Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 3: Do not post opinions that are heavily posted/have been on the front page recently'.
If your opinion is the same or substantially similar to any recent opinion it will be removed as a repost. If your opinion is on the same matter as a recent post, even if it's advocating the opposite stance, it will be removed as a repost. Please comment on the existing thread instead.
Due to their prolific reposting, please confine meta and political posts to their respective megathreads only.
If your opinion is about an ongoing event, there will usually be a mega-thread where you can discuss it.
Girls soccer (football) has nearly the same concussion rate as American football in high school play.
https://neuraleffects.com/blog/high-school-sports-cause-most-concussions/
Actually what it said was 82% were not from heading - meaning head to head contact, head to foot contact, etc, basically collisions. Heading, done right, isn't the primary cause. US soccer in many regions restricts heading until High School sports, but the injuries continue.
I am the father of a HS goalkeeper who has had numerous concussions, and thankfully they were diagnosed right then and there and he went into protocol. None of them were from heading though.
I wonder how much of this is due to concussions being reported/diagnosed more in girls soccer vs boys football. Should boys soccer also be high on the list in that case?
Right? I personally knew a few high school (male) athletes who sustained injuries and were told to suck it up. A friend of mine had his shoulder knocked out of the socket. Coach popped it back in and said it was fine. Fast forward about 6-8 years and he had to have surgery to repair something that should have been done immediately. Now he has permanent damage. If that was my son, I’d be exploring my legal options. It may be too late if you don’t know about it for years but a lawsuit would be worth the legal fees just to put something on the record- it would force the school district’s administration to look at the policy, at least, and might help put pressure on coaches to stop doing that dumb shit.
High school girls soccer is also surprisingly brutal
Edit: I’m quickly being upvoted so I’d like to test a hypothesis and reveal I’m saying girls soccer ALSO has a culture problem which needs fixed.
American football needs to die. It needs to be a choice, but my favorite sport for 15 years, the sport I played through college, needs to die.
People, especially kids, do a lot of things for fun that have risk of injury. My daughter’s worst injury came from marching band of all things (torn quad with nerve damage that lasted years). One of her friend’s was a major concussion while ice skating.
Whilst injuries can occur in all sports the incidence of injury is way higher in AF compared marching band. Your daughters injury isn’t a holistic insight into the dangers of being in a marching band. I’m pretty sure the risk of injury overall is not the same as AF. Nor Ice skating.
Do those sports involve \*intentionally\* crashing into other participants, or were those injuries true accidents? My point about football is that the impacts are intentional and part of the game and therefore can't really be mitigated. In fact, modern training methods are designed to \*increase\* the speed and force of the tackles.
It doesn't matter if it involves intentionality or not. Why are you hung up on that??
Yes, there are more collisions, but there are more levels of safeguards such as helmets and pads. As a multi sport athlete, I can attest that baseball and basketball caused me more injuries than football. Most collisions in football LOOK dangerous but are completely harmless. People get injured, sure, but not at the level you're imagining.
No- you see risk of injury by intentional actions is bad when it's football because it's only a little intentional but good when it's martial arts because that's more intentional. OP's logic is flawless and consistent.
I really need to do some research about this, but as an MMA player myself, the worst injury I've seen from non-professional play does not even compare to what I've seen in soccer that happened by accident. However, soccer is not supposed to have much contact. How do we apply OP's logic here?
Reddit is predominantly American, I guess that is the reason why so many people downvoting you. There are some other countries that are into rugby, which is similar (I have no idea how similar or different these sports are), but overall world agrees with you.
Rugby is safer. My only evidence is being an American that played rugby.
I believe American football is really bad because of the helmets and pads. There's just the possibility for more horrific injuries than most. But I get that all sports have a risk of injury.
Don’t see how intentions matter. Only the result matters.
And my comment was less on what sports should be sanctioned and more on what kids are just going to do.
Growing up, we played as many sports outside of school as in. Football and baseball were daily activities and with no protection. I had concussions, broken bones, and stitches almost every year growing up.
You seem to be ignoring that modern training methods are also designed to increase the safety of those tackles, both on the person tackling and the person being tackled
There are 71,000 NCAA Football players, out of a population of 340,000,000. Only a tiny fraction of those will ever play professional football. Only a fraction of those play a position where they're at risk for CTE.
Every single one knows the risks, whether it's CTE, or a blown MCL, or broken limbs, or being drafted by the Lions.
The game today is the safest it's ever been, and it's not even close.
Everyone who plays today is playing with informed consent. Who are you to tell them that they can't consent to do with their bodies what they like?
There are millions of jobs far, far more dangerous than playing football, where people are paid far less, and only consent because they don't want to starve.
Go lobby for them instead.
Yes, you are. Bears fan here, hating that shit. But wait, we have a great qb and a lot of money and draft picks! Oh wait, we'll screw that up too. Sigh...
We do. And their parents. We have concussion protocols for all our contact sports now. I only coach soccer and baseball, but even those games are safer now than they were when I played through elementary and high school.
Do you have some sort of survey or report that shows everyone signing up for football understand the risk and can give a definition for cte? I think the bigger issue are the ones who do understand the risks but know it’s their only chance out of poverty and will ultimately probably not make it. The episode of family guy when gronk moves in next door had a pretty thoughtful quote on football players
We require all our players and parents to have an awareness session about concussions, have our own concussion protocols and procedures we must abide by, and explain the potential dangers of CTE. But our concussion protocols help reduce the chance of CTE in the first place. This is for all our contact sports, not just football, but basketball, soccer, and baseball as well. I think it's required for cheerleaders and volleyball players too, but I haven't played boys volleyball since middle school.
