NFL 2011-2012 Off-Season Pre-Draft Catch-All

Tell you what. When they try to outlaw tackling, we'll all stand together. Right now, they're just punishing the bounties for injuries system, which has no place in football. And even if it is widespread at the moment, it's not originally part of the sport, and it's not intrinsic to it. In football, you tackle the man with the ball in order to stop his progress. No one has a problem with that, and it's at the heart of the sport. What you don't have to do is pay someone a bonus to injure someone else.

TheGameguru wrote:
unfortunate for my many Louisianian friends that their team is the first one targeted, for sure - but rather than blame the league for singling them out, blame the leadership of the team for being monumentally stupid and brazen about continuing to do it even after warnings and knowing that they were being investigated. There is not NEARLY enough blame going from Saints fans to Williams and Payton.

Your are sadly mistaken if you think the above has anything to do with this bounty nonsense. Defensive players in the NFL are paid their salary to beat the crap out of the offensive player. Remove them from the play the ball and pretty much anything in order to take their heart and spirit out of the game.

If you want the NFL to change then the only solution is to take out tackling and put in flags.

I'm serious. You can't regulate the violence out of the NFL. Guys are flying around and hitting each other from the blindside. All over-regulation will do is cause too many grey area rules and hurt the product. I would much rather just see them play with flags and call it a day.

Would that be as popular?

This is like Rome when years later people would be outraged that Gladiators died in the coliseum

Nobody wants to regulate the violence. What they want is tackling and hitting without the extra intent to injure. Have you always been ok with eye poklng in piles?

Do you think a player would be ok losing a million dollers for the year because someone pulled on their leg or speared a guy on the ground? That's not all right at all.

They have to regulate the violence. With all the research showing how concussions can severely impact you in later life and all the media attention, parents are going to not let their kids play football. My kid is incredibly unathletic, but, were he an athlete, I'm not sure I'd let him play football. I love the game, but I'm worried enough about the long-term risks that I'm not sure I could handle letting my kid do it. And yes, I realize I'm a bit hypocritical here because I'll watch other people doing it.

That being said, I'm far from unique. If the NFL doesn't ratchet back the level of overt violence, football will significantly drop in participation, and it will cease being the dominant sport in this country. The NFL has to change or start fading away.

It's pointless though. You can't have these caliber of athletes and actually realistically expect regulation to do anything. In this new NFL DeSean Jackson has already taken 2 hits that have probably reduced his life expectancy by at least 10 years

And hells yeah if I had a child gifted enough athletically to even feasibly play a professional sport
It sure as hell wouldnt be football with the MLB avg. salary being $3.4M

But you will never lack for athletes willing to put it on the line for the fame and fortune.

If outlawing bounties doesn't really change anything, then why so up in arms? From your perspective, you're better off letting the league do this legal CYA so they can otherwise maintain the status quo.

Its pr man. Have to look like you care even if its that violence that pays the bills.

boogle wrote:

Its pr man. Have to look like you care even if its that violence that pays the bills.

Right, and if that's all they're doing, then I don't see why the uproar. Let them do their PR, cover their rears, and get on down the road. If it's just PR, then it doesn't change anything, and there's nothing to be upset about, except maybe for Vikings fans.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

They have to regulate the violence. With all the research showing how concussions can severely impact you in later life and all the media attention, parents are going to not let their kids play football. My kid is incredibly unathletic, but, were he an athlete, I'm not sure I'd let him play football. I love the game, but I'm worried enough about the long-term risks that I'm not sure I could handle letting my kid do it. And yes, I realize I'm a bit hypocritical here because I'll watch other people doing it.

This is an important piece of the puzzle. The NFL is very concerned about keeping kids coming into the sport. After all, few people make it to the NFL without having played the game at various earlier levels, all the way down to youth football.

I remember hearing something on NPR years ago, I believe it was Angelo Dundee saying that if Cassius Clay had been a kid today, he would have been a backup tight end for his high school's football team rather than stepping foot in a boxing gym and becoming an amateur fighter as a teenager. Today, good luck naming an American fighter of relevance, particularly without reaching for someone like Bernard Hopkins that's creeping towards 50. Boxing lives thanks to plentiful fighters from outside the US, but there's no question that the sport enjoys a much lower profile than in the eras of Ali, Sugar Ray, Tyson, etc.

The NFL needs that pipeline of talented athletes flowing into the sport in order to maintain its position as the crown jewel of professional sports. And given that we live in the helicopter parent era, things that would cause said parents to steer their kids away from football are seen as existential threats.

When parents in Texas start keeping their kids from football, then it will be full-on panic time.

On the flip side, Legion, I bet many people can name people from UFC.

Legion - My parents from Texas already wouldn't let my brother play football, despite being enthusiastic boosters of Aggie football. That decision was made, say, 20 years ago. Instead they steered us towards basketball, baseball, and soccer.

I used to think that was a terribly overprotective decision that needlessly cost my brother what could have been many years of fun and teamwork, but with all of this concussion business, I'm starting to change my mind.

I remember hearing something on NPR years ago, I believe it was Angelo Dundee saying that if Cassius Clay had been a kid today, he would have been a backup tight end for his high school's football team rather than stepping foot in a boxing gym and becoming an amateur fighter as a teenager. Today, good luck naming an American fighter of relevance, particularly without reaching for someone like Bernard Hopkins that's creeping towards 50. Boxing lives thanks to plentiful fighters from outside the US, but there's no question that the sport enjoys a much lower profile than in the eras of Ali, Sugar Ray, Tyson, etc.

I would point out that its really about money rather than violence.. Boxing has suffered because the money has fled... violence is certainly one of the factors in that outcome.. but corruption and changing tastes amongst others have a big part as well.

