there's no way to play it without some bumps and bruises. The game at it's finest it about giving up your body and taking the damage to help your teammates, whether it's blocking a 90mph shot or taking a check to get the puck out of your zone, or occasionally fighting someone to keep the other team honest. It's not for everyone.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

16. Read this recent New Yorker article by Malcolm Gladwell.

FOOTBALL, DOGFIGHTING and BRAIN DAMAGE
OCT. 19, 2009 The New Yorker


http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/19/091019fa_fact_gladwell

An offensive lineman can’t do his job without “using his head,” one veteran says, but neuropathologists examining the brains of ex-N.F.L. players have found trauma-related degeneration.

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/19/091019fa_fact_gladwell#ixzz0YtZFUlwI

In the nineteenth century, dogfighting was widely accepted by the American public. But we no longer find that kind of transaction morally acceptable in a sport. “I was not aware of dogfighting and the terrible things that happen around dogfighting,” Goodell said, explaining why he responded so sternly in the Vick case. One wonders whether, had he spent as much time talking to Kyle Turley as he did to Michael Vick, he’d start to have similar doubts about his own sport.

“There is something wrong with this group as a cohort,” Omalu says. “They forget things. They have slurred speech. I have had an N.F.L. player come up to me at a funeral and tell me he can’t find his way home. I have wives who call me and say, ‘My husband was a very good man. Now he drinks all the time. I don’t know why his behavior changed.’ I have wives call me and say, ‘My husband was a nice guy. Now he’s getting abusive.’ I had someone call me and say, ‘My husband went back to law school after football and became a lawyer. Now he can’t do his job. People are suing him.’ ”


“This is Tom McHale,” she said. “He started out playing for Cornell. Then he went to Tampa Bay. He was the man who died of substance abuse at the age of forty-five. I only got fragments of the brain. But it’s just showing huge accumulations of tau for a forty-five-year-old—ridiculously abnormal.”

She placed another slide under the microscope. “This individual was forty-nine years old. A football player. Cognitively intact. He never had any rage behavior. He had the distinctive abnormalities. Look at the hypothalamus.” It was dark with tau. She put another slide in. “This guy was in his mid-sixties,” she said. “He died of an unrelated medical condition. His name is Walter Hilgenberg. Look at the hippocampus. It’s wall-to-wall tangles. Even in a bad case of Alzheimer’s, you don’t see that.” The brown pigment of the tau stain ran around the edge of the tissue sample in a thick, dark band. “It’s like a big river.”

McKee got up and walked across the corridor, back to her office. “There’s one last thing,” she said. She pulled out a large photographic blowup of a brain-tissue sample. “This is a kid. I’m not allowed to talk about how he died. He was a good student. This is his brain. He’s eighteen years old. He played football. He’d been playing football for a couple of years.” She pointed to a series of dark spots on the image, where the stain had marked the presence of something abnormal. “He’s got all this tau. This is frontal and this is insular. Very close to insular. Those same vulnerable regions.” This was a teen-ager, and already his brain showed the kind of decay that is usually associated with old age. “This is completely inappropriate,” she said. “You don’t see tau like this in an eighteen-year-old. You don’t see tau like this in a fifty-year-old.”

McKee is a longtime football fan. She is from Wisconsin. She had two statuettes of Brett Favre, the former Green Bay Packers quarterback, on her bookshelf. On the wall was a picture of a robust young man. It was McKee’s son—nineteen years old, six feet three. If he had a chance to join the N.F.L., I asked her, what would she advise him? “I’d say, ‘Don’t. Not if you want to have a life after football.’ ”

[Manifestor_of_Light]

19. More info.

The other major researcher looking at athletes and C.T.E. is the neuropathologist Bennet Omalu. He diagnosed the first known case of C.T.E. in an ex-N.F.L. player back in September of 2002, when he autopsied the former Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster. He also found C.T.E. in the former Philadelphia Eagles defensive back Andre Waters, and in the former Steelers linemen Terry Long and Justin Strzelczyk, the latter of whom was killed when he drove the wrong way down a freeway and crashed his car, at ninety miles per hour, into a tank truck. Omalu has only once failed to find C.T.E. in a professional football player, and that was a twenty-four-year-old running back who had played in the N.F.L. for only two years.



