College Football = Hunger Games

[FanboyStranger]

I figure football will never go away due to its popularity but helmets have to be improved or the rules of the game changed in some way.

Thankfully, both of these things are happening. The advances made in helmets over the past fifteen years are incredible, offering far more protection at a lighter weight. In the past, the cost for such helmets was prohibitive for many high schools, but that's changed, too, so now they're actually quite affordable. Rule chenges against tackling with the head have been implemented at both the professional and collegiate levels, which means that you're now trained to lead with your shoulder on a high school level. (Actually, you were always trained that way, but the head-first, "big hit" was given the blind eye, if not encouraged.) There's still a lot of work to be done and these injuries are never going to go away completely, but there is progress being made.

[Corrina]

I went on a tour of the Rawlings factory, as they supply helmets to a lot of college and high school teams. They're very, very concerned about the quality of their helmets but continue to emphasize there's no such thing as a concussion proof helmet. But they're also educating coaches and volunteers for youth footballs teams and sponsored a concussion app that helps coaches and non-medical personnel determine when a kid *might* have some concussion symptoms and thus, help trigger additional help. The evidence suggests that if a brain is allowed to heal, most of these long-term brain injuries can be avoided.

It's like a bruise. If you avoid hitting the soft tissue for a while, it heals. If you continue to hit it over and over again, it messes up that area. Now exchange muscle for brain matter, and you see the problems with repeated concussions.

There's also evidence that ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) might have been caused by repeated brain trauma in Gehrig's case. Researchers pulled up game summaries of his playing time and found, over and over, that he did get "dinged" or knocked in the head numerous times. And, of course, he never took a day off to allow healing.

It's kinda sickening to think that the consecutive game streak that earned him fame and the nickname the Iron Man may have very well caused his death.

[DungeonMasterJim]

I should acknowledge that I am a huge football fan and will often watch back to back games on Sundays resulting in 7+ hours of football. But the brain damage is a huge concern of mine. Several players have already lost their careers to brain injuries and I don't want to see any more have that happen to them.

[Morrison_Lad]

There's also evidence that ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) might have been caused by repeated brain trauma in Gehrig's case. Researchers pulled up game summaries of his playing time and found, over and over, that he did get "dinged" or knocked in the head numerous times. And, of course, he never took a day off to allow healing.

It's kinda sickening to think that the consecutive game streak that earned him fame and the nickname the Iron Man may have very well caused his death.

That's just freakin' depressing.

[DungeonMasterJim]

That's just freakin' depressing.

If true, and it sounds pretty valid, it's not really surprising. And I would suspect that many other athletes have outright died or had shorter lifespans than average people specifically because of their sport. I believe NFL linemen die around age 62 way more than any other NFL athlete. Now that MMA has become a viable profession in the U.S. I suspect health concerns from that sport will also eventually be looked at.

Because of these reasons, I will rarely say that an athlete is overpaid in any of the more violent sports. And I will not say they 'are grown men playing a child's game'. To say that really does make violent professional sports very much like The Hunger Games.

[Nick Soapdish]

There's no question that everyone except the athletes are doing well in college football. Look at Eric LaGrand, paralyzed and can't cover all his medical bills. At the very least, these young men need *lifetime* medical insurance. And the demands of high-level college football are so great that they can't really get the education they're supposedly getting for "free." that 20 hours a week on football is bogus. I bet everyone bends those rules.

LaGrand was just signed by the Bucs as an UDFA. So at least his former coach is trying to help out a bit with the medical expenses if the university isn't. And that surprises me about the medical bills. Usually universities are pretty good about the high profile big injuries.

So you're talking 18 hours of practice, plus time with position coaches, plus weight training and conditioning, which is excluded. Sounds like that could easily add up to about 30 hours per week and I suspect the weight training and conditioning is 'optional' in name, as if everyone is doing it, not doing it puts one behind.

That's nearly a full-time job with a full courseload. I did that. It's very, very hard. But at least I had money in my pocket. They're not allowed more than, what, $20 or so spending money? That's system ripe for under the table funding.

And it's a physically exhausting full-time job that they don't get paid for. Like you said, it's tough for them to take advantage of the free education and a lot of them aren't that interested anyway. I think that trade educations might be better for a lot of them. Our culture is so geared towards getting any college degree, but we still need plumbers and car mechanics (and I bet that both make more money than I do).

