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Is It Time to Retire the Football Helmet?


bterreson

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Hmmmm, I think there is more of a case to get rid of some of the other padding. I think that getting rid of some of the padding and helmets would totally change the way the game is played. I think most people would say for the worse.

But therein lies the problem - we want to see these men bash each other senseless. We don't actually care about them. They aren't people, only numbers. Especially if the resulting problems don't manifest until players have been out of the league for a few years - who remembers them after they stop putting on the uniform?

That's why this shouldn't be up to fans. If the "true fans" want to bitch and moan, let 'em. They'll whinge, but they aren't going anywhere.

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I say the NFL should adopt rugby helmets. Design one without all the air vents, and teams can still put the helmet logos on the side. They'd look more like the leather helmets of old, and coming from rugby nobody can make the claim that this is somehow less masculine than the standard helmets.

And best of all, nobody has to suffer early-onset dementia for our amusement.

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HAHA I play college rugby and every time i mention that to a football player i get the same reaction... "Rugby? Thats the sport with no pads right? Wow you must be crazy to do that!"

I did as well and ever since that I've been of the opinion that ALL young football players should be required to play rugby during the off season. In rugby you hit just as hard as you do in football, but wearing no pads forces you to be smart about the hits you make. If you lead with your head in football, most of the time there is no noticeable negative effects. If you lead stupidly on a rugby hit, you're gonna end up in the hospital and all rugby players know that. I've seen several new players (mostly guys who played football their entire lives) medivac'd off of fields because they made stupid hits. You won't learn to hit softer and ease up on hits, absolutely not. If anything football players who have rugby techniques could make even harder hits, but they would as well be safer hits. IMO it's not the equipment that's the problem, it's the way players are taught to use that equipment.

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On 11/19/2012 at 7:23 PM, oldschoolvikings said:
She’s still half convinced “Chris Creamer” is a porn site.)
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I was right with you, until the end.

It's not just that football players are taught to use the equipment improperly. Many, if not most, aren't. But they still do it.

The problem is with the equipment. It prevents players from immediate consequences, pushing the impact on their phsyical and mental health a few years down the road and beyond both their ability, and the fans' ability, to appreciate it.

If players had to live with those consequences immediately, there wouldn't be as many damaging plays. So yes, I put that on the equipment.

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Helmets don't cause concussions, stupid hits cause concussions. :wacko:

I think Gothamite said it best. The problem is not the helmets or the players really, it's the fans. The ones who pay the big money to 'ooh' and 'aaah' when the players beat each other senseless. Guys like Brian Dawkins, Troy Polamalu, and Ed Reed bring the wood every week and we love every second of them blasting unsuspecting receivers. We cheer and they perform.

Is it dangerous to lower your head to make a tackle? Yes.

Will ESPN replay said tackle hundreds of times if the guy you hit doesn't get up right away? Of course.

The Hit Stick in Madden, almost all the tackles in all the Blitz games (I don't count pro. Nobody played pro.), we as fans of the sport like to see big hits.

Until that stops, I don't think we'll see a change in equipment. It's way to profitable and marketable.

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I think Gothamite said it best. The problem is not the helmets or the players really, it's the fans.
The problem is with the equipment.

Hey, what else is being discussed at Imaginary CCSLC? I can't seem to access it. I hope Tank is sticking up for the president.

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

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I think Gothamite said it best. The problem is not the helmets or the players really, it's the fans.
The problem is with the equipment.

Hey, what else is being discussed at Imaginary CCSLC? I can't seem to access it. I hope Tank is sticking up for the president.

I was referring to the post he made at the top of the page. I guess I should have quoted it or something.

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I actually believe that Rugby will begin to gain a following in America. With it being introduced in the next summer Olympics I dont see American Olympic officials being ok with teams like New Zealand and Fiji killing them in a full out contact sport.

I think it shows a lot that the people who play rugby really like it. It takes a lot of pride to play a sport the sport. In football you can nail a defenseless receiver with no repercussion. In rugby you play offense and defense and end up at the bottom of a ruck. And you DONT wanna be in the bottom of a ruck if you made a dirty hit or big hit against the other team.

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I actually believe that Rugby will begin to gain a following in America. With it being introduced in the next summer Olympics I dont see American Olympic officials being ok with teams like New Zealand and Fiji killing them in a full out contact sport.