Mike Webster:
From Wikipedia:

After death, Mike Webster was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease.<1> It has been speculated that Webster's ailments were due to wear and tear sustained over his playing career; some doctors estimated he had been in the equivalent of "25,000 automobile crashes" in over 25 years of playing football at the high school, college and professional levels. Protective equipment, in particular helmets, were inferior during Webster's time, and defensive players sometimes employed a "head slap" move that was then accepted, although illegal.



Andre Waters:
Wikipedia:

Shortly after Waters' death, former Harvard defensive tackle and WWE wrestler Christopher Nowinski, whose wrestling career was ended by post-concussion syndrome and has since written a book about the dangers of concussions in contact sports, approached Waters' family and asked permission to have his brain tissue examined. After receiving permission, Nowinski had samples of Waters' brain tissue sent to neuropathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu at the University of Pittsburgh. Omalu believed, having examined the tissue, that Waters sustained brain damage from playing football: he went on to state that this led to Waters' depression.<3>

Dr. Omalu determined that Waters' brain tissue had degenerated into that of an 85-year-old man with similar characteristics to those of early-stage Alzheimer's victims. Omalu said he believed that the damage was caused and/or hastened by the numerous concussions Waters sustained playing football. Additionally Omalu said that Waters would have been fully incapacitated within ten years.


Justin Strzelczyk:
Wikipedia:
He died in a car accident at the age of 36 in Herkimer, New York, when he hit a tank truck while driving 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) against the flow of traffic to evade capture by the police.<1>

It was initially thought that Strzelczyk was under the influence of alcohol or drugs due to his irrational behavior, but this was disproved by toxicity tests. A post-mortem autopsy revealed that he had suffered from brain damage, likely due to his years of playing football. <2>

This incident helped to begin a debate about the seriousness of concussions at the June 2007 NFL Summit. There, Bennet Omalu, a Pittsburgh neuropathologist, linked the deaths in recent years of four retired NFL players to brain damage from football. The cases involve former Philadelphia Eagles safety Andre Waters and three former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive linemen: Mike Webster, Terry Long and Strzelczyk. Waters and Long committed suicide; Webster died of a heart attack, but suffered from severe mental problems in his later life. Omalu says each death followed a similar line: football concussions, leading to brain damage similar to dementia pugilistica (also known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy) in boxers, leading to clinical depression. It was previously thought to only exist in boxers and steeplechase jockeys.<3>



Wally Hilgenberg:

From the New Yorker:
“This guy was in his mid-sixties,” she said. “He died of an unrelated medical condition. His name is Walter Hilgenberg. Look at the hippocampus. It’s wall-to-wall tangles. Even in a bad case of Alzheimer’s, you don’t see that.” The brown pigment of the tau stain ran around the edge of the tissue sample in a thick, dark band. “It’s like a big river.”

Wikipedia:
Hilgenberg died on September 23, 2008, after battling for several years with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease.<1>

[jobycom]

17. Yeah, it's about like a Black Friday special at Best Buy, I suppose.

I never liked football as a kid. I actually was decent at it when I played with the neighborhood kids, but I didn't like it, and I thought it was too violent.

I started watching it when I was 19. Had to learn all the rules, I didn't even know how it was scored. Mostly I learned it because I moved to Dallas and worked in sales, so it gave me something to talk about in a city obsessed with the sport.

The more I watched it, the more I appreciated the strategy of the game, and the whole idea of the physical expose of the game. It was a study in what a human body could do, how it could perform when pushed. It could be graceful, rugged, or simply amazing to watch athletes as they pushed their abilities to run, jump, catch, and make outstanding physical manuevers that just couldn't occur anywhere else. It became, to me, an art form of sorts--an exploration and expression of the physical capabilities of the human body.

The negative side is the injuries, of course, when the body is pushed too far. Rules try to limit them, but they happen.

It depends on what you mean by violent, I guess I'd say. If you just mean physical contact and any form of aggression directed at others, yeah, it's a little violent, but the aggression is limited within strict rules, so it isn't like a fight or a battle. The violence is limited to carefully controlled objectives, and anything beyond that is penalized. If you are asking whether football makes a person more violent or more likely to respond to a situation with violence, or if encourages violence, I'd say no. There used to be a stat tossed around that domestic violence increased dramatically during the Super Bowl or during football games, but this his been completely debunked as an urban myth. No statistics demonstrate that in any way. There are no stats I've heard of that link football to violent behavior. There have been some studies to suggest that it helps people control anger and violent reaction, but showing them how to limit aggression, since the violence in the game is strictly controlled to clear objectives, and not allowed to spill over once the play is over. I don't know if I buy that, either.