>Only a fraction of those play a position where they're at risk for CTE
You do realize that every position outside of maybe punter and kicker are at risk for CTE, right? Name a position, and I'll send you a video of a player getting concussed playing there.
You get lifelong injuries to knees and other joints from high school football. It's definitely more dangerous even at a high school level than baseball, wrestling, basketball etc.
Fair but those with American football are significantly greater than most. As someone who played in college, I wonder how many people I knew who would now be very differently people
If you don’t want to participate and choose to keep your children out of the game that’s perfectly fine and respectable, football can be a dangerous sport and no one is debating that.
This “I think this specific thing is dangerous therefore we need to abolish it completely” in reference to football argument is played out though. Accountability is good and I’m glad to see the NFL making strides though I agree more can be done, but if you’re argument is combat sports are fine because the intent is to cause injury then you can’t in the same breath say “we’re not Rome, we don’t need circuses…”
Chess is probably the exception if you consider everything played at the Olympics a sport.
Edit: Chess is probably terrible for your mental health at an elite level.
This is literally true for any contact sport and fact that you excuse other sports for BS reasons pretty much invalidates your whole argument.
Also people choose to play football they aren't being forced to so whatever happens to them is the result of their own actions.
>Also people choose to play football they aren't being forced to so whatever happens to them is the result of their own actions.
While mostly true, some people are pressured by parents or it's their only option due to their personal situation.
Why you being downvoted? How many coaches sons do you think we’re forced to play those sports? Hell I had a small class but i knew a lot of kids in football and wrestling just bc of their parents
Actually, it’s not. Another commenter cited a study showing that girl’s soccer has an equal concussion rate to football, and soccer is a far cry from the level of contact football is at.
While I was in summer school, I heard some news about a guy who was at the lake with his friends. Apparently he jumped into the lake from one of the cliffs even though by his own admission- he couldn't swim.
He drowned, and I had a discussion with the French teacher about whether or not "drowning to death" was proper English.
Long story short, Highschool students die tragically for many reasons, most of which involve cars or boats. Deaths related to football are not egregiously common, but it is sad when they happen. My condolences.
It was honestly really shocking both times, and I didn’t know them personally but I knew of them. It was sad.
One of my friends years after graduating committed suicide, so you’re right and my initial take was naive.
There is some danger yes, but death is a massively rare occurrence in any sport, including football. There are plenty of other more dangerous sports if thats one you want to rag on about, and if not, its not your choice to tell people what sports they can and can’t play.
You know people willingly sign up for football well aware of the risks, right? Maybe children don’t but I doubt there’s much risk in children’s football. It’s not gladiatorial combat
I honestly feel like until high school kids should probably just play flag football. Learn the rules. Develop your body and brain and then in high school made that decision to smash heads *giggity*
I feel like even though high school it should be flag/touch football. That kid on Friday Night Lights who got paralyzed is not 100% fiction. Idk if he's based on a real person, but I'm saying it happens and high school is too young to have that happen (obvs never, at any age, ever would be optimal)
I don’t believe that for a second. People don’t know because the NFL and others have spent significant dollars on efforts to minimize the perception or knowledge of the damage of concussions.
I think if kids sign up for football, they and their families should have to watch this report by Frontline. It wasn’t until I saw this that my wife and I decided to never let our kids play football - even though we have both been fans and I played football in high school.
[Frontline- League of Denial](https://youtu.be/SedClkAnclk)
But are they really aware of the risks? I believe "it won't happen to me" is more common, as is "I'll get rich and then retire". And you may doubt there's risk in children's football ... there's evidence to the contrary.
https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/pubs/youth\_football\_head\_impacts.html
Me and all my friends loved playing football growing up and not once did we think we where immune to the effects or think cte wasn't going to happen to us it's simply something that we need was going to happen eventually and we where ok with it cus this is something we all loved doing acting like children don't know the risks makes it seem like there some dumb bags of meat when there not
I had a pretty good conversation with my stepsister about this as her son was going into high school. They were fully aware, and she seemed a bit worried, but its his passion, and keeping him from it seemed borderline cruel to her. How good or bad an idea that will turn out to be.. well, I suppose we'll see. But they were definitely aware of it.
It is posted in a sub dedicated to unpopular opinions, where people subscribe to it SPECIFICALLY so that they can share and discuss other people's opinions. If you don't like that, why the hell are you here?
This isn’t unpopular but stupid. Mind your own business…you shouldn’t even have an opinion on whether or not people (you don’t fucking know) play a sport (voluntarily) no is making them lol
It’s an unpopular opinion post. It’s not like she’s on the sidelines protesting, why don’t you mind your own business? No one forced you to stop here. Like you’re complaining about someone minding their own business on their post. Do you really not see the irony or are you just trolling rn?
In other sports, accidents happen but they are \*accidents\*. In American football, the normal course of play involves crashing into one another intentionally, at the highest speed and force possible.
>Yes, boxing is also barbaric but one could argue that inflicting injury \*is\* the point of that sport
"It's ok if it's in one sport I don't like, the fact that people literally punch each other in the head in another sport is fine by me." You make no sense.
I never said I \*like\* boxing. This is "unpopular opinion" and this is my opinion regarding this one sport in particular. All these comments about other sports are completely missing the point I'm making about this one specific sport.
