The Things People Are Willing To Do.

mnorwood

mnorwood

Moon
Silver Member
I am as big a football fan as anyone and would hate to see the sport have to be drastically changed or banned. But after the suicide of Jr. Seau among many other players and the emerging research about head injuries I am moved to think maybe football needs to change.

I think maybe its time that people turn their attention and energy to more safe sports like pool. The more I think about the more I realize that extremes come in every endeavor in life. Guys like Artie Bodendorfor would play crazy sets with the help of all kinds of drugs and do things to their body. I think more knowledgeable posters could point to more examples of drug use, staying up multiple days at at time and general unhealthy practices in the name of competing at a higher level. I just wonder if common sense will ever become common.
 
mnorwood said:
I am as big a football fan as anyone and would hate to see the sport have to be drastically changed or banned. But after the suicide of Jr. Seau among many other players and the emerging research about head injuries I am moved to think maybe football needs to change.

I think maybe its time that people turn their attention and energy to more safe sports like pool. The more I think about the more I realize that extremes come in every endeavor in life. Guys like Artie Bodendorfor would play crazy sets with the help of all kinds of drugs and do things to their body. I think more knowledgeable posters could point to more examples of drug use, staying up multiple days at at time and general unhealthy practices in the name of competing at a higher level. I just wonder if common sense will ever become common.
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My neighbor was a pro football player. He is about 50 now and walks around the neighborhood in his underwear talking to himself or sits in a lawn chair in his front yard waving at people. His best year as a player he made 3 million, but it doesn't do him much good now.
 
Bill Stanfill the great Georgia Bulldog and Miami Dolphin defensive lineman wishes he had never played football. He looks healthy but has had many operations and is in constant pain.

Young boys would do well to choose golf or tennis for a career and play pool to gain character.
 
You think pool is a safe sport...........

mnorwood said:
I am as big a football fan as anyone and would hate to see the sport have to be drastically changed or banned. But after the suicide of Jr. Seau among many other players and the emerging research about head injuries I am moved to think maybe football needs to change.

I think maybe its time that people turn their attention and energy to more safe sports like pool. The more I think about the more I realize that extremes come in every endeavor in life. Guys like Artie Bodendorfor would play crazy sets with the help of all kinds of drugs and do things to their body. I think more knowledgeable posters could point to more examples of drug use, staying up multiple days at at time and general unhealthy practices in the name of competing at a higher level. I just wonder if common sense will ever become common.
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St. Louie-Louie Roberts was addicted to pills and he knew it. At the end, he was literally guzzling a pint of whiskey every morning and drinking one beer after another until he passed out, all in the effort of getting off of the pills.

Contrary to some reports about Louie being murdered, I have it on VERY good authority that two months before his death, he told a friend that he had recently attempted suicide because he was so miserable by putting a pistol in his mouth but at that time, didn't have the courage to pull the trigger. That friend attempted to get Louie help but Louie told the friend that he was going to stay with his gambling buddies and try to make a score instead. Two months later he was dead. I believe based upon this conversation, Louie committed suicide and was not murdered.

Apparently drug abuse becomes uncontrollable after a while and the rope of common sense becomes so frayed that it eventually breaks.

I've seen good and decent people become common thieves to support their habit gone viral and that's when friends and family say they have had enough. Once the support system is broken, it becomes difficult to repair it and most of the time, the support system is simply a means to an untimely end.
 
I think the issue here is that life comes with its risks and information is the key to risk assessment. Most adults are well aware of the dangers of driving a car or riding in one or flying in an airlane, but make a conscious decision to take that chance to make their lives better.

What's so sad about football players is that most of them were not sufficiently aware of the risks of playing in the first place. One can argue all day long about whose responsibility it was to inform them (parents, self-education, their team, the NFL, etc.).

Far more serious is the is a growing sense that in recent times, the NFL failed to share with its players everything it knew about the long-term effects of concussions. This is not really any different than the FDA approving drugs they know to have dangerous side effects and not disclosing them.

I can't fault anyone for taking a calculated, easily identified, and fully measurable risk to better their lives, as long as it's within the law.

Frankly, I think that the NFL should fund a program to help colleges to fully educate players about the ways in which football can affect physical and mental health and make it so that a player is ineligible for the NFL draft unless they have taken the course.

R0oger Goodell, NFL commissioner, is doing his best to redcue the physical damage that football can do to its players, but the psychological damages need tp be similarly addressed.

Personally, I'd favor a weight limit in pro football. In my dream world, linemen shouldn't be allowed on the field if their weight exceeds 250 lbs, and there should be a weight limit by position.

No matter what, though, gathering and sharing information about the risks inherent in our lives and those of others is a noble and worthy cause, not to mention an increasingly urgent one. It's a responsibility in which we all share.
 
Pass and Tap Football Leagues

Perhaps we can have pass and tap college and professional leagues.


Give me a break. Outside parties are trying to ban any kind of contact sports.

Let those who are concerned, turn their TV off and stop buying college and High School tickets.

This let the government regulate our toilets, light bulbs, smoking and whatever else has to end. People are responsible for their own behavior.

This thread is no help. Give it a low rating and perhaps it will go away.

This is no place for this topic, after all there is NPR.

Monitors should move this thread.

