by that logic, there should be no workplace laws to protect employees since shit happens is a reasonable excuse. the NFL sets its laws for its league, the way the government sets laws for employees, and both their concern is protecting employees from preventable injuries beyond the scope of the duty, so shit happens is simply not an excuse unless you want to carry it all the way to every possible danger in every job. are you?
Of course reducing severe impacts to the head will reduce damage to the brain. Is it possible that using the right mouth guard could be more effective than reducing those impacts? We don't know. We don't know how much this will actually reduce those impacts either.
in the meantime while they study the efficiency of said mouthpieces, how is it a bad thing then to reduce the impacts? as far as the impacts, that is simply a manner of behavior. once players don't want to be suspended and lose money, they will amend their behavior. sure, maybe it will be ignored by players that don't care about such things, but I am willing to bet they are the minority and in the long run will be weeded out by the rules.
Without knowing what the league intends to eject or suspend people for by their definition of "devastating hits", it's hard to gauge what problems could come from this. Things I worry about: 1) Players getting ejected or suspended unfairly. This will be especially critical in playoff or playoff like games. 2) Players faking injuries to bait said ejections. 3) Players being tentative and missing tackles or turning what used to be an incomplete pass into a completed pass. 4) It's possible this could cause injuries by making guys play slower and less instinctively. 5) Turning America into a soccer country. I'm worried about this changing the game, basically. Modern day gladiators are fun to watch. Maybe I'm over reacting, but with the language from the league being so vague it's hard to understand what's going to happen.
Yeah if those things start happening to the NFL you will see fans leave in droves. I hope the UFL starts getting more attention and starts to be decently big enough to compete with the NFL so the NFL will have to give us (and the players) what they want, a mans game.
I'm a wait and see guy. personally, I don't think it is going to have a significant impact considering how few of these hits actually occur. I think it will be for the more egregious incidents.
that's a big assumption to think the NFL's popularity is based on extreme and unnecessary hits they are trying to eliminate, and eliminating them will cause fans to leave.
okay, splain this paragraph from that article: "While we're at it, Paterno would also like to know whatever happened to those canary dishes, the Andrews Sisters? Used to be a Joe could always get togged to the bricks for a jolly up in this town, even if he was a cement mixer. But these days, every night's in the cave with a platter and a glass of dog soup, patting his alderman like some wheat lunger."
So here it is... the vid that kind of explains what will get you busted in the NFL http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-videos/09000d5d81b80962/Player-safety
Many people are throwing temper tantrums because the league is trying to put a stop to the most vicious of hits, hits that occur on average fewer than once per game.
Yes, and they are totally over reacting. Most tackles are just that....tackles. And then there are good hits and really, really bad hits that can seriously injure somebody. Those fans who are crying about eliminating bad hits are selfish and kind of sick. Why don't they want to see players get up and walk away from getting lit up? And for those who keep saying Robinsons hit was legal and a "great hit", you have to be dumb as rocks. Do you realize he gave himself a pretty bad concussion? No great hit knocks out the person who delivered it. Sorry.
actually, your posts are the excuses. of course, you haven't exhibited any bit of intelligence in your posts so it is no surprise you aren't even capable of comprehending your own thoughts. at least you are proud to exhibit such brainlessness and enjoy doing so with such vigor.
What's cowardly about what Jet Blue wrote? Made perfectly good sense to me. Since you think that the NFL shouldn't try to protect players from unnecessary injuries, am I correct to assume that you think the League should repeal the Face Mask Rule? Shouldn't defensive players be allowed to grab a ball carrier's face mask and jerk his head around? How about repealing the rule against crackback blocks? Shouldn't O-Lineman be allowed to deliberately hit the D-Linemen's knees? How about repealing the inelligible receiver downfield rule? If you allow defensive players to "punish" receivers who come across the middle, why not allow O-Lineman to go downfield and "punish" the D-Backs? Afterall, you woudn't want football to become a sissy game would you? The players and ESPN crowd and some fans are over reacting to the Leagues decision to crackdown on unnecessary violence. All the League is saying is that players who deliberately target the head or neck area of a defenseless player will be penalized. If players like James Harrison can't play without deliberately slamming their forearm into the head of a defenseless player, then they should quit or be kicked out of the League.
You are hiding behind a suit. I just saw the video that the NFL has distributed throughout the league and if there is one thing that is apparent, this country has gone to the corporations. Too bad you can't see that. I'm for the players. I don't know who you are for. The NFL never concerned itself with the health of it's players, so I don't understand how you can come to the conclusion that the NFL is trying to protect the players now. Considering the health issues of many ex NFL players I think the league is being a coward and hypocritical. America must be full of dummies. It's the first thing we say to one another when we don't want to expand our own brains.
I really understand the concern but really don't get all of this premature outrage about the "pussification" of the NFL. This is a PR thing, the NFL is trying to have it's cake and eat it too. They know the game is inherently violent, they know there's no way to make it 100% safe without ruining the product. But on the other hand they don't want to be seen as the tobacco companies now, and especially in the future if guys start dropping left and right in their 50's and 60's, and to a lesser extent I think their is some genuine concern for for the health of their employees ( but let's be honest the real threat is a P.R disaster and that is what is driving these actions). The NFL does not want to ruin it's product. I don't know who the fuck honestly thinks the NFL is trying to drive down it's appeal by making it a less physical, less exciting game. All of us on this forum- we are what drive NFL revenues. I really don't get the Goodell hating- right now the NFL is about as entertaining a product as there is in the world for sports. Plain and simple. That's why fucking Jags Titans on Monday Night destroys the the baseball post season for tv ratings. Out of the last 10 super bowls played, probably half were instant classics and only one or two were legitimately boring games. The playoffs are almost always awesome. They aren't trying to fuck this up, they just want to help their consumers feel a little better about their guilt complex and concerns that we're really still just the Romans watching gladiators in the stands.
All they are going to do is alienate the fans with this stuff. I think if it's blatant or frequent then you should be punished harshly, but if it's rare or a really close call then it should just be a fine.
The litany of studies done on NFL head trauma = insufficient A handful of highlight hits from week 6 of the 2010 season = ALL THE EVIDENCE WE NEED, LET'S CHANGE THE RULES
let me get this straight. it is your argument that because in the past the league hasn't been concerned with players that the league isn't concerned with them today, despite the fact that they are clearly implementing new policies that shows they do? is that really the ludicrous conclusion you are coming to that the league can not be concerned today because they haven't been in the past?
The NFL, besides alienating the fans with their new policies, are also putting added pressure on the officials that can directly affect a games outcome. With all the debate here, imagine an official in the midst of his job making a bonehead call on a play that was in fact legal, directly affecting the game. As we saw with the officiating during the Jets/Broncos game, they have enough on their plate trying to get the easy calls right. Im know the league is concerned about the big hits. I think they are doing a great thing in getting baseline scans on players and checking concussions thoroughly. But this is a huge contact sport and I believe there should be more emphisis on safety equipment than players changing the way they play the game.