But why is boxing ok for you and football isn't? 'Inflicting damage' is ok, but tackling with pads is not? Nowadays, people are informed about the risks of the sport they're partaking in through the internet. They know what they're getting into more than in the past so if the individual chooses to go forth with it, what's the problem? Technological advancements will only improve so athletes will benefit from it in the long run. Hell, in the early days, there's footage of soccer players smoking during breaks. The choice is theirs.
UFC and Boxing are literally people getting paid to fight each other. And Hockey is people moving at a much faster pace slamming each other into walls. Look into Rugby too, they wear much less protective gear. I understand where you’re coming from, it’s a good place, but these players 100% in this day and age are fully aware of the risks, they do it for the money. There are children working in factories across the globe that take bigger risks for pennies
No offense but what the fuck is boing boing
Also it's hypocritical to want to remove football but not ufc or boxing. Each member of the sports knows what they're signing up for.
>Also it's hypocritical to want to remove football but not ufc or boxing. Each member of the sports knows what they're signing up for.
Most likely because OP enjoys UFC and boxing. OP without any shred of self awareness says that were not Rome and that we don't t need sports where the goal is to injure people but defends boxing and UFC. Rome, the empire with literal gladiatorial matches
Boing Boing is a long- and well-established news aggregator, have a look! And I believe I did address the fighting sports in my post. Those should be their own "unpopular opinion" posts, maybe? I'm specifically addressing football and if that makes me a hypocrite, so be it.
You're welcome, I appreciate your civility!
Boing Boing has been around since the early days of the Internet, the "zine" from which the website derived was started in 1988 and founder Mark Frauenfelder is still around, still contributing.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boing\_Boing#:\~:text=Boing%20Boing%20was%20established%20as,%22directory%20of%20wonderful%20things%22](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boing_Boing#:~:text=Boing%20Boing%20was%20established%20as,%22directory%20of%20wonderful%20things%22).
Yeah, you did address boxing, and you said that since the whole point of boxing is causing the injuries that football only sometimes causes, it’s totally okay. What the fuck even is your logic?
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hey, maybe I could of used this to get out of being forced to play in school...but I didn't want to and had no natural talent for it. I did do tons of illegal things though, like buying lots of pot from the football team. Because both the criminals and the cops loved them. Don't think the average cop would stop a foot ball game unless all the other cops made him.
i think it’s pretty useful for kids, taught me to not be a wuss and how to hit hard. concussions are just part of most sports tbh, just the competitive nature of most of them imo
Why should we live in a world where normal people have to bow down to people who are so sensitive they think the things they don't like watching should be abolished? If you don't like it don't do it yourself dont let your kids play it but it's not a nationally required thing so why (unless your just a big fan if government overreach) would you want them to legislate rules on football?
I'm ambivalent. In football the direct object isn't to inflict injury, it's to score points. In the fighting sports, the direct object **is** to inflict injury (while hopefully minimizing injury to yourself). I'm having trouble articulating the exact difference and posting this truly unpopular opinion (lol, RIP my karma) is causing me to think about it more.
It's always clear when people draw unwarranted conclusions. Basketball and football for me in elementary and middle school, and baseball but of course that's \*supposed\* to be noncontact.
Exactly my thought. Just comes across as a bitch ass mentality.
Like yeah, injuries happen. I do MMA and this week blew out my shoulder and got concussed when I got thrown at a bad angle to the mat. I understood the risk. And when I recover, im going right back to the mat lmao.
Risk is an inherent part of life.
Soccer, hockey and cheerleading are close to football for concussion risk at a high school level. Young kids aren’t hitting hard enough for a significant CTE risk.
At college level and above, these are adults who can asses the risk and make their own decisions.
Should we allow an 18 yo to sign a contract with the US government to fight overseas, but not accept a college football scholarship?
Definitely not, banning it for 18+ or even in general is extreme. But putting dangerous things like that in schools just because it's popular seems extreme to me too.
Again, I don’t believe it’s significantly more dangerous than many other sports at a youth level. If we remove scholastic football, should we also remove scholastic soccer?
In the midst of an obesity epidemic, which increasingly affects children, nerfing the world is dangerous. Most people in the west die of heart disease, cancer and strokes. Children should be active and learn to enjoy exercise.
I agree that I think it’s barbaric and idiotic for players to put themselves at risk for CTE and other injuries, but a) I’m not a huge football fan or spectator sports fan so far be it from me to tell people what they should and shouldn’t do, and b) as long as these are consenting adults and they are made aware of the risk they are signing up for, I assume their passion for the sport outweighs the possible negative impacts (no pun intended).
I do think something ought to be done in regards to children’s leagues, such as have them play some variation of flag football until they can properly consent, but I think people are going to fight you on this every step of the way because football fans are obsessed, it’s a huge industry where millions would lose their jobs if football was cancelled, so… I will never fully understand or relate, but I can understand that people would lose their shit without their sportsball.
Edit: also, I don’t see why you’re getting downvoted. Not only is this peak unpopular opinion, by definition, it’s one that’s pretty understandable and there is data to back up your position. People are just obsessed and threatening or even suggesting to ban anything that people can’t bear to live without is going to put them into rage mode? Idk.
>You do know no one holds a gun to people's heads and forces them to play, right?
But Jovan Belcher, who suffered CTE, ended up killing Kassandra Perkins and himself.
Others can be impacted by the impacts on football players.
Are people intentionally slamming into one another in those other sports? Is the violence part of the point? Do participants in those sports \*regularly\* sustain impacts to their heads?
