"Should College Football Be banned?"

[bevosu]

Local Time Warner channel 11.

Friday, May 31 -- 10:00pm
24.1 - WCNY PBS
Should College Football Be Banned?
Whether college football should be banned. In favor: Malcolm Gladwell (New Yorker) and journalist Buzz Bissinger. Against: former NFL defensive end Tim Green and FOXsports.com columnist Jason Whitlock.

 

[ImperialOrange]

Banned for what?

 

[bevosu]

I'm sure they'll come up with some reason.

 

[ImperialOrange]

I'm sure they'll come up with some reason.

NFL would have to come up with a feeder system ASAP and I'm sure the non revenue sports would love being cancelled as well.

 

[Todd Gack]

The conversation is from last year -- you can watch it here: http://intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/past-debates/item/589-ban-college-football.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Local Time Warner channel 11.

Friday, May 31 -- 10:00pm
24.1 - WCNY PBS
Should College Football Be Banned?
Whether college football should be banned. In favor: Malcolm Gladwell (New Yorker) and journalist Buzz Bissinger. Against: former NFL defensive end Tim Green and FOXsports.com columnist Jason Whitlock.

So the two guys that didn't play college football are against it, and the two guys that did are for it.

Seems balanced.

 

[CusefanATL]

So the two guys that didn't play college football are against it, and the two guys that did are for it.

Seems balanced.

Whitlock played football?

 

[Alsacs]

Whitlock played football?

Whitlock played OL for Ball State in the late 1980's/early 1990's.

 

[CusefanATL]

Whitlock played OL for Ball State in the late 1980's/early 1990's.

Guess that makes sense why he always talks about ball state

 

[Chip]

So the two guys that didn't play college football are against it, and the two guys that did are for it.

Seems balanced.

Next week's topic is that we should ban ice cream.

Calista Flockhart and Lara Flynn Boyle are for it. John Goodman and Louie Anderson are against it.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Next week's topic is that we should ban ice cream.

Calista Flockhart and Lara Flynn Boyle are for it. John Goodman and Louie Anderson are against it.

Exactly.

 

[All4SU]

Next week's topic is that we should ban ice cream.

Calista Flockhart and Lara Flynn Boyle are for it. John Goodman and Louie Anderson are against it.

I would ban college football before ice cream.

 

[SWC75]

That's how I feel about boxing: I'll think about banning it when I hear boxers want it banned. It's always outsiders. There are a lot of things that can and should be done to make various sports safe but having outsiders prevent people from playing them is not one of them. it's not like training dogs or roosters to fight. They can't tell us they don't want to do this.

I certainly would like to see the NFL and NBA create their own farm systems the way baseball and hockey do. leave college sports for collegians. And college sports wouldn't go away because they represent markets that big time pro sports doesn't go into and minor league teams wouldn't put them on the map.

 

[Guinness]

I don't think it should be banned in College because those are adults (sorry 18 is an adult and not a kid) making decisions. I do however think there should be age restrictions and serious rule changes at the HS level.

For me personally I won't even consider letting my son play until he is in HS. The risks outweigh the rewards. There are plenty of other sports he can play without the risk to his brain.

 

[rrlbees]

College football shouldn't be banned, just PedSt and rutgirls.

Sent using my Commodore 64

 

[qdawgg]

College football shouldn't be banned, just PedSt and rutgirls.

Sent using my Commodore 64

That's not fair, modified football teams around the country will have to re-do their football schedules if you pull
runt-gers off their schedule.

 

[texascpa]

I don't think it should be banned in College because those are adults (sorry 18 is an adult and not a kid) making decisions. I do however think there should be age restrictions and serious rule changes at the HS level.

For me personally I won't even consider letting my son play until he is in HS. The risks outweigh the rewards. There are plenty of other sports he can play without the risk to his brain.

Like what, soccer? Baseball?

 

[billsin01]

I don't think it should be banned in College because those are adults (sorry 18 is an adult and not a kid) making decisions. I do however think there should be age restrictions and serious rule changes at the HS level.

For me personally I won't even consider letting my son play until he is in HS. The risks outweigh the rewards. There are plenty of other sports he can play without the risk to his brain.