TheGameguru wrote:
I remember hearing something on NPR years ago, I believe it was Angelo Dundee saying that if Cassius Clay had been a kid today, he would have been a backup tight end for his high school's football team rather than stepping foot in a boxing gym and becoming an amateur fighter as a teenager. Today, good luck naming an American fighter of relevance, particularly without reaching for someone like Bernard Hopkins that's creeping towards 50. Boxing lives thanks to plentiful fighters from outside the US, but there's no question that the sport enjoys a much lower profile than in the eras of Ali, Sugar Ray, Tyson, etc.

I would point out that its really about money rather than violence.. Boxing has suffered because the money has fled... violence is certainly one of the factors in that outcome.. but corruption and changing tastes amongst others have a big part as well.

Violence wasn't actually part of my point - I'm mainly talking effect, not cause. My point was what happens to a sport once young people stop playing it, regardless of the reason. The idea that Muhammad Ali would have just been a scrub on his local football team instead of boxing's GOAT just being an illustrative example. The idea that boxing's next woulda-been Ali may be spending all his time trying to be a less sh*tty run blocker instead of participating in the sport where he might have achieved greatness.

You can't benefit as a sport from those great, transformative athletes if they never bother to play your game.

The NFL clearly sees head trauma as one of those things that could end up chasing parents away from allowing their kids to play in droves.

I take it more than the really talented athletes of today will follow the money... sure some will get into it for the pure love of the game..but they probably arent the most talented.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/p1puC.png)

LMAO!!! No kidding.

LMAO!!! No kidding.

LMAO!!! No kidding.

edit...eff you browser!

LMAO!!! No kidding.

LMAO!!! No kidding.

LMAO!!! No kidding.

I liked LMAO!!! No kidding. before everyone was doing it.

/hipster

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I liked LMAO!!! No kidding. before everyone was doing it.

/hipster

I hang out in the LMAO!!! No Kidding that YOU'VE never heard of.

Here's an editorial by a PHD directly discussing what Legion is talking about.

Opinion: Youth hockey injuries border on child abuse

Think I am wrong? Shift over to football.

Not so long ago, I had a chance to talk to former NFL pro middle linebacker Harry Carson, who played with distinction for the New York Giants. I asked him if he would want his son to play college or pro football. He said no, that the game is far too dangerous. The risk of concussion in the game now makes encouraging a kid to play football irresponsible.

Parents are in a horrific bind. Their kids want to play contact sports but their coaches want them to emulate the pros. Oversight groups make noises about a safer game, but the concussion rate grows and grows. Parents want their kids to play sports to keep them out of trouble and to encourage habits and virtues that will help them later in life. But they certainly don't want to see them with headaches, memory loss and learning difficulties later on, either.

Jayhawker wrote:

Here's an editorial by a PHD directly discussing what Legion is talking about.

Opinion: Youth hockey injuries border on child abuse

Think I am wrong? Shift over to football.

Not so long ago, I had a chance to talk to former NFL pro middle linebacker Harry Carson, who played with distinction for the New York Giants. I asked him if he would want his son to play college or pro football. He said no, that the game is far too dangerous. The risk of concussion in the game now makes encouraging a kid to play football irresponsible.

Parents are in a horrific bind. Their kids want to play contact sports but their coaches want them to emulate the pros. Oversight groups make noises about a safer game, but the concussion rate grows and grows. Parents want their kids to play sports to keep them out of trouble and to encourage habits and virtues that will help them later in life. But they certainly don't want to see them with headaches, memory loss and learning difficulties later on, either.

That's why my boys swim. It broke my heart as someone who loved playing football to make that decision. But aside from head trauma issues, I personally have other health problems I blame on my time in the game and I didn't want my boys to have to go through all the physical things that I do when they are older.

I plan on pushing my kids towards track and field and swimming as well. I'd love to see em play hockey, but can't justify it as a parent.

Jaguars to sign Lee Evans to a one-year deal.

Pretty much the kind of signing I expected. After a poor 2011 hampered with a bad foot, and being 31, Evans is at the point in his career where he's only going to get a 1-year "show me" contract unless/until he bounces back and plays like the deep threat he was before. And Jacksonville's in the position where they could really use some WR help, and taking a low-cost flier on a reclamation project or two isn't a bad idea.

Hopefully there are a couple of decently high rookies joining the group along with the two veterans signed. Then hopefully someone steps up in camp.

Lot of "hopefullys" there *Legion*

tboon wrote:

That's why my boys swim. It broke my heart as someone who loved playing football to make that decision. But aside from head trauma issues, I personally have other health problems I blame on my time in the game and I didn't want my boys to have to go through all the physical things that I do when they are older.

Ultimate frisbee for mine. Of course, part of that is because they'll end up being about 125 lbs wet by the time they graduate.

firesloth wrote:
tboon wrote:

That's why my boys swim. It broke my heart as someone who loved playing football to make that decision. But aside from head trauma issues, I personally have other health problems I blame on my time in the game and I didn't want my boys to have to go through all the physical things that I do when they are older.

Ultimate frisbee for mine. Of course, part of that is because they'll end up being about 125 lbs wet by the time they graduate.

Ultimate frisbee tends to lead to liver problems.

Ultimate Frisbee is awesome, but I'm not sure how many organized teams for kids there are around here. And Houston has a thriving scene. I played in an adult league one year, but getting up at 8 or earlier on Saturday to go play in a league where there were no coaches or referees was clearly less fun than playing in evening pick-up games. Yeah, I said referees.

Speaking of which, we should discuss that in a different thread:

http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/1...