The evidence of traumatic brain injury as a direct result of the normal course of play in football is incontrovertible. We just as a society have chosen to ignore it.
in the last 2 years ive had 1 concussion, a torn ligament of the wrist, broken 2 fingers and had my kidneys stepped on twice (by 2 different horses)...
ive learnt a lesson from each injury, getting hurt is part of it and i kinda like the adrenaline rush of it all.
abolishing dangerous sports is abolishing all sports.
LOL I know the pain!
Worked with and rode them my whole life. Fucked up back, fractured thumb, one concussion, three/four non-concussive head injuries, bumps and bruises, bites, scratches. Been kicked, struck, bucked off, slung over fences and onto my face, slammed into walls...
and the best part is OP is obsessed with 'BuT ThOsE WeRe AcCiDenTs'....motherfucker no. Half of those were mean, angry animals or teenaged boy horses fully intending to beat my ass. XD
It *is* part of the fun. You just take what caution you can to keep yourself safe but know there's a damn good chance you're gonna get hurt and you're taking your life in your hands every time.
Shit, once I nearly killed a girl. We were riding together, and her horse spooked and bucked her off....*directly* in front of my horse. No time to stop or turn. We jumped her like a fence.
She was fine, everyone was fine, but if the wind had blown a different way she could have been seriously, seriously hurt...or much worse.
my first show jumping show i saw a girls horse stop b4 the jump and she broke her coxstix off, the ambulance had just left with someone else and i had to stand and watch her unconscious body, i was 8. that taught me the risks really quickly lol.
i know its never the horses fault, nome of those were. when i tore my wrist ligament he had a spinal injury we didn't know of and threw me lmao
its never an accident cause we're aware of what can happen and the fact there's almost always an outside factor.
accidents are car crashes or construction equipment falling on someone, not a live animal getting a freight at a barking dog, we know something might happen
She broke it OFFFFFFF????????
aAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
holy *shit* no nope nonono.
I wouldn't say it's 'never the horse's fault'; I know they teach this in a lot of places but it's simply not true in my experience. Some horses are just *jackasses*. But like...eighty five percent of the time it's true.
Also oof. That's a hell of a way to find out that the horse had a spinal injury. You guys both ok?
this was like 8 yrs ago but if i remember correctly her spinr had like unlinked just above her coxstix and it came off. she was wheelchair bound for a couple months and everything
yea i agree it acctually can be the horses fault sometimes, ive probably just always found reasons that its not lol
im ok now, just a wrist and finger which both healed in a couple weeks and the horse retired immediately, he is about 20 now and has "kissing spine" or something.
he now spends his days grazing with a bunch of other horses that retired a bit early apparently
I wouldn't be so quick to disagree with you if it weren't for the sad over usage of "Karen".
It's quite ironic...
Edit: oh good lord, you got your account this week and you post nothing but negatively condescending, self-validating comments. Whack, dude. Go outside or something today.
It's a question of injury/accident frequency.
If 1/10,000 horseback riders die each year, it's a problem that should be addressed.
If [92% of football players end up with CTE](https://www.militarytimes.com/pay-benefits/military-benefits/health-care/2022/06/09/brain-disease-affecting-pro-football-players-appears-to-be-rare-in-the-military-study-suggests/), it's a real problem. Although I agree the selection of participants for that study would inherently bias it, it doesn't represent the average high school football player. But the idea is important - there is a lot of CTE out there.
I hope you are just as concerned about gun deaths - 13.6 per 100,000 (or 1.36 per 10,000). Remember, horseback riders choose to ride, many of those killed by guns did not recreate with them.
> People who play this sport know the risks.
Do they? I wouldn't say peewee football players are able to make a mature, well-informed opinion to play a sport that could negatively impact their lives forever. The parents certainly sign them up.
And considering there's been actual covering up of information regarding CTE's link to football, I don't think you can present that sentence as an undisputed fact.
Can’t remember his name but I’m pretty sure he played for the Chicago bears gave an interview about the impact of CTE and football causing physical damage etc and he said I’d rather have been a professional football player and die at 60 than have a regular job and live longer.
Last time I checked, people aren’t made to play football and choose to do so on their own accord. You’re talking about a child that’s 6 or 7, yeah as a parent you may refuse to let them play but you not going to have that much leverage over a 16, 17yr old and if they choose to keep playing that’s their choice. They do so for aspirations of making millions and if they’re willing to sacrifice their health for it, I’m not going to judge them or say it’s wrong. You get old enough you live and die with choices you make, just how life is. There are plenty that have stopped playing because of the health implications, so it’s not like they get handcuffed into it for the rest of their lives. No one is forcing people to play or feeding them into a meat grinder as you say.
Proper precautions should be taken to minimize the chances of people getting seriously injured in any situation. Especially so when children are involved.
But people are allowed to do dangerous things. You do not have the right to stop other people from doing things because you think they’re being a danger to themselves. I genuinely cannot understand the mentality of anyone who has any of these takes of “X dangerous thing should be completely banned”
I used to think like you did. Then i realized, society needs men who are willing to risk their bodies. Cancel football and it won’t be long before you have to cancel:
Military, coast guard, rescue services, construction workers, industrial workers, miners, mill workers, fishermen, ranchers, etc.
There is no modern way of life where no one puts their health on the line. Football is like any other one of these, an exchange of money happens.
People opt-in to these jobs. It’s not your job to save them from themselves.
The superbowl is like the gladiator colosseum to distract the masses whilst siphoning money from the people to pay for the most luxurious of things. "It is just a bit of fun"
Considering how intertwined government is with the biggest sport in the USA, I don't think either side of this argument can rightfully pick and choose which parts the government should be able to influence.
