My boys' high school just dropped football

[Delmar]

I wouldn't be surprised in the least if rugby turns out to be what schools turn to when replacing football. The impacts are totally different, no football lineplay, and the lack of plastic helmets totally changes how you tackle.

The hang overs are a pain.

 

[kirbivore]

A school of 1500 students in Ellicott City, Maryland, Centennial High School, will not play varsity football this year. They can't field a team.

This is what's up ahead. Fear of CTE is going to radically change the sport. Parents are not going to tolerate the risk of brain damage for their children.

I'm listening to ESPN commentary on youth football right now with no serious consideration of CTE. The NFL is in complete denial about this.

Baseball is about to experience a renaissance.

Football in 20 years will be like boxing is now. Only the most economically desperate and kids with deep family connections will play.

 

[kirbivore]

In some places it's already died off. See Rutgers.

 

[kirbivore]

Baseball is pretty regional. My kids are all about Bryce Harper, Max Scherzer, etc but really don't know players on other teams.

besides an event like Cubs/Cleveland Game 7 the national numbers are down, but the ratings of many RSN's (YES, NESN, etc) are up for their teams baseball games

 

[OrangeTarheel]

Football and baseball have changed dramatically thanks to free agency. I stopped investing my time in professional baseball and football because I felt like the players began to change with such frequency. Even key players. Change that and it would be a step toward reigniting fan interest in these sports.

 

[kirbivore]

Football and baseball have changed dramatically thanks to free agency. I stopped investing my time in professional baseball and football because I felt like the players began to change with such frequency. Even key players. Change that and it would be a step toward reigniting fan interest in these sports.

Sheldon 'Shelly' Marcone: Football is a dyin' beast, Joe. No heroes left. Not anymore. Since ol' Sonny Werblin paid four hundred thousand dollars to Joe Namath in '66, the son of a bitches have just gotten greedier. God Almighty, when's it enough? Jesus, free agents. "Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme." Now you got guys on PCP wiggin' out and shootin' themselves on the field. The American public is piss-pot tired of it, and they're changing the channel.

 

[Townie72]

No, it's not. Soccer is about to get a big bump and start getting the best athletes.

Who knows what's going to happen.

But forecasts of the rise of soccer have been made for 40 years and it hasn't happened yet.

For whatever reason the soccer is unattractive to the American sports-watching public. Some of that is due to the lack of scoring.

If basketball were to shrink the size of the goal to 60% of it's current size and games were to be 12 - 10 affairs, how many Americans would watch it?

 

[Townie72]

Football and baseball have changed dramatically thanks to free agency. I stopped investing my time in professional baseball and football because I felt like the players began to change with such frequency. Even key players. Change that and it would be a step toward reigniting fan interest in these sports.

Are you familiar with the rate of player switches made in European soccer?

 

[Scooch]

It's a game. People should play the games they want to play.

I find it so odd that so many need to drag cultural, generational and social judgments into what is essentially a conversation about what games people like to play.

Football being Important (tm) is a relatively recent phenomenon. If it's not Important (tm) years from now, whatever. People will play other games and life will go on.

 

[KaiserUEO]

I love how people are saying football is too dangerous and is dying, yet Lacrosse is a joy and is growing!!!

Clearly people, you've never played either, for if u did...you would know that Lacrosse is much much more dangerous and has likely caused great amount of CTE and will continue to do so.

Enough.

 

[sufandu]

I love how people are saying football is too dangerous and is dying, yet Lacrosse is a joy and is growing!!!

Clearly people, you've never played either, for if u did...you would know that Lacrosse is much much more dangerous and has likely caused great amount of CTE and will continue to do so.

Enough.

Lacrosse is physical and has some big collisions with checking, but it doesn't have the same repetitive collisions as football. The repetition is what's key. I don't have to play it to see it. I have eyes.

 

[RandomGuy]

LB is most concussed.

There are studies being done at the high school level, to determine the risk, at this level. Pre concussion protocol studies, at the NFL level are a different animal.

Some folks are just opposed because of the inherent violence. A smaller group, I know, is opposed to anything specifically masculine(or feminine)... To each his own. These folks may be quick to cite studies or individuals that back their beliefs,(like jr. Seau having 1500 concussions) although the current data, is not addressing some of the changes. We shall see.

New helmet can reduce the force up to 50%. It's s good start, and should significantly reduce the overall, non concussed, trauma. I believe this will be especially true at the high school level, where there are 3 or 4 sports that currently suffer from higher concussion rates(measurable).