I think it shows a lot that the people who play rugby really like it. It takes a lot of pride to play a sport the sport. In football you can nail a defenseless receiver with no repercussion. In rugby you play offense and defense and end up at the bottom of a ruck. And you DONT wanna be in the bottom of a ruck if you made a dirty hit or big hit against the other team.

We seem to be perfectly content to let that happen in boxing, fencing, and soccer. Granted we aren't losing to our allies in those, but shouldn't it be more demeaning to lose to countries that dislike you?

And rugby has always struck me as being the ultimate bourgeois sport. Perfect for those who have too much money and time and are not afraid to let you hear about it. Sadly I and many others do not fall into that category.

On 8/1/2010 at 4:01 PM, winters in buffalo said:
You manage to balance agitation with just enough salient points to keep things interesting. Kind of a low-rent DG_Now.
On 1/2/2011 at 9:07 PM, Sodboy13 said:
Today, we are all otaku.

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POTD: February 15, 2010, June 20, 2010

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And rugby has always struck me as being the ultimate bourgeois sport. Perfect for those who have too much money and time and are not afraid to let you hear about it. Sadly I and many others do not fall into that category.

It's like a douchier lacrosse.

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

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And rugby has always struck me as being the ultimate bourgeois sport. Perfect for those who have too much money and time and are not afraid to let you hear about it. Sadly I and many others do not fall into that category.

So, Bucfan must be the richest member of the CCSLC. Who knew?

I saw, I came, I left.

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Watch some Australian rules football before you dismiss this out of hand. It's not rugby and it's a rough game, played with no pads and no helmets.

One huge issue (tongue-in-cheek here) would be losing the marketing power of the helmet logo. Fortunately there's already a solution and a working prototype:

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Waiting for someone to complain that it needs a gray facemask. :D

Today's UniWatch blog had a link to this exact pic. ^_^

It's hard to use Australian football as a comparison because the game is different. It's tough, but tackling and shoulder contact rules are more restricted than the NFL.

I took that pic last year at Gameday before the OU-Texas Tech game. Sent it to Paul Lukas after reading the article about doing away with helmets. Kinda cool to see it on there.

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And rugby has always struck me as being the ultimate bourgeois sport. Perfect for those who have too much money and time and are not afraid to let you hear about it. Sadly I and many others do not fall into that category.

It's like a douchier lacrosse.

I can't say I've ever seen that. Rugby is a sport that is pretty much ignored compared to football, and the egos seem to be WAY bigger in football players.

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On 11/19/2012 at 7:23 PM, oldschoolvikings said:
She’s still half convinced “Chris Creamer” is a porn site.)
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And rugby has always struck me as being the ultimate bourgeois sport. Perfect for those who have too much money and time and are not afraid to let you hear about it. Sadly I and many others do not fall into that category.

It's like a douchier lacrosse.

I can't say I've ever seen that. Rugby is a sport that is pretty much ignored compared to football, and the egos seem to be WAY bigger in football players.

Well, it's kind of difficult to have an ego when you compete in a sport that is pretty much ignored, isn't it? :P

On January 16, 2013 at 3:49 PM, NJTank said:

Btw this is old hat for Notre Dame. Knits Rockne made up George Tip's death bed speech.

 

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And rugby has always struck me as being the ultimate bourgeois sport. Perfect for those who have too much money and time and are not afraid to let you hear about it. Sadly I and many others do not fall into that category.

It's like a douchier lacrosse.

I can't say I've ever seen that. Rugby is a sport that is pretty much ignored compared to football, and the egos seem to be WAY bigger in football players.

I went to a high school with a very good lacrosse team and I knew a bunch of kids that played club rugby. The rugby players loved to let you know that they played rugby, other than that there was nothing about that was inherently douchy about them. The lacrosse players however, nearly intolerable.

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I think Gothamite said it best. The problem is not the helmets or the players really, it's the fans.
The problem is with the equipment.

Hey, what else is being discussed at Imaginary CCSLC? I can't seem to access it. I hope Tank is sticking up for the president.

I was referring to the post he made at the top of the page. I guess I should have quoted it or something.

And I might have made my position more clear. My second post was in response to a specific comment.

The number one problem is with the fans. We want violent contact. The secondary problem is with the equipment, which hides the consequences of that contact.

I think the best way to address the first problem is to tackle head-on, if you will, the second. Make players face immediate consequences for their play, and the play will get safer. Once fans realize that it's perfectly possible to have a rough, exciting sport without body armor, they'll come around.

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