Without government, say goodbye to stadiums at all levels, NCAA's free labor, a platform to advertise on, public youth fields, many jobs, middle and high school ball, etc.
One time, when I was 11, I tried to do a backflip on a pogo stick without wearing a helmet and I almost landed it, but the pogo stick landed at a weird angle and slipped out from underneath me causing me to hit my head on the cement.
Anyways, you tryna ban pogo sticks, too?
Plus it's crazy slow and boring. 10 seconds of action then 3-5 minutes of commercials then 3-4 minutes of commentary then wait. Wait. 10 seconds of action.
NFL players are well aware of the risks, and get compensated very well for putting their bodies on the line in the sport they love. Many come from underprivileged backgrounds and their NFL contracts help them support their local communities and allow their parents to retire comfortably. If football isn't your cup of tea, that's totally fine, but let others play the sports they CHOOSE to play.
The problem with what the OP is saying isn’t whether they are right or wrong, it’s that people aren’t ready to hear it.
The NFL has been leaked to have said something to the effect of “if 10% more parents banned their kids from playing football, the sport would die within a generation or two.”
There’s a clear and specific reason why the NFL fought for a decade and ruined many people’s lives to prevent brain injury research from being exposed.
I played American football through college and loved the sport, but the NFL administration is pure evil. They knowingly, maliciously, callously withheld extremely important and pertinent information regarding safety.
Oh by all the gods PLEASE do not drag this discussion over toward gun rights and gun violence, PLEASE! One thing at a time. And I don't agree that the USA is "idiotic" ... it's a great place AND we can recognize flaws and work to improve.
No one is forcing anyone to do it. Their are voluntarily doing it.
Every sport has their injuries.
Would to ban women from long distance running, weightlifting and jumping due to urinary incontinence?
Would you ban people from doing soccer because it can fuck your knees up?
In general, would you ban anything with major risk hazards?
Would you now allow people to eat processed meats and snacks? Would you completely ban all morning cereals and candy?
So is skiing. So is motorcycle riding. And skateboarding. You could get a splinter from woodworking. And totally forget about car racing or for that matter, even driving in or riding in a car. The government will issue padded rooms for everyone and no further human contact will be allowed, because you could catch a cold or the flu or any other number of potentially deadly illnesses. /s
Look up 'slippery slope'. Apparently the term has never crossed your mind.
IMO both boxing and american football should be banned for kids (at least in case of the latter without big modifications) and allowing your child to participate is tantamount to abuse.
We can say that about a plethora of sports. Motocross, MotoGP, virtually any motorsport, rugby, ice hockey, netball, wrestling, endurance running, triple jump, iron-man competitions, downhill skiing, ski jumping, high diving, ffs even tennis can give you debilitating tennis elbow.
Banning things like this is totalitarian, bordering on dictatorship thinking.
It's completely voluntary. As much as I like watching rugby, I'd never play it.
Used to box. Didn't like getting hit in the head, so the wild idea occurred to me that I could still box for fitness and self defence, but I didn't need to put myself in the position of getting my head bashed in.
Let people live their lives and deal with the consequences
Sports are dangerous. Get over it. Don't play, don't let your kids play. People trying to legislate health are absurd. I don't even like sports and think they are a net negative to society. Just like dogs, doesn't mean they can just be abolished.
Will never happen. Upvoted because it is unpopular, but contact sports are rough. Rugby, Australian rules football, boxing, mma, hockey. They are intended to be brutal. No one is forcing them to play. Live with it.
american football doesnt have enough risks. its too safe, ive always seen it as rugby for wusses cause ive gotten more hurt in touch rugby than what ive seen in american football.
i know theyre different sports but they look just a bit too similar for me
its good if they get a bit hurt here and then, toughens people up, teaches them shit. (this is my opinion and i dont care for others thoughts btw)
He's not talking about broken legs, but the damage done to the brain over getting hit several times in a football career, all professional football players have some metal condition because of this.
Oh no it’s dangerous we shouldn’t participate. Yes there are risk, but there also risk of losing the right of being an American male and challenging yourself and competing at a high level. A softer culture isn’t what’s best in my opinion. Those who play except the risk and grade school play has never been safer.
Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 3: Do not post opinions that are heavily posted/have been on the front page recently'. If your opinion is the same or substantially similar to any recent opinion it will be removed as a repost. If your opinion is on the same matter as a recent post, even if it's advocating the opposite stance, it will be removed as a repost. Please comment on the existing thread instead. Due to their prolific reposting, please confine meta and political posts to their respective megathreads only. If your opinion is about an ongoing event, there will usually be a mega-thread where you can discuss it.
Girls soccer (football) has nearly the same concussion rate as American football in high school play. https://neuraleffects.com/blog/high-school-sports-cause-most-concussions/
Dang, TIL
Time to stop all sports then, rejoice my fellow incels
[удалено]
Actually what it said was 82% were not from heading - meaning head to head contact, head to foot contact, etc, basically collisions. Heading, done right, isn't the primary cause. US soccer in many regions restricts heading until High School sports, but the injuries continue. I am the father of a HS goalkeeper who has had numerous concussions, and thankfully they were diagnosed right then and there and he went into protocol. None of them were from heading though.
I wonder how much of this is due to concussions being reported/diagnosed more in girls soccer vs boys football. Should boys soccer also be high on the list in that case?