 

[KaiserUEO]

Lacrosse is physical and has some big collisions with checking, but it doesn't have the same repetitive collisions as football. The repetition is what's key. I don't have to play it to see it. I have eyes.

And the repetition, is what is being seriously curtailed in football.

I would gather most here, aren't and don't have kids who are over 6'5 300 either, which is who most of the 'repetition' occurs with.

CTE is in every contact sport.

Everyone should just play golf and tennis.

 

[sufandu]

And the repetition, is what is being seriously curtailed in football.

I would gather most here, aren't and don't have kids who are over 6'5 300 either, which is who most of the 'repetition' occurs with.

CTE is in every contact sport.

Everyone should just play golf and tennis.

It's curtailed to a small degree in practice. There are collisions on every play during the game. Saying there is CTE in every contact sport is like saying everyone is going to die so lets all smoke like chimneys. The type and frequency of collisions in football suggest there is greater risk there than in most other contact sports. Research needs to be done in all collision sports to explore risk. It's in it's infancy now and I'm sure it will expand. Your flippant attitude and sarcasm doesn't change the biology or kinetics of it.

 

[KaiserUEO]

It's curtailed to a small degree in practice. There are collisions on every play during the game. Saying there is CTE in every contact sport is like saying everyone is going to die so lets all smoke like chimneys. The type and frequency of collisions in football suggest there is greater risk there than in most other contact sports. Research needs to be done in all collision sports to explore risk. It's in it's infancy now and I'm sure it will expand. Your flippant attitude and sarcasm doesn't change the biology or kinetics of it.

There is no flippant attitude and sarcasm.

And your chimney nonsense is just that.

All I'm saying is the CTE mafia is targeting football and while it's not wrong...it's an easy target.

And to think that hockey and lacrosse aren't also causing CTE as well... and here's attitude for you...is flat out Stoopid.

So if 1 is trying to protect there kid from CTE, then yeah...don't play those sports either.

Period.

Stop.

 

[kirbivore]

Who knows what's going to happen.

But forecasts of the rise of soccer have been made for 40 years and it hasn't happened yet.

For whatever reason the soccer is unattractive to the American sports-watching public. Some of that is due to the lack of scoring.

If basketball were to shrink the size of the goal to 60% of it's current size and games were to be 12 - 10 affairs, how many Americans would watch it?

One thing that has changed in the past 40 years is the attention span of the consumers. I know many people whose kids were playing soccer then they started to get into it and loved the fact that the games were over in 2 hours. This works in soccer's favor. I don't know if it will overtake the big 4 sports but I can see the popularity incrementally rising.

 

[Moontan]

As someone who played soccer from the day he could walk until his early 40s (when the knees finally gave out), I'm sure that I have had at least a half dozen minor concussions*. When a ball is kicked hard, travels 30+ yards through the air and hits you in the head (intentionally) it can ring your bell.

I love watching football, lacrosse, soccer, hoops and some boxing, baseball and hockey. I'm just glad that I'm no longer at the receiving end of some of that contact.


* The only diagnosed concussion came when a car hit me while I was crossing the street. Head to curb did me in.

 

[sufandu]

There is no flippant attitude and sarcasm.

And your chimney nonsense is just that.

All I'm saying is the CTE mafia is targeting football and while it's not wrong...it's an easy target.

And to think that hockey and lacrosse aren't also causing CTE as well... and here's attitude for you...is flat out Stoopid.

So if 1 is trying to protect there kid from CTE, then yeah...don't play those sports either.

Period.

Stop.

Nah. The only nonsense is you thinking that saying "Period. Stop." Ends a discussion.

I never said there wasn't CTE in other sports. I said the research hasn't spread that far yet and that the nature of football makes it likely that it's worse there. My guess, and it's not much more than that, would be the order of CTE risk amongst the sports mentioned in this thread would be football, hockey, soccer, lacrosse.

It's your perception that football is being singled out. Research has to start somewhere. Studies are emerging about hockey and there is at least one lawsuit against the NHL. Of course football would be the most talked about, it's the most popular sport. I'll be interested to see how the research plays out over the next decade or so.

There will always be risks regardless of the sport. Going so far as to say people should just play tennis or golf instead of endorsing the idea that we should pay attention while research takes it's course so that people can make informed decisions is moronic. I get it though. Going to the extreme with how you express your opinion is your way of attempting to shut down an argument.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Who knows what's going to happen.

But forecasts of the rise of soccer have been made for 40 years and it hasn't happened yet.

For whatever reason the soccer is unattractive to the American sports-watching public. Some of that is due to the lack of scoring.

