If Gregg Easterbrook is going to use a football column to talk about cosmology, I’m going talk about football. Consider this recent block by WR Hines Ward on LB Keith Rivers:
Rivers broke his jaw, season over. Or this hit by S LeRoy Hill on WR Ike Hilliard:
Hilliard – who had 2 neck vertebrae fused after a previous neck injury – sustained a concussion. Lofa Tatupu – they guy whose head Hillird’s head was knocked into – also sustained a concussion. It’s like a Newton’s Pendulum of brain damage! Both of these hits were deemed “legal” – no penalty was assessed, no fines (AFIAK) were levied. Compare with this hit on WR Anquan Boldin:
A $50,000 fine for S Eric Smith, they guy whose head Boldin’s head was knocked into; a fractured face for Boldin. You tell me. All of these involve helmet-to-helmet contact – the difference being that Smith (as with Kevin Everett and – not h2h, but still – Dennis Byrd) hit the guy with the “crown” of the helmet, as opposed to using the forehead or facemask. (Or something – every play in an NFL game is a lawsuit, and you need 6 PhDs and a Magic 8-ball to figure out how some of this stuff works.) It’s still causing serious injury, with the potential for much, much worse, and this in a league (and a sport) that has supposedly been concerned with head injury for some time. Like, I get it: the NFL is super badass and everyone is a super tough guy who concussions are scared of. And then, every year or so, someone breaks their neck and no one could have predicted, etc. Maybe Mike Ditka is right, and they should eliminate the facemask. Or, maybe a league that has 8,000 rules about what sort of dancing is permitted could just make initiating helmet-to-helmet hits a 5 yard penalty. But it seems like the league can’t go a week without a couple of grotesque, but apparently perfectly legal, helmet-to-helmet injuries. Or maybe they want more backups to play so as to better compete with the CFL.
Also, NFL players may – MAY! – be using steroids. More on this story as it is studiously ignored.
October 23, 2008 at 7:40 pm
There is nothing pointless about NFL head injuries. They cause each other intentional brain damage for a *reason*, dammit.
He eats shoots, leaves, AND SCORES!
October 23, 2008 at 7:46 pm
The whole game is a injury. I played sissy California HS football, and it seems like my fingers were always broken. Every tackle is like a car wreck. It’s funny how adrenaline slows everything down and makes you forget your injuries until the day after when you place your entire body into a garbage can filled with ice water and weep. Actually, post double day practice, engulfing yourself in ice water really helps you recover.
Concussions, spinal injuries, painful foot and toe injuries, that’s the status quo. for a game that really shouldn’t be played by anyone ever, but I still attend to anyway.
Go Bills!
October 23, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Ditka may be onto something about getting rid of the facemask.
A squishy helmet may be another way to go, but the shiny plastic is too sexy marketable to get rid of. They experimented with this back in the..uh..20th century I forget when, but the potential for neck injuries from the helmet friction on the turf outweighed other safety gains.
What’s the injury rate for Aussie Football or rugby or Gaelic Football and what have you? I’m gonna go Jonah and not bother to research it, but I’d reckon it’s less than the NFL. And those dudes are men–they don’t need no sissy pads let alone helmets.
October 23, 2008 at 9:32 pm
I think the pointy ends of the ball are dangerouse. (that’s French I swear) I hear they have some sort of football that doesn’t involve pointy ended footballs, perhaps we should look into this “French rules football…”
I’ve also heard about something called Australian Rules Football. There are not any rools about helmets there… actually, I think the rule might be no helmets/pads etc…
But wait, then the sport wouldn’t be ‘Merican anymore… Please disregard…
October 23, 2008 at 9:51 pm
ed, I think you have a good point. The hard helmet has become a weapon, dump it (and the hard shoulder pads, etc while we’re at it) and go with something soft with less friction…
October 23, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Where’s the guy talking about rugby for sissies? He’s late.
The Steeler’s guy laid a paste. That hit was awesome, and a broken jaw (I’ve got a broken face. I’ve got a broken face) is a man’s injury. Well played all around, except for the linebacker, who must have been blowing bongs in the defensive huddle. Heads up ball, man.
The other two are indicative of the kind of mindless violence one can expect from such a barbarous sport. Football, really.
And another thing: if we weren’t living in a society where homoerotic urges are repressed to the point of humor, there wouldn’t be a multi-billion dollar business in which men in tights prance around.
Manny Ramirez makes you hot, and you know it. Now go toss in the bathroom.
October 24, 2008 at 12:03 am
Football is nothing but rugby for sissies.
Elliott: I aim to please.
October 24, 2008 at 5:23 am
Leroy Hill is a linebacker, not a safety.