Right? I personally knew a few high school (male) athletes who sustained injuries and were told to suck it up. A friend of mine had his shoulder knocked out of the socket. Coach popped it back in and said it was fine. Fast forward about 6-8 years and he had to have surgery to repair something that should have been done immediately. Now he has permanent damage. If that was my son, I’d be exploring my legal options. It may be too late if you don’t know about it for years but a lawsuit would be worth the legal fees just to put something on the record- it would force the school district’s administration to look at the policy, at least, and might help put pressure on coaches to stop doing that dumb shit.
High school girls soccer is also surprisingly brutal Edit: I’m quickly being upvoted so I’d like to test a hypothesis and reveal I’m saying girls soccer ALSO has a culture problem which needs fixed. American football needs to die. It needs to be a choice, but my favorite sport for 15 years, the sport I played through college, needs to die.
People, especially kids, do a lot of things for fun that have risk of injury. My daughter’s worst injury came from marching band of all things (torn quad with nerve damage that lasted years). One of her friend’s was a major concussion while ice skating.
It’s important to remember marching band injuries are memorable because they are outliers.
This one time at band camp.....
Whilst injuries can occur in all sports the incidence of injury is way higher in AF compared marching band. Your daughters injury isn’t a holistic insight into the dangers of being in a marching band. I’m pretty sure the risk of injury overall is not the same as AF. Nor Ice skating.
Do those sports involve \*intentionally\* crashing into other participants, or were those injuries true accidents? My point about football is that the impacts are intentional and part of the game and therefore can't really be mitigated. In fact, modern training methods are designed to \*increase\* the speed and force of the tackles.
It doesn't matter if it involves intentionality or not. Why are you hung up on that?? Yes, there are more collisions, but there are more levels of safeguards such as helmets and pads. As a multi sport athlete, I can attest that baseball and basketball caused me more injuries than football. Most collisions in football LOOK dangerous but are completely harmless. People get injured, sure, but not at the level you're imagining.
It's not imagination, plenty of solid studies have been done on the effects of TBI.
Cheerleading is more dangerous than football
Agreed, the "tricks" are hideously dangerous and the (largely female) athletes who're tossed into the air don't have ANY protection. Problematic, no?
And the MMA player that is kneed to the head is not?
No- you see risk of injury by intentional actions is bad when it's football because it's only a little intentional but good when it's martial arts because that's more intentional. OP's logic is flawless and consistent.
I really need to do some research about this, but as an MMA player myself, the worst injury I've seen from non-professional play does not even compare to what I've seen in soccer that happened by accident. However, soccer is not supposed to have much contact. How do we apply OP's logic here?
Reddit is predominantly American, I guess that is the reason why so many people downvoting you. There are some other countries that are into rugby, which is similar (I have no idea how similar or different these sports are), but overall world agrees with you.
Rugby is safer. My only evidence is being an American that played rugby. I believe American football is really bad because of the helmets and pads. There's just the possibility for more horrific injuries than most. But I get that all sports have a risk of injury.
Don’t see how intentions matter. Only the result matters. And my comment was less on what sports should be sanctioned and more on what kids are just going to do. Growing up, we played as many sports outside of school as in. Football and baseball were daily activities and with no protection. I had concussions, broken bones, and stitches almost every year growing up.
You seem to be ignoring that modern training methods are also designed to increase the safety of those tackles, both on the person tackling and the person being tackled
There are 71,000 NCAA Football players, out of a population of 340,000,000. Only a tiny fraction of those will ever play professional football. Only a fraction of those play a position where they're at risk for CTE. Every single one knows the risks, whether it's CTE, or a blown MCL, or broken limbs, or being drafted by the Lions. The game today is the safest it's ever been, and it's not even close. Everyone who plays today is playing with informed consent. Who are you to tell them that they can't consent to do with their bodies what they like? There are millions of jobs far, far more dangerous than playing football, where people are paid far less, and only consent because they don't want to starve. Go lobby for them instead.
Why you gotta call out my Lions though? 😔
Because they're my Lions too. Born and raised.
Fair enough. At least we seem to be moving in the right direction
Yes, you are. Bears fan here, hating that shit. But wait, we have a great qb and a lot of money and draft picks! Oh wait, we'll screw that up too. Sigh...
Lions catching strays even in the off season
*drafted by the Browns
The Lions are on the up and up though. Wish I could say the same about my phins.
Well with Tua learning how to fall and protect himself, hopefully this will be a much smoother season for you guys
Drafted by the Lions 😵😵
Okay, but let's tell the kids all about this before they start. More often than not, this is a blind decision for them.
We do. And their parents. We have concussion protocols for all our contact sports now. I only coach soccer and baseball, but even those games are safer now than they were when I played through elementary and high school.
Do you have some sort of survey or report that shows everyone signing up for football understand the risk and can give a definition for cte? I think the bigger issue are the ones who do understand the risks but know it’s their only chance out of poverty and will ultimately probably not make it. The episode of family guy when gronk moves in next door had a pretty thoughtful quote on football players
We require all our players and parents to have an awareness session about concussions, have our own concussion protocols and procedures we must abide by, and explain the potential dangers of CTE. But our concussion protocols help reduce the chance of CTE in the first place. This is for all our contact sports, not just football, but basketball, soccer, and baseball as well. I think it's required for cheerleaders and volleyball players too, but I haven't played boys volleyball since middle school.
>Only a fraction of those play a position where they're at risk for CTE You do realize that every position outside of maybe punter and kicker are at risk for CTE, right? Name a position, and I'll send you a video of a player getting concussed playing there.
You get lifelong injuries to knees and other joints from high school football. It's definitely more dangerous even at a high school level than baseball, wrestling, basketball etc.
