LOL - OBY unsure if he'd let a son play football

[AirFlacco]

OBY just took a page out of Goodell's hand book and said he's not sure
if he let his son play football, if he had a son. Like Goodell he's worried
about all the injuries especially concussions especially at the college level and the NCAA
needs to do something about it. The NFL has unions to help the
players. Thank goodness he doesn't have a son.

And he says that while saying he's a big fan. Typical double talk.

Well, I just glad my dad let me go out for my hi school team and even
my college team as a walk-on.

OBY sounds just like the pussy Goodell. Four more years.




http://www.NFL.com/news/story/0ap100...-play-football

[dandrews]

Give it a rest already. He can parent however he sees fit

[AirFlacco]

Hey man, I'm not the one who wrote the article.

I'm just the messenger.




At the very least, OBY's not good for football (neither is Goodell) and this is a football board first and
always.

[darb72]

Keep that idiot away from football. He's already destroyed the economy, we don't need him doing the same thing to the national pastime.

[HoustonRaven]

So what?

My wife and I have had this discussion already as well. We're not sure if we will let our future son play football either.

[Irish Raven]

we don't need him doing the same thing to the national pastime.

Isn't that baseball?

[AirFlacco]

Compare this wussie Prez to the one who saved football in 1905 after 18 players died on the field which was considered
a national disgrace. They didn't call hm the rough rider for nutten. And all this after his own son got a broken nose in a JV game at Harvard. Ironically, Harvard was one of the many schools that tried to ban football.

Teddy, who never played the game but loved it, got the leaders together in the White HOuse and said football is on trial (there was a lot of sentiment in Congress to pass legislation to kill it). You are going to change the game by instituting strategies, plays with the forward pass being born and the spread offense, teams had to get 10 yards for a first down instead of 5 and the two lines had to stand a yard apart at the line of scrimmage and the football
helmet was born for safety not to mention the NFL which came along 20 years later.

Can you imagine OBY seeing his son get a broken nose? He'd throw up and raise taxes. I still have a broken finger
from a game in hi school. When I give someone the bird the top half makes a 90 degree turn to the left-lol. When I was drafted the Army doc yelled, your fingers are crooked. I said no shit. I played football and my own running back ran over
my hand after I wiped out the right side of the line.

___________________________________________

The most infamous example was Harvard’s “Flying Wedge,” inspired by Napoleonic war tactics: Offensive players assumed a V-shaped formation behind the line of scrimmage, then converged en masse on a single defensive lineman. “Think of it—half a ton of bone and muscle coming into collision with a man weighing 160 or 170 pounds,” wrote The New York Times
_____________________________________________




http://mentalfloss.com/article/31657...saved-football

[ActualSpamBot]

So what you're saying Trap, is that the president personally intervened and forced the powers that be to fundamentally change the rules of football to make it less violent and more safe, and that's good.

But when Goodel, as a function of his job, does the same thing, but much less drastically, that's a bad thing.

And when a president you don't like simply says he's unsure if he'd allow his child to play football, without expressing an interest in changing football in anyway that's bad too.

[wickedsolo]

So what?

My wife and I have had this discussion already as well. We're not sure if we will let our future son play football either.

Us too.

However, the game and level of attentiveness to injuries is MUCH better than when I played in the 90's and early 2000's. Equipment is better, evaluations are better, and symptom/medical knowledge is better.

I'm not going to say that it is entirely safer, but I would say that all of the above has made the game "less" risky. I mean, if a high school kid suffers some significant concussions (like I did) then you have to take the necessary actions to make sure that they A) heal properly and B) understand that they probably shouldn't play anymore.

When I was in high school (graduated in 2001), my coach used to tell us that getting your bells rung was a badge of honor and it just means that you hit a guy "real good". Concussions weren't even in the repertoire.

We're going to let the boy decide for himself when he's ready. If he wants to play soccer, baseball, swim, lacrosse, golf...whatever. I'm cool with that. However, if he decides he wants to play football, I'm cool with that too. We'll just know to keep an eye on things like concussions.

In all honesty, even with the concussions in football, I injured myself WAY more playing pick up basketball with friends...rolled ankles, torn ankle tendons, sprains, hyper extensions, broken fingers, even a concussion from landing on the court.

