October 21, 2010

How to Fix Football

Easy: no helmets, no pads.  Play American football in rugby gear.  If defensive players can feel the pain, they won't be able to turn themselves into human missiles. Lots more bruises, lots more contusions, infinitely fewer concussions, fewer ruined careers and lives.

I love football, but had I any children, I would probably forbid them from playing it. You are perhaps not as likely to die as you are in, say, auto racing, but it is becoming more and more likely that you will be sacrificing your brain and overall wellbeing to the sport.

1 comment:

comfortstarr said...

I saw this idea floated elsewhere the last time this concussion stuff came up. I think it's a great one.

Clark

P.S. Another interesting thing I read about football recently--I think it was in the Wall Street Journal, so I must've read it at the airport after scrounging papers from empty chairs. If you add up all the actual action time in a typical football game, the average is something like 11 minutes total. I think that explains why my football viewing has significantly dropped off over the years.