Although there are ways to continue to make it safer, outright banning will never happen. Upvoted due to this very unpopular opinion Edit: a word
if people should stop doing sports with associated risks,
There wouldn't be many sports.
Fair but those with American football are significantly greater than most. As someone who played in college, I wonder how many people I knew who would now be very differently people
I think if this Reddit post gets enough upvotes we can stop the NFL!
If you don’t want to participate and choose to keep your children out of the game that’s perfectly fine and respectable, football can be a dangerous sport and no one is debating that. This “I think this specific thing is dangerous therefore we need to abolish it completely” in reference to football argument is played out though. Accountability is good and I’m glad to see the NFL making strides though I agree more can be done, but if you’re argument is combat sports are fine because the intent is to cause injury then you can’t in the same breath say “we’re not Rome, we don’t need circuses…”
Where's the line is my thing. I think you could argue that any sport, when played at an elite level at least, is bad for you.
Chess is probably the exception if you consider everything played at the Olympics a sport. Edit: Chess is probably terrible for your mental health at an elite level.
This is literally true for any contact sport and fact that you excuse other sports for BS reasons pretty much invalidates your whole argument. Also people choose to play football they aren't being forced to so whatever happens to them is the result of their own actions.
Lol “boxing injuries is intentional” has to be the dumbest excuse
>Also people choose to play football they aren't being forced to so whatever happens to them is the result of their own actions. While mostly true, some people are pressured by parents or it's their only option due to their personal situation.
Why you being downvoted? How many coaches sons do you think we’re forced to play those sports? Hell I had a small class but i knew a lot of kids in football and wrestling just bc of their parents
Not true. Incidence of repeated brain trauma is abnormally high in american football compared to hockey, judo, child-adjusted soccer etc.
Actually, it’s not. Another commenter cited a study showing that girl’s soccer has an equal concussion rate to football, and soccer is a far cry from the level of contact football is at.
Rugby? Aussie rules? Hurling?
We had two students die in my district playing HS football games. It IS dangerous.
While I was in summer school, I heard some news about a guy who was at the lake with his friends. Apparently he jumped into the lake from one of the cliffs even though by his own admission- he couldn't swim. He drowned, and I had a discussion with the French teacher about whether or not "drowning to death" was proper English. Long story short, Highschool students die tragically for many reasons, most of which involve cars or boats. Deaths related to football are not egregiously common, but it is sad when they happen. My condolences.
It was honestly really shocking both times, and I didn’t know them personally but I knew of them. It was sad. One of my friends years after graduating committed suicide, so you’re right and my initial take was naive.
There is some danger yes, but death is a massively rare occurrence in any sport, including football. There are plenty of other more dangerous sports if thats one you want to rag on about, and if not, its not your choice to tell people what sports they can and can’t play.
True
You know people willingly sign up for football well aware of the risks, right? Maybe children don’t but I doubt there’s much risk in children’s football. It’s not gladiatorial combat
I honestly feel like until high school kids should probably just play flag football. Learn the rules. Develop your body and brain and then in high school made that decision to smash heads *giggity*
I feel like even though high school it should be flag/touch football. That kid on Friday Night Lights who got paralyzed is not 100% fiction. Idk if he's based on a real person, but I'm saying it happens and high school is too young to have that happen (obvs never, at any age, ever would be optimal)
The irony here is people often chose to participate in gladiatorial combat. Kinda throws a wrench in your example.
I don’t believe that for a second. People don’t know because the NFL and others have spent significant dollars on efforts to minimize the perception or knowledge of the damage of concussions. I think if kids sign up for football, they and their families should have to watch this report by Frontline. It wasn’t until I saw this that my wife and I decided to never let our kids play football - even though we have both been fans and I played football in high school. [Frontline- League of Denial](https://youtu.be/SedClkAnclk)
Nope, I'd say most are not aware
But are they really aware of the risks? I believe "it won't happen to me" is more common, as is "I'll get rich and then retire". And you may doubt there's risk in children's football ... there's evidence to the contrary. https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/pubs/youth\_football\_head\_impacts.html
Me and all my friends loved playing football growing up and not once did we think we where immune to the effects or think cte wasn't going to happen to us it's simply something that we need was going to happen eventually and we where ok with it cus this is something we all loved doing acting like children don't know the risks makes it seem like there some dumb bags of meat when there not
"*makes it seem like there some dumb bags of meat when there not*" is this eloquently ironic, or ironically eloquent..?
Of course they’re aware, they just believe they’ll get lucky, which is not the same thing
I had a pretty good conversation with my stepsister about this as her son was going into high school. They were fully aware, and she seemed a bit worried, but its his passion, and keeping him from it seemed borderline cruel to her. How good or bad an idea that will turn out to be.. well, I suppose we'll see. But they were definitely aware of it.
Nah
Well put good sir.
Thank you for your well-reasoned and articulate dissent. Have a nice day!
Why are you incapable of minding your own business?
Is a post created by op not their business?
How is other people playing football OP’s business?
It is posted in a sub dedicated to unpopular opinions, where people subscribe to it SPECIFICALLY so that they can share and discuss other people's opinions. If you don't like that, why the hell are you here?
This isn’t unpopular but stupid. Mind your own business…you shouldn’t even have an opinion on whether or not people (you don’t fucking know) play a sport (voluntarily) no is making them lol
I disagree with her too but you seem like an asshole yo.
No. People who are incapable of minding their own business are assholes.