[JAB1985]

each parent has their choice to raise their kids as they see fit. The fact that he is parenting and showing caution for a violent sport is nothing unusual. I dont get the joke or the "wussie" comment, except blatant favoritism as SpamBot pointed out.

Wicked you point out something thats really not talked about a lot, Basketball is also a violent sport. It may not be as violent of collisions but there certainly is a lot more physicality than some realize and the main difference being, no protective clothes or at least very minimal. I think anybody that goes up for a rebound in a crowd can attest to that fact.

[AirFlacco]

So what?

My wife and I have had this discussion already as well. We're not sure if we will let our future son play football either.

Seriously sir,with all due respect, no smack, why do you even watch football? Why are you a Ravens fan? Did you not play at all as a child? How do you think he'll feel when all his friends are playing but he can't because he might get hurt? I know a father
who did that to his son and the boy was always bitter about it. I can see the fans across the pond never playing but most of us here have as a child, many of us in organized ball. People get concussions and even blinded in baseball getting drilled in the head with a Jim Palmer fast ball 95 mph.

I'm not making light of the injuries but we have the leader of the country bad mouthing the game and trying to influence
people like you vs it. Injuries are part of the game. Like Solo said, they were a badge of courage as a kid. I got four stitches
from getting kicked in the head, went to the hospital and had to wear a wrapping around my head. I went to City,
an all boys school and that was my badge of courage and I was hot shit for a week too. Everyone had something to
say. I was proud when I was carried into the hospital.

The link I posted above showed how people were
killed. I remember Ben Davidson kicking Johnny Unitas in the stomach in a game but off the field he was supposed to be
a great guy and father.

If it's too rough, than don't let your future son watch and dont watch it yourself.

[AirFlacco]

I just remembered this story from a poster a couple of years ago who sat next to Jon Gruden on a
flight to Tampa after a night game here. Gruden said Goodell is killing the game with all these
wussie rules.

That was the sentiment of most of the posters on this board especially in reference to the Brady
Rule. We even called him Marsha. Phil Simms went on TV and yelled at the fans for saying things like
that and bitching about the rules. Of course he was a QB too.

Even Suggs said they are reducing the game to touch football.

So we're going from the flying wedge to touch football. That's what some of you liberals want.

[ActualSpamBot]

In what possible universe is this a liberal vs. conservative issue? And how the hell do you construe Obama's comments as "bad mouthing the game" and "trying to pressure change"? (A charge I find ludicrously ironic since you praised another president for taking direct action and DRAMATICALLY altering football.)

[JAB1985]

Seems everything in AirFlaccos life is Liberal VS Conservative. If he doesnt like or agree with it, he refers to it as Liberal.

Football is for entertainment. Just because you enjoy that entertainment doesnt mean you want your child doing it. Its comparative to going to the strip club but "keeping your daughter off the pole".

[AirFlacco]

I'm a history buff as most of you know, and I just wish I could have been at some of the games in the 1890s.
I would have loved to play even more. Again, I'm thankful my dad let me go out for my college team and I was
the smallest player on the field. Didn't make the team of course but I played in a scrimmage for 10 mins and held
my own. I did make the wrestling team.

And the TErps are switching to the Big 10 because of their history going back to that era and how big they've
become.

[wickedsolo]

I don't understand why this even has to have a political agenda.

Look at the number of players who have come out and stated that they would rather not let their sons play football.

There is no political agenda there. There is just parents being concerned with the mental well-being/future of their children. As a parent, I can understand that.

[wickedsolo]

Seriously sir,with all due respect, no smack, why do you even watch football? Why are you a Ravens fan? Did you not play at all as a child? How do you think he'll feel when all his friends are playing but he can't because he might get hurt? I know a father
who did that to his son and the boy was always bitter about it. I can see the fans across the pond never playing but most of us here have as a child, many of us in organized ball. People get concussions and even blinded in baseball getting drilled in the head with a Jim Palmer fast ball 95 mph.

I'm not making light of the injuries but we have the leader of the country bad mouthing the game and trying to influence
people like you vs it. Injuries are part of the game. Like Solo said, they were a badge of courage as a kid. I got four stitches
from getting kicked in the head, went to the hospital and had to wear a wrapping around my head. I went to City,
an all boys school and that was my badge of courage and I was hot shit for a week too. Everyone had something to
say. I was proud when I was carried into the hospital.