I also think that we should also be actually paying athletes (and all athletes, not just football players) to play like the work-study program. It's not a huge amount, but it does get them that spending money and it'll make it more worthwhile. Even if it does very little to curb abuses, it'll be more fair for those that aren't abusing the system.

[Morrison_Lad]

If true, and it sounds pretty valid, it's not really surprising. And I would suspect that many other athletes have outright died or had shorter lifespans than average people specifically because of their sport. I believe NFL linemen die around age 62 way more than any other NFL athlete. Now that MMA has become a viable profession in the U.S. I suspect health concerns from that sport will also eventually be looked at.

Because of these reasons, I will rarely say that an athlete is overpaid in any of the more violent sports. And I will not say they 'are grown men playing a child's game'. To say that really does make violent professional sports very much like The Hunger Games.

All good points.

As to pay, I've never felt that athletes are over-paid. Miguel Cabrera, third baseman for the Detroit Tigers, makes $25M per year. But the thing is, there's only one Miguel Cabrera, and only two or three guys in the ENTIRE WORLD are capable of doing what he does. There are very few people in the world that can say that they are absolute best at what they do, and that they can't be replaced. I know I can't.

Anyways, back to the issue at hand, I think MMA is going to have some issues, too. How can it not?

[FanboyStranger]

LaGrand was just signed by the Bucs as an UDFA. So at least his former coach is trying to help out a bit with the medical expenses if the university isn't. And that surprises me about the medical bills. Usually universities are pretty good about the high profile big injuries.

That's probably the most heartwarming thing I've seen in a while. I've heard mixed things about Schiano, but that's a stand-up move. I give a lot of credit to the owners of the Bucs for going along with it.

[FanboyStranger]

I went on a tour of the Rawlings factory, as they supply helmets to a lot of college and high school teams. They're very, very concerned about the quality of their helmets but continue to emphasize there's no such thing as a concussion proof helmet. But they're also educating coaches and volunteers for youth footballs teams and sponsored a concussion app that helps coaches and non-medical personnel determine when a kid *might* have some concussion symptoms and thus, help trigger additional help. The evidence suggests that if a brain is allowed to heal, most of these long-term brain injuries can be avoided.

It's like a bruise. If you avoid hitting the soft tissue for a while, it heals. If you continue to hit it over and over again, it messes up that area. Now exchange muscle for brain matter, and you see the problems with repeated concussions.

There's also evidence that ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) might have been caused by repeated brain trauma in Gehrig's case. Researchers pulled up game summaries of his playing time and found, over and over, that he did get "dinged" or knocked in the head numerous times. And, of course, he never took a day off to allow healing.

It's kinda sickening to think that the consecutive game streak that earned him fame and the nickname the Iron Man may have very well caused his death.

The unspoken thing is that the culture of sports really needs to change in regards to these kinds of injuries. I have no doubt that what made Lou Gehrig so great-- his indomitable will to play no matter how he felt that day-- probably did contribute to the conditions that led to his death. There is so much pressure to go out and perform regardless of what the injury has done to your body. It's not just coaches-- players themselves are probably the worst judges when it comes to the decision whether to play or not. Education is a start and rule changes will certainly help, but at a certain point, the player himself/herself needs to take a step back and weigh whether it's all worth it. I was not a fan of Troy Aikman as a player, but I've always admired him for walking away when he learned the cumulative toll of the concussions he suffered when people were questioning his heart. We've learned so much more since then, so while we praise our athletes for their toughness in playing through injuries, we should also give some credit to those athletes who went against their instincts and the culture of their game and put their health and future first.

[FanboyStranger]

If true, and it sounds pretty valid, it's not really surprising. And I would suspect that many other athletes have outright died or had shorter lifespans than average people specifically because of their sport. I believe NFL linemen die around age 62 way more than any other NFL athlete.

One thing about linemen is that they also tend to be much bigger than the average athlete and tend to have the same health problems (heart and circulatory problems) that other larger people have. There's being in shape and there's being in "lineman" shape, which is different as linemen tend to train for strength and bulk more like a power lifter. I don't doubt that the impact contributes to some of these deaths, but you also see the same thing with NBA centers like Wilt Chamberlain who did not take the same kind of pounding.