If you think it's violent and want to discourage your kid from participating, that's what you should do. No one else should define the values you teach your kid, although I would add that your kid should have the right to choose, ultimately.

As for me, I had a lot of people try to talk me into playing in high school, and didn't want to. I wish I had now. And it's not because I've learned to like watching the sport, but because I think I could have been decent at it. I was never really encouraged in athletics, and I liked that at the time, but looking back, I feel I missed a chance to explore that side of myself, to test myself in a team sport that developed physical skills. I was always a reader and writer, and wouldn't trade that for anything. But I wish I had played it less safe as a kid, and experimented outside of my safety zone more. I may have been lousy at it, but at least I'd know that I just wasn't good at it, instead of wondering if I could have developed myself more completely. There are things I'm not good at in life, and some of them I might have gotten better at if I had tried to play sports in the same way I approached my academic studies.

Just my thoughts. Long winded and irrelevant, as always.

[Hippo_Tron]

20. My dad heavily discouraged me from playing football for fear of injury

People who play that game, other than the professionals who make millions of dollars doing it, are idiots for putting their body through that.

And truth be told I'm not really fast enough or big enough to play. Looking back it wouldn't have been the worst thing to give middle school football a try. But I think I would indeed have come to regret the injuries I might've sustained playing at the high school level.

[barbtries]

21. i'm with you

though i think of it more as dangerous. my son loves it. he is a fanatic. but he doesn't play - i too discouraged all of my sons from taking up the sport. if they don't start early they won't make the team in high school. if they don't make the team in high school they won't have a chance at college ball. if they don't play college ball they'll never be a pro. my family doctor had 7 children and was the team doctor for a local high school. he told me once that his sons were prohibited from taking two sports: football and boxing. he also had a patient from that high school who was rendered a quadriplegic in a football game. i don't mind tag or flag football. there are a lot of fun options for children that don't involve physical danger.

i don't stop my son from watching football, it would be cruel. he is a true fanatic. he hopes to be a trainer in the future, and that works for me. we attend and help out with a semi-pro team locally which is run by one of my co-workers and her husband. this past season there was a fight that cleared the field, but only two visits to the ER as i recall. though in the last game there was also one player who literally stuffed an entire bag of ice in his pants after he took a vicious hit to the groin. i winced every time he walked by. according to my co-worker her husband spends the day after a game limping and soaking in epsom salts.

but they love that game. i enjoy it myself. go figure.

[proteus_lives]

22. I don't see any reason to.

Competition can be healthy and productive. Encourages teamwork and other qualities. Besides if he expresses an interest in it and you campaign against, he'll only want to do it more.

Like all sports, it can be dangerous but so is walking down the street. Don't assume the jock stereotype either. The sports crowd has the same percentage of assholes as every other group.

[ZombieHorde]

23. I guess your question is a semantical one. I don't think schools should have football teams.

I know stupid is "in" right now, but I personally against increasing the amount of stupid people in the world.

[Jamastiene]

24. I think it is more homoerotic than violent.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that. There is not. I think it's perfectly fine. Of course, a lot of football fans and players would disagree with me, I would imagine. It is very homoerotic though.

[omega minimo]

25. Is that even a question?

[B Calm]

26. Soccer is more violent. Actually football is a great sport!

[B Calm]

37. In 2006 174,686 children were sent to the emergency room with injuries from playing soccer!

Worst Soccer Injury Ever
1 min 40 sec - Feb 27, 2009
www.break.com

[HughMoran]

44. per capita please

A LOT more kids play soccer - including my daughters who would NEVER play football.

[HughMoran]

42. Back that up with statistics

I'm especially interested in brain damage per 1000 players since I believe that a LOT more young people play soccer versus football (i.e., both of my daughters play a lot of soccer, but hardly any females play football).

[B Calm]

52. Praying your girls don't end up having knee injuries. . . Torn ACL's

is a very common injury for soccer. . .

