Comments about ‘My View: Just a game? Rethinking football collisions’

We live in a society of softies, in which most young men grow up doing nothing more than eating junk food and playing video games. These youth grow up to be young adults who don't have the toughness to overcome a physical challenge any tougher than a hangnail.

As a result of this softness, our society has largely become a welfare state composed of lazy and slothful men who feel a sense of entitlement. What is the solution? Clearly the answer is greater participation in physically challenging sports such as football.

Football, at least at the high school level and younger, teaches positive values such as dedication, loyalty, and toughness. These are the traditional values that have largely been lost from society. It is time to use athletes to bring these values back.

Play football? You're shooting pretty low there. They will still eat junk food and play video games and many will have the tubby bodies they started with. Let's shoot for the stars, lets give them the maximum challenge mentally and physically, sign them up for Cross-Country.

Maybe they should play without helmets. They would think twice about head-to-head, or head-to-anything, hits. Of course that would raise the problem of knee-to-head hits, so never mind.

Here's another idea. Put g-force monitors on helmets, like are using for shipping fragile crates. When anybody's monitor turns red, they're out of the game. Oh, wait, then heads would become targets, so never mind.

How about they throw people out of the game for intentional vicious hits? Let the refs make judgment calls. It seems that if a hit injures a player, the guy who injured him ought to benched as well.

John Charity Spring, are you one of those little league coaches that teach players to tackle with their helmet, or punish another player by leading with the helmet? If you are, you won't last long in a football game that I'm officiating. After I throw a couple of your players out, and then you, you may have a different attitude. You ought to read the concussion guidelines in the National Federation high school rule book, which governs high school and little league in Utah.

These concussion injuries are a real problem. The long term damage appears to be a real thing. The problem is that there is no long term research on concussions. That research is in its infancy, but the problems are worse than we all think. Injuries due to improper tackling, and blocking techniques are on the rise. I've seen players careers end due to illegal and legal hits. Something can be done about the illegal ones. Football can be dangerous.

It is not a question about toughness, dedication, loyalty. While I agree these values are in short supply in today's society, toughness has nothing to do with a concussion.

re: JCS & Flashback

"toughness, dedication, loyalty" Are you both John Cena Fans or what?

Has the NFL been watered down? Yes.

Still, there is no reason to be a hooligan like James Harrison of the stealers or physical but mentally lacking like the Seahawks are so far today.