Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Watching a punter get "killed."

When it comes to the issue of violence in football, it's clearly going to take a death, during the game, to make any real difference.

This, very nearly, did that:



Cracked vertebrae, massively broken jaw, broken teeth, multiple lacerations of the mouth area.  This guy is done for the season... and maybe, permanently.

I love football.  I'm paying the price now for playing it so long, but nothing approaching NFL level... though I was a walk-on tackling dummy for the Huskies back in 77.

Clearly, the NFL doesn't give a damn about these men.  They view them as meat.

And it's going to take a death on the field from a hit... a broken neck, a brain bleed, a ruptured spleen, to get them to begin to address this issue.

Better equipment (For example, forcing players to wear all their pads and use mouth-guards on every play) to include better helmets.

Shorten the games.

Reduce the amount of time players can play per game.  Increase the number of playing personnel: 53 is absurd.

As I said, I love the game; played the game, lived the game.  Broke bones, strained ligaments, suffered multiple sprains, fractured ribs, concussions.... the whole bit.

And I wouldn't change any of it.  But it's the difference between my 110 mile per hour dragster and a 340 mile per hour funny car.

Death on national TV.  That's what it's going to take.

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