[HughMoran]

53. Tore my ACL playing hockey

I'm very familiar with injuries & sports, but I still find it hard to believe that soccer has the larger number of injuries (especially very serious ones) per 1000 players.

[B Calm]

58. I never could understand why soccer enthusiasts hate football...

Is it because football is more popular in the US than soccer and they are extremely jealous? Football in the US has more injuries than soccer, but only because more people play football.

[HughMoran]

60. I love football - watching my Pats right now

Football is a great sport. I do worry about the concussions leading to life-long brain injury though.

[B Calm]

66. You are an exception. A small local high school nearby started a soccer

program 20 years ago and their football program has been going downhill since. Many of the boys who want to play football are not allowed by their overprotecting mothers. Even though their boys are still being injured on the soccer field, they see football as a violent sport.

[alfredo]

55. Among fans.

[Posteritatis]

67. Or El Salvador and Honduras back in '69. (nt)

[alfredo]

70. War is a rich man's sport, and a poor man's burden.

[glowing]

27. My son is 5, loves football already, has a nice little spiral throw and everything.

He even likes to rush me.. I'll line up like a defensive player and he comes running trying to knock me over... I think I'm going to have to give up that little horsing around play with him sooner than later.. he's tough. My husband already scouted a little kid football league and what's required (60lbs.) The other sport he loves is baseball. I don't know if he will want to play later on in life.. but we are willing to give him the opportunity to have fun and try out different sports while he's young. Who knows, he may hit teen years and turn into a book worm. However, if he's anything like his Daddy, he will be into sports still (and they seem to be molded out of the same pea pod).

If anything the research into head traumas will help to design better equipment to help prevent injuries to the brain.. not only with sport contact, but in war situations.

[Fla Dem]

28. Of course it is. At least on the NFL level

250 - 400 lbs men run full tilt into one another, knock them down, tackle them, pile on and generally pummel them. If someone did this to anyone other than during a football game, it would be called a violent attack. Ice hockey, soccer and boxing are also violent sport.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

30. According to The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury, 325 men and boys have died

either directly or indirectly from playing football at the high school and college level between 1982-2008 (26 years). Direct injuries are defined as those fatalities which resulted directly from participation in the fundamental skills of football (such as tackling and blocking). Indirect injuries are those injuries that are caused by systemic failure as a result of exertion while participating in football activity or by a complication which was secondary to a nonfatal injury (such as heart failure and heat stroke).

[JonLP24]

31. If you turn on the TV to Fox or CBS in a few hours

You can see for yourself. I may be the wrong person to ask because I LOVE football especially playing it. My short time I did play in High School(Long story, switched HS, lost credits, got out and got GED) was the MOST fun I ever had in my life. The padding really does a lot to protect you and it is important to focus on conditioning to stay healthy. My point in all this is if you want to discourage your kid from doing so that is your right but the idea no one prohibited me from playing allowed me to have the greatest time of my life.

There are many studies out about head injuries that are a major cause for concern. The NFL itself has made changes recently barring return from players to a game after suffering a concussion and new measures to seek treatment and get cleared by independent doctors and team doctors to return for the field so if that comes up make sure your son gets treated properly.

[H2O Man]

32. When played right.

[Forkboy]

47. Well said.

:)

[Deja Q]

33. No, but it's downright sexy with all the men pattin' each other on their bee-hinds...

:evilgrin:

[TheCowsCameHome]

34. Listen to the post-game interviews, if you don't believe they suffer head injuries.

[endless october]

35. i found it pretty boring and annoying.

some kids really dig it, though.

i played for years, was pretty decent at it, and i am one of the least violent people you'll ever meet.

as for discouraging your kid from playing, i can't tell you for sure as i'm not a parent. my gut reaction is that if you tell him he can't play, that will make him want to play even more. if i ever become a parent, i have toyed with the idea of putting my kid into sports just so he'll / she'll rebel and want to play music. a band is a good "team," in my opinion.

[Cid_B]

36. Yes it's violent and yes if he wants to play you should let him...

Who said a little bit of aggression is a bad thing?

Is it safe to assume you would put the same restrictions on the martial arts, hockey, rugby etc.. etc..?

[Unvanguard]

39. That's what I was going to say.

There's nothing wrong with controlled violence, when it does not harm anyone.

[givemebackmycountry]

38. I remember a while back a retired NFL player responded like this to the question....

What's it like to play defense in the NFL?