I'll take it a step further and point out that my kids won't be playing football. Now you could argue that there isn't a high school coach around the country that will be sad about that since one has down syndrome and the other two are afraid of flies and ants, let alone actual contact with another human being at full speed (they take after their dad), but still ...

 

[billsin01]

Like what, soccer? Baseball?

Yup -- even lacrosse. Pretty much anything offers far less risk of serious injury. I don't think it has to be banned by any means, but anyone who's seen early on-set dimensia/alzheimer's or seen anyone struggling with serious depression should be wary. At least I am.

 

[billsin01]

Whitlock played football?

He still does, that's why he maintains his playing weight.

 

[SWC75]

If the games are "banned" it should be by kids and their parents deciding not participate, as billsin01 is describing.

 

[texascpa]

Yup -- even lacrosse. Pretty much anything offers far less risk of serious injury. I don't think it has to be banned by any means, but anyone who's seen early on-set dimensia/alzheimer's or seen anyone struggling with serious depression should be wary. At least I am.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10823540
hmmm...

And even more hmmm...
http://rockcenter.nbcnews.com/_news...oncussion-crisis-growing-in-girls-soccer?lite
And a final hmmm...

Point is football is this country's pasttime (sorry baseball), so there is more media, leading to more scrutiny, leading to more media. Soccer doesn't get the same coverage, but as you can see it has it's own issues with concussions.

 

[billsin01]

hmmm...

And even more hmmm...

And a final hmmm...

Point is football is this country's pasttime (sorry baseball), so there is more media, leading to more scrutiny, leading to more media. Soccer doesn't get the same coverage, but as you can see it has it's own issues with concussions.

Well, first of all, I don't really care what's banned and what isn't if that's the point of the thread. I don't support banning football.

I'd also agree that football gets more media scrutiny b/c of it's popularity. But let's also not forget the disturbing rash of brain-trauma related stories with NFL players. It's not like the media is making stories up -- there is plenty of documented evidence that these NFL and college guys are experiencing serious issues related at least in some way to the repeated brain injuries. Does that exist elsewhere? perhaps, but let's not act like this issue is just some way of generating hits on a web site.

As for the studies you linked -- if there is a disturbing rise in concussions in girls soccer than I'd be very interested in that data and would certainly support some way of making that sport safer. Heck, that's even more of an issue since, at the end of the day, can someone tell me why I'm having my daughter risk her livelihood to win a sectional soccer game that I really don't care about outside of her involvement?

But, finally, I covered youth and high school football. It is a violent sport and there is simply no way of getting around it. Whatever the impact to the head, there is FAR more of it in football than in any other sport. I mean, lacrosse is pretty violent but, anecdotally at least, it pales in comparison in terms of the number of collisions and the speed/violence of those collisions. It's just a different world.

 

[bevosu]

I'll take it a step further and point out that my kids won't be playing football. Now you could argue that there isn't a high school coach around the country that will be sad about that since one has down syndrome and the other two are afraid of flies and ants, let alone actual contact with another human being at full speed (they take after their dad), but still ...

I'm with you and your kids.

I was athletic as a young man. Started on my high school baseball team as a freshman..also was considered the best baseball player in school when I was a freshman in college (a small college) before I ended up at SU.

But sandlot neighborhood tackle football...no way. Touch I'd play, but tackle uh uh.

My older brother played linebacker and fullback in high school. He's still physically paying for all the hits he made and took. Knee problems, hip problems.

To each their own. Hopefully they can make it safer.

 

[ImperialOrange]

Like what, soccer? Baseball?

Pretty much anything but football and hockey. I played football for 2 years in High School but gave it up after my 3rd concussion in ~10 months when a neurologist wouldn't clear me to play anymore. I think hockey may be worse essentially being the same contact as football but with boards and a hard playing surface to hit your head on. The difference being there isnt as many head on collisions as there are in football.

If one does choose to let their kids play football I would encourage they do so at a young age. They can learn proper technique and to avoid more bad collisions when they are 60lbs vs 200lbs which is the opposite of what I did.