The link I posted above showed how people were
killed. I remember Ben Davidson kicking Johnny Unitas in the stomach in a game but off the field he was supposed to be
a great guy and father.

If it's too rough, than don't let your future son watch and dont watch it yourself.

Just because my football coach in high school said that getting your bells rung was a badge of honor didn't mean that they were. This same coach could barely walk because of multiple knee surgeries from playing football (he played for the Detroit Lions in the 70's). I had 2 big concussions in high school and 1 my freshman year of college (actually given to me by John Kuhn...go figure) and I can adamantly tell you that there was nothing about them that were badges of honor.

I had 20/20 vision until my freshman year of college...after that last concussion, I needed a prescription for glasses. I forgot my home phone number. I would forget homework assignments. I mixed up class times (to the point where I would walk into a class thinking I was the first in, sit down, and realize that I had missed the class when no one showed up), and I was just really depressed. The neurologist told me that he was recommending to my college coaching staff that they not let me play anymore. They didn't. I was pissed for a while, but now I'm glad they didn't let me suit up again.

8 years later: I have 20/20 vision again and have no other symptoms (memory loss, etc).

According to the neurologist I saw, it takes approximately 3 years for a concussion to fully heal (depending on the severity). So, guys who are suffering a concussion every season (Jahvid Best comes to mind) are REALLY pushing the envelope on their post-NFL life.

[dandrews]

I don't understand why this even has to have a political agenda.

Look at the number of players who have come out and stated that they would rather not let their sons play football.

There is no political agenda there. There is just parents being concerned with the mental well-being/future of their children. As a parent, I can understand that.

When is something with AirFlacco not a political agenda?

I'm only a college student, but I'm not sure if I'd let my kid play football either. I played HS football a few years ago and while everyone thinks these drastic measures are in place to treat concussions, it's not as exhaustive as you'd like to think.

[ActualSpamBot]

I played high school ball 10 years ago. Fullback and nose tackle. (Not bad for a kid well south of 5'6 and at the time less than 150 pounds with a brick in each hand). There are entire GAMES I only know happened because I have tapes of them. I probably suffered between 4 and 7 concussions. I don't know the exact number because nobody ever took me to a doctor for them. I got knocked out cold twice and both times went back into the game.

I would never let my kid play the way I did. And I wish I had been smart enough to tell my parents about it because I doubt they would have let me keep playing either.

[wickedsolo]

When is something with AirFlacco not a political agenda?

I'm only a college student, but I'm not sure if I'd let my kid play football either. I played HS football a few years ago and while everyone thinks these drastic measures are in place to treat concussions, it's not as exhaustive as you'd like to think.

A lot of high school coaches are required to do medical correspondence classes now regarding concussions, symptoms, and treatments. For example, last August, California governor signed AB1451, which will require all high school coaches to go through concussion training. In July of last year, the Maryland Board of Ed passed requirements for all school coaches (not just football) to be trained on head-trauma and related injuries.
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2...chool-students

Trust me, it is SIGNIFICANTLY better than what it was when I was in high school a little more than a decade ago. I mean, defensive coordinator actually told me once that the best way to not get a headache from contact is to just hit the other guy harder before he can hit you. I hit a kid so hard during one high school game that I broke his jaw. That kid never played again. I can remember in the MD state playoffs making a tackle...blacking out for a second or two...coming to and being dizzy and seeing stars...literally seeing stars. It is strange to think about, because it wasn't that long ago, but the past 4-5 years have really forced the issue to the front of the lines, so to speak, and high school coaches are the one's who are going to be expected to lead the charge because a lot of kids who have major concussion issues in college and in the pro's, probably suffered legitimate concussions while in high school when their brains were still developing.

My wife's uncle is in the New Jersey coaches hall of fame as a football coach and he has been championing head-trauma training for coaches in New Jersey for a long time now.

Also, many colleges (and high schools) are requiring that their football team's use specific helmets that are better designed and have been proven to reduce (not eliminate) head trauma. REVO Speed helmets, for example. Virginia Tech did a study on these helmets a couple of years ago and they beat out the other helmet companies by a fair amount.