If basketball were to shrink the size of the goal to 60% of it's current size and games were to be 12 - 10 affairs, how many Americans would watch it?

Soccer participation in this country added the most HS boys of any sport last year, and has done so 2 out of the last 3 years, with track getting the nod over soccer in the other year. Soccer has been adding 10-15,000 HS boys per year, while 11 player football has been declining by 5-10,000 per year for the last few years.

 

[Townie72]

Soccer participation in this country added the most HS boys of any sport last year, and has done so 2 out of the last 3 years, with track getting the nod over soccer in the other year. Soccer has been adding 10-15,000 HS boys per year, while 11 player football has been declining by 5-10,000 per year for the last few years.

Please!

Since over 1 million boys play 11 man football in US high schools (1,o80K in 12/13) an average drop of 7,500 equates to a dramatic plunge of .7% (That's seven tenths of 1 percent!) Given all the other things that affect high school populations like demographics, you are using an extremely small number to try an suggest football is declining.

Only 410, 982 boys were playing soccer in 12/13. Adding 12,500 boys to that is about a 3% increase. Given all the new high school students that hail originally from countries where soccer is the number one sport, I'm surprised there isn't more.

Your use of selected statistics (raw numbers added without explaining the base) isn't exactly a forthright presentation of helpful facts.

 

[Townie72]

There is no flippant attitude and sarcasm.

And your chimney nonsense is just that.

All I'm saying is the CTE mafia is targeting football and while it's not wrong...it's an easy target.

And to think that hockey and lacrosse aren't also causing CTE as well... and here's attitude for you...is flat out Stoopid.

So if 1 is trying to protect there kid from CTE, then yeah...don't play those sports either.

Period.

Stop.

I agree.

Part of this is because the only data that's available is from a study of 200 ex-Pro football players who demonstrated symptoms of brain problems.

AND, part of this is wrapped up in the culture wars we fight daily in the US. (Football is bad. Cross -Country is good)

And part of this is because its a great newspaper story and great fodder for TV news.

 

[Townie72]

One thing that has changed in the past 40 years is the attention span of the consumers. I know many people whose kids were playing soccer then they started to get into it and loved the fact that the games were over in 2 hours. This works in soccer's favor. I don't know if it will overtake the big 4 sports but I can see the popularity incrementally rising.

Well, with 45 minute running halves, it'll produce a lot less ad revenue, that's for sure.

Maybe, we can have US version with a two minute stoppage of play every five minutes.

I don't know what "incremental" growth means. Its popularity may grow. The TV channels are already filled with it. I watch UEFA, EPL, Bundesliga and La Liga games all the time. These are the best teams in the world with the biggest stars and many of the games are meaningful even this early in the season.

But it's an acquired taste. After a few years watching the sport on TV and in person, I am starting to understand things like what makes Messi such a great player and why he wouldn't be that great in the English league because of style of play.

 

[OrangeTarheel]

Are you familiar with the rate of player switches made in European soccer?

Only have so much time to devote to sports so no. I do follow the USMNT and, until recently, they have had a recurring core group of players. Will watch the World Cup qualifying for that reason but no so much interest in the Gold Cup this year.

Having a stable core of players is something most college football teams enjoy. Professional ... not so much

 

[Townie72]

Only have so much time to devote to sports so no. I do follow the USMNT and, until recently, they have had a recurring core group of players. Will watch the World Cup qualifying for that reason but no so much interest in the Gold Cup this year.

Having a stable core of players is something most college football teams enjoy. Professional ... not so much

For fans of football (Soccer) teams, it's the loyalty to the club that matters. Players --- including Top Players --- are routinely sold for a variety of reasons. (e.g., Suarez was sold to Barca from Liverpool when he was their most impactful player.)

The USMNT does not contain players of the comparable "Quality".

 

[IthacaMatt]

Only have so much time to devote to sports so no. I do follow the USMNT and, until recently, they have had a recurring core group of players. Will watch the World Cup qualifying for that reason but no so much interest in the Gold Cup this year.

Having a stable core of players is something most college football teams enjoy. Professional ... not so much

Roster turnover is far less in European soccer leagues than in the NFL or MLB. That's why I stopped watching both; I knew very few players on the other teams, and had a hard enough time keeping track of roster turnover on my own teams. Most European clubs might add or subtract 3 or 4 players in the off season on a roster of about 25. There is a pretty decent amount of continuity, in my opinion. I've been watching Premier League for 8 seasons now, and I know about half the guys on every team, and know the starting lineups and first few subs on nearly all the 6 or 7 title contenders.