 
I think the answer is just as stated above, its information. People know the risks of rock climbing, sky diving etc. yet they still do it. The difference is, they know they might die doing it, but they had the information before they made the decision. We all have a right in this country to do as we chose for the most part. If someone is given all of the facts, then decides to play, that is a different story. Face it, the NFL is worth billions, it isn't going away. I am a huge fan, and played myself. My knee hurts everyday. Is it worth it? I don't know. I loved it, and love watching it, but would I want to have brain damage?
 
The world has always had gladiators and the peasants of the world have always flocked to watch them. Somethings never change. Wouldn't you love to see a bell curve of Pro football player's IQs, where do you think the mean would fall... 85... 90? And of course it is the money people who play with the lives of these thugs in both football and basketball, consume the player and make money from their pain. But in truth would any of it exist as it is today with out gamblers driving the economy of these sports? Ask yourself, how much do the people gambling on these sports care about the health of the players. Bottom line is most team pro sports is a cesspool. Don't protect the players, kill the games.
 
mnorwood said:
I am as big a football fan as anyone and would hate to see the sport have to be drastically changed or banned. But after the suicide of Jr. Seau among many other players and the emerging research about head injuries I am moved to think maybe football needs to change.

I think maybe its time that people turn their attention and energy to more safe sports like pool. The more I think about the more I realize that extremes come in every endeavor in life. Guys like Artie Bodendorfor would play crazy sets with the help of all kinds of drugs and do things to their body. I think more knowledgeable posters could point to more examples of drug use, staying up multiple days at at time and general unhealthy practices in the name of competing at a higher level. I just wonder if common sense will ever become common.
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Hello Minorwood,
I like the things you do for pool. And this good thread you posted! It makes some good points. About pool and other sports. I like the way you help other people learn to play pool better at your pool hall.
Many Regards,
Lock N Load.
 
To impose a weight limit of 250 lbs is ridiculous. Are you going to bar the tallest, strongest athletes from making a good living for their families. A lineman at 6"7' and 325 lbs is every bit the athlete someone 5'10 and 250 lbs is, in many cases much better. Give people information but let them make their own choices in life. Maybe there should be a height and weight minimum to play professional football... Nah that's still a poor argument. The best thing we can do if we don't like it is to not support it. No one wants to see a JV team in the Super Bowl they want to see the fastest strongest and most qualified elite athletes. That's why they get paid the big bucks. We can of course disagree.
 
When I was really young my Uncle Charlie shared his love of boxing with me. He was a wrestler and a boxer when he was young. One night we were watching Duku Kim and Boom Boom Mancini. Kim had to purge a good bit of body fluids to make weight which left his brain vulnerable. Kim went down and ended up dying later that night. From then on I never watched boxing again. Many years later we sat and watched UFC 1 and a guy tried to execute a take down and ended up getting his head beaten bloody in the octagon. Since that fight I really have had no interest in UFC.

Every year the hits in football keep getting bigger and nastier. I have talked to several former NFL players who are my age (37) who have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. Over the last year or so my feelings about football have really began to change.

By the same token I have a hard time with pool players I know who are taking something to stay up and sharp. I know a couple of players that have really ravaged their health taking pills to play better.

If guys understand the risk of what they are doing and still choose to do it then that's okay I suppose, I just don't want to watch it. I am the type of guy that doesn't look at the wreck on the way home from work, I also don't get a charge from things like faces of death or jackass.

I understand wanting to be competitive but football, pool or anything else is not worth destroying your health.
 
fhopper said:
Wouldn't you love to see a bell curve of Pro football player's IQs, where do you think the mean would fall... 85... 90? .
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I'd say the mean IQ would be right around 100 with a standard deviation of 15 or 16 points.
 
dr9ball said:
I'd say the mean IQ would be right around 100 with a standard deviation of 15 or 16 points.
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I am a High School Science teacher in an urban district at a school for expelled offenders. I am a bit cynical.

Thank you for the link to your music, I think I will pour my wife a glass of wine and invite her in to listen.
 
fhopper said:
I am a High School Science teacher in an urban district at a school for expelled offenders. I am a bit cynical.

Thank you for the link to your music, I think I will pour my wife a glass of wine and invite her in to listen.
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Any time, hope your wife and you enjoy the music.
 
IN years past the excuse was not enough information, now that is not a acceptable excuse.

If someone chooses to put themselves in danger in what ever sport or activity they choose to play that is there right.

The information is there for a person to see and know what they are getting into. Don't come crying after about your brian being mush.


As for football players from the past, If the NFL did hold back information , they should pay for everything. But if they where told what was known at the time and still chose to play tough cookies.

I wish them all good health in the future.
 
This happens to a lot of people that are no longer in the lime light. Not just a football problem. Famous people all get depressed or turn to drugs when they are ordinary. Something that regulations cannot change.
 
mnorwood said:
I am as big a football fan as anyone and would hate to see the sport have to be drastically changed or banned. But after the suicide of Jr. Seau among many other players and the emerging research about head injuries I am moved to think maybe football needs to change.

I think maybe its time that people turn their attention and energy to more safe sports like pool. The more I think about the more I realize that extremes come in every endeavor in life. Guys like Artie Bodendorfor would play crazy sets with the help of all kinds of drugs and do things to their body. I think more knowledgeable posters could point to more examples of drug use, staying up multiple days at at time and general unhealthy practices in the name of competing at a higher level. I just wonder if common sense will ever become common.
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I doubt it ever will, some people are always going to push the boundaries and who are we to tell them how to live. I think all we can do is pity their useless souls!!
 
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