The player said...

Close your garage door and stand at the end of your driveway. Now run full speed into the closed door. Do it another 40 times. That's what it's like paying defense in the NFL.

Last week I was watching the Oregon vs Oregon State game.
One of the sideline reporters had a yellow helmet (Oregon) in her hand and it was cracked from the ear hole to the top of the helmet.
That's hitting.

[Brickbat]

40. What's the violence concern -- physical or metaphorical?

[Cleita]

41. Let's see.

Any sport that draws blood, causes broken bones and concussions, with the frequency it occurs in football, would in my book be considered violent. I would put boxing there too. Although you can get injured in other sports, the frequency is not there. I mean look at tennis, golf, even baseball doesn't have the frequency of injuries. So in those sports such occurrences would truly be accidental. I don't think that is true of football or other violent sports. It's almost a certainty with those sports that you will be injured and carry the consequences of your injuries through your life after you stop playing.

[bevoette]

43. i think interest in a sport - ANY sport - is better than 'interest' in some alternatives...

for kids, i mean

i mean, sure, it could be band or the math club or student council and all that...but basically, my philosophy is 'keep 'em busy' during their formative years.

sports also could benefit b/c of the exercise, grades must be maintained b/c of NP/NP, etc.

[Cleita]

71. Getting exercise can

be achieved in other ways like swimming, skating, yoga or dancing. It doesn't strictly have to be a violent contact sport.

[bevoette]

76. yes, that's why i said "any sport" (nm)

[mitchum]

45. Yes, but not violent enough; that's why I watch boxing

[Fire1]

48. Ice hockey is by far more violent, imo. n/t

[ConnorMarc]

50. Yes It Is

I find it funny how people like to argue one form of violence against the other and say things like "Not really, its not as bad (read violent) as...."

Also, its even more humurous how most Americans like to counter "this is REAL football" when they are the ONLY people in the entire world that refers to this as football and calls football..."soccer."

LOL!!!

A game where they pass the ball with their hands, run the ball in their hands and make passes with the ball with their hands is called "football" and have fans believing that its the "real football."

Bashing a game where EVERYTHING in the game is done with just their feet and the ball.

CLASSIC!!!

LMBAO!!!

[hedgehog]

51. I discouraged my son from playing football precisely to avoid injuries and

because I've seen kids his size encouraged to "really bulk up".

He ran track, indoor track and was the world's largest gymnast. Most gymnasts are long and lean or short and lean. My son was not what you'd call lean. Seriously, I think he made the foot ball coach and wrestling coach weep every time they saw him.





The last week of his senior year, the gym teacher took the class outside for touch football. My son spent that summer getting his ACL replaced after another kid ran into him.

[-..__...]

54. Screw football, soccer, hockey, etc...

this thread needs more Rollerball!...

[GreenPartyVoter]

56. Here are some articles about cheering safety that cite injury rates for other sports

(I'll keep my guys in soccer and basketball, but football worries me too much. I tried to get them to cheer for me, but no dice. So much for those gymnastics lessons drawing them in. LOL)

Recent: http://www.cheersafety.org/2009/06/cheerleading-and-the-media-again-and-again.html

Older: http://web.archive.org/web/20050213203340/http:/ihigh.com/0,1773,2_2_0_79700,00.html

Older: http://web.archive.org/web/20071028165832/http://www.aacca.org/pediatricsstudy.asp

Older: http://web.archive.org/web/20060111075540/http:/www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site1110/mainpageS1110P0.html

[MilesColtrane]

57. Not as violent as rugby.

I took a rugby class as an elective in college one semester.

I had to drop out after the first week because I got kicked in the mouth and nearly lost a tooth, and I sprained my wrist so I couldn't play bass for a few weeks.

[SmileyRose]

59. Yes. The participants know this.

I'd much rather see people have an avenue to get their frustrations out that does not include road rage and beating up the spouse and kids.

[asdjrocky]

62. It's team work.

All kids should play football. Baseball is better because it teaches you that you can fail many times and still get ahead with just one good play. It teaches you to keep trying.

In my humble opinion two of the best things to come out of America for the rest of the world is the sports, and the music. Encourage these interests.

[sakabatou]

64. Yes...

However, sometimes it's the spectators who become violent.