The comparisons to rugby are not apt. Rugby is a different game [as are basketball, baseball, track and field, soccer, or essentially any other sport in the world where the players wear less protection than football players and yet (mirabile dictu!) get injured less].
I’ll point out some of the most pertinent differences (at least in respect to injuries):
- The worst football injuries usually occur when players are coming from opposite directions creating a large velocity differential. In rugby, almost all tackles are of the “drag down” variety where the players are going practially the exact same speed. So the injuries in rugby are of the “this body part moved in a way it wasn’t supposed to” variety, but aren’t from high-speed impact.
- Football has the forward pass, which puts players in exposed positions. The QB is exposed because he is concentrating on staying relatively stationary while looking downfield. Thus QBs get hurt a lot when they are hit while in this exposed position. Receivers, after the pass is thrown, are concentrating on catching the ball, and so the defensive players are able to aim directly towards where the receiver is waiting.
- Football is not a constant motion sport like rugby. Therefore, football players sacrifice cardiovascular conditioning for strength and speed. Related, football players can be much larger than rugby players because they don’t need to run for 30 straight minutes carrying around that 330 pounds of body weight. This is a huge (literally) difference.
If the NFL played without helmets we’d see deaths occur on a yearly basis (of course, that presumes the rest of the sport wouldn’t change, so it’s a somewhat fatuous point).
October 24, 2008 at 5:57 am
I think ed’s got the right idea. Take out all the stuff that makes them feel invincible and there won’t be quite so many injuries. Also, if they actually took the drugs out of the game, you wouldn’t have 350-pound linemen falling on each other. That’s gotta hurt.
October 24, 2008 at 6:49 am
The Editors’ posts are usually suppose to be about cosmology?
October 24, 2008 at 6:51 am
yawn apparently the editors is a man man manly man.
October 24, 2008 at 6:58 am
Eds — don’t read this unless you want to be depressed. Like, really, really depressed.
Question: would you give up your ACL for Tom Brady? Because, uh, I think that I would…
October 24, 2008 at 7:31 am
I sometimes dream that he asks me …
October 24, 2008 at 7:44 am
Some time ago I read some stats that showed the number and extent of injuries has NOT CHANGED since they were wearing leather helmets and barely any pads. Maybe we could go back to that.
At least helmet to helmet would not be as you know, looked forward to.
October 24, 2008 at 8:34 am
Kléber, etc. – I get that football is a violent game. I’m fine with that, I like it. But this game has all sorts of rules, more than the human mind can comprehend, about what sort of violence is or isn’t allowed, based in large part on what kinds of injuries they could cause. Personally, I’d much rather get a horse-collar tackle from Roy Williams and risk tearing a few knee ligaments then have someone drive their helmet into my chin and break my face and/or neck. I don’t enjoy watching either kind of injury, but, if I had to pick, I’d prefer to have the sick feeling of not knowing if someone is ever again going to run a 7.00 on the 20-yard shuttle than he sick feeling of not knowing if someone is paralyzed, or dead. You can still make some pretty spectacular/painful blocks/tackles without driving your helmet full-force into someone’s head, and you’ll end up with fewer Ted Johnsons.
October 24, 2008 at 10:59 am
The point of not being allowed to hit people with the top of your helmet has to do with aligning you spine like a battering ram, which unsurprisingly transfers more force than running into somebody with your face first and your neck bent backward. Try this at home! (wait, that’s not right)
I bet that better drug enforcement would be a better way to reduce injuries than anything, especially if we include game-day type performance enhancers like speed and local anesthetics etc. Some people are naturally crazy, and will put themselves and others at risk for fun, but lots more are better at it if they’re given a little pharmacological boost.
October 24, 2008 at 11:03 am
Charge all football players with one count of assault and battery for every play.
October 24, 2008 at 11:07 am
I have a friend who is a serious bicycle racer who suffered what absolutely positively should have been a career ending crash in which among other serious injuries he had about his 4th major concussion. He refuses to quit racing though, and in fact was riding his bike last winter while he still had casts on both arms. People should be allowed to make stupid choices like this, but there’s no reason to encourage it.
October 24, 2008 at 12:09 pm
That’s why I don’t watch the game. 350 pound steroid-addled mutants trying to hurt each other isn’t something I find entertaining.
October 24, 2008 at 2:25 pm
re 8: Ice — I see your point, however, if I may have a rebuttal..
ahem…
Football is nothing but rugby for sissies.
Q.E.D.
October 24, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Don’t worry I’m not picketing any time soon for NFL issues.
October 25, 2008 at 8:08 am
I played sissy California HS football
Has Dennis Prager been notified?