[shanti]

65. does a bear....

why yes, i do believe it's violent! football sucks, and not because it's violent (i like to watch boxing). it's slow and boring. my sport is basketball, which is not violence free either.

[Bjorn Against]

68. Well if you were to tackle a person on the streets the way a football player does...

You would be charged with assault, I think the fact that you could not do the same thing that you see in football in any other situation without being charged with a violent crime suggests that football is indeed violent.

[Saboburns]

69. Playing football is incredibly fun for those that play it.

It is a sport that demands a bunch of commitment. Yes, there are injuries.

I coached High School Football for 19 years, and loved every minute of it. The kids I've coached who come back to a man CHERISH their football days, as some of the best times they've every had.

Football is not for everybody. My advice is if your son wants to play, let him try it and see what he thinks about it. Most other sports can be played throughout a lifetime. Sports like basketball, golf, tennis, are enjoyed by people into their 60's, 70's and 80's.

Football is different. Most of us only played into our high school years. What I mean is that there are no pick up full contact games after one graduates high school.

Let him try it is my advice.

[alarimer]

72. He should be a kicker if he plays football.

Fewer collisions, fewer concussions, a better chance of his brain matter remaining relatively intact once his football career is over.

Yes, the big hits on QBs and others cause concussion and multiple concussions are very bad for future cognitive abilities but it is the daily, repeated collisions by linemen that lead to serious cognitive impairment later on. And these problems start early, probably before high school but at least by then. Studies have shown cognitive impairment of high school and college players, even if proper precautions are taken.

Football is dangerous for the breadth and scale of the number of head injuries in particular.

Soccer can be dangerous, too, especially for young kids heading the ball but it is not nearly as bad as football for cognitive development. I think all the high-tech padding and gear leads to a false sense of security, making the hits harder and more dangerous. This is sort of counter-intuitive but it is kind of like the fact that drivers drive more dangerously when they have more airbags and anti-lock breaks. False sense of security.

[JANdad]

73. No it is not when played

with honor and respect...

and BTW...make sure your kid never ever leaves the house...but if he must then by god wrap him up in bubble wrap!

[blueamy66]

74. My SIL won't let my nephew

play tackle football until they have medical coverage...2 months away....

He plays flag right now...he's learning the fundamentals without getting pummeled.

[Initech]

75. I like George Carlin's take:

"In baseball in the stands, it's kind of a picnic feeling. Emotions may run high but there's generally not that much unpleasantness.

In football in the stands, you can be certain that at least 27 times during the game you are capable of taking the life of a fellow human being. Preferably a stranger.

In football the object is for the quarterback, otherwise known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use the shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bomb he marches his troops into enemy territory balancing this aerial assault with a carefully sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy's defensive line.

In baseball the object is to go home!!! Look at me I'm going home!!!"

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

77. I would suggest mixed martial arts instead, much less chance of serious injury.

Of course football has much lower risk than cheerleading. I'd suggest wrestling in school and mixed martial arts after school.

[AndrewP]

81. It's violent, but you can minize SOME of the damage if.....

You don't play with a concussion, like many of the NFLers did in the past.

That is why many of them had such serious problems in their 40's and beyond. Many NFLers in the past 10 years like Mike Webster and Andre Waters suffered brain injury related deaths.

I'm not AGAINST football, just the mentality of playing thru brain injuries.

[kenny blankenship]

82. I don't know - is brain damage really a problem in your view?

[RidinMyDonkey]

84. I actually think Football is safer than a lot of other sports

I did almost all the sports in school because my parents didn't know what to do with me. I think because Football has so much potential to be dangerous they regulate it more.

Oddly enough, the worst injuries I ever got were from basketball and Cheerleading.

[NightWatcher]

85. Life is Violent. However, learning to take a hit is a great lesson that football teaches

it also teaches discipline and practice. Sure, it hurts when you get hit sometimes, but so can getting laid off or rejected by an insurance company. Football teaches you to get up, brush yourself off, and join the huddle for the next play.

If your son is interested in football let him try it. Football opens doors to college for some who are lucky. If nothing else, it can be fun and relatively safe depending on how he is taught to play the game. I would recommend starting earlier than later so that a foundation of fundamentals could be established.

[nini]

86. It is 'physical' not necessarily violent

though like anything else violence can creep in there with certain losers.