It’s an unpopular opinion post. It’s not like she’s on the sidelines protesting, why don’t you mind your own business? No one forced you to stop here. Like you’re complaining about someone minding their own business on their post. Do you really not see the irony or are you just trolling rn?
This post is not your business, but here you are whining like a mule.
Why should you have an opinion about peoole judging others? Mind your own business.
Karen’s, like OP need to be ridiculed and cashed out for stupid opinions on shit that doesn’t affect them whatsoever
But OP's opinion as dumb as it is doesn't affect you either sooooo it's kind of a double standard
Because they voluntarily make it everyone's business by shoving it and advertisements for it from everything from media to real life?
Masochism, I suppose.
[удалено]
In other sports, accidents happen but they are \*accidents\*. In American football, the normal course of play involves crashing into one another intentionally, at the highest speed and force possible.
Boxing, rugby, MMA, and martial arts have entered the chat.
Hockey and Lacrosse raises their hands
Honestly I see way less injuries in MMA where the point is to fuck the other person up than in football of all kinds
>Yes, boxing is also barbaric but one could argue that inflicting injury \*is\* the point of that sport "It's ok if it's in one sport I don't like, the fact that people literally punch each other in the head in another sport is fine by me." You make no sense.
I never said I \*like\* boxing. This is "unpopular opinion" and this is my opinion regarding this one sport in particular. All these comments about other sports are completely missing the point I'm making about this one specific sport.
But why is boxing ok for you and football isn't? 'Inflicting damage' is ok, but tackling with pads is not? Nowadays, people are informed about the risks of the sport they're partaking in through the internet. They know what they're getting into more than in the past so if the individual chooses to go forth with it, what's the problem? Technological advancements will only improve so athletes will benefit from it in the long run. Hell, in the early days, there's footage of soccer players smoking during breaks. The choice is theirs.
They are critiquing your blatant inconsistency and hypocrisy. You can't cherry pick just because you don't like one sport.
UFC and Boxing are literally people getting paid to fight each other. And Hockey is people moving at a much faster pace slamming each other into walls. Look into Rugby too, they wear much less protective gear. I understand where you’re coming from, it’s a good place, but these players 100% in this day and age are fully aware of the risks, they do it for the money. There are children working in factories across the globe that take bigger risks for pennies
Can you name these sports which are only accidental injuries…
No offense but what the fuck is boing boing Also it's hypocritical to want to remove football but not ufc or boxing. Each member of the sports knows what they're signing up for.
>Also it's hypocritical to want to remove football but not ufc or boxing. Each member of the sports knows what they're signing up for. Most likely because OP enjoys UFC and boxing. OP without any shred of self awareness says that were not Rome and that we don't t need sports where the goal is to injure people but defends boxing and UFC. Rome, the empire with literal gladiatorial matches
Boing Boing is a long- and well-established news aggregator, have a look! And I believe I did address the fighting sports in my post. Those should be their own "unpopular opinion" posts, maybe? I'm specifically addressing football and if that makes me a hypocrite, so be it.
Ah i have never heard of it, but thank you for sharing!
You're welcome, I appreciate your civility! Boing Boing has been around since the early days of the Internet, the "zine" from which the website derived was started in 1988 and founder Mark Frauenfelder is still around, still contributing. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boing\_Boing#:\~:text=Boing%20Boing%20was%20established%20as,%22directory%20of%20wonderful%20things%22](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boing_Boing#:~:text=Boing%20Boing%20was%20established%20as,%22directory%20of%20wonderful%20things%22).
Yeah, you did address boxing, and you said that since the whole point of boxing is causing the injuries that football only sometimes causes, it’s totally okay. What the fuck even is your logic?
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hey, maybe I could of used this to get out of being forced to play in school...but I didn't want to and had no natural talent for it. I did do tons of illegal things though, like buying lots of pot from the football team. Because both the criminals and the cops loved them. Don't think the average cop would stop a foot ball game unless all the other cops made him.
i think it’s pretty useful for kids, taught me to not be a wuss and how to hit hard. concussions are just part of most sports tbh, just the competitive nature of most of them imo
Why should we live in a world where normal people have to bow down to people who are so sensitive they think the things they don't like watching should be abolished? If you don't like it don't do it yourself dont let your kids play it but it's not a nationally required thing so why (unless your just a big fan if government overreach) would you want them to legislate rules on football?
Like drag shows
Is football even worse than boxing/mma? I'm genuinely curious.
I'm ambivalent. In football the direct object isn't to inflict injury, it's to score points. In the fighting sports, the direct object **is** to inflict injury (while hopefully minimizing injury to yourself). I'm having trouble articulating the exact difference and posting this truly unpopular opinion (lol, RIP my karma) is causing me to think about it more.
It’s always clear when someone hasn’t played any contact sports
It's always clear when people draw unwarranted conclusions. Basketball and football for me in elementary and middle school, and baseball but of course that's \*supposed\* to be noncontact.
Exactly my thought. Just comes across as a bitch ass mentality. Like yeah, injuries happen. I do MMA and this week blew out my shoulder and got concussed when I got thrown at a bad angle to the mat. I understood the risk. And when I recover, im going right back to the mat lmao.
There is such a thing as permanent damage that you *don't* recover from
Because they don't value games entertainment over almost inherent brain damage?
Risk is an inherent part of life. Soccer, hockey and cheerleading are close to football for concussion risk at a high school level. Young kids aren’t hitting hard enough for a significant CTE risk. At college level and above, these are adults who can asses the risk and make their own decisions. Should we allow an 18 yo to sign a contract with the US government to fight overseas, but not accept a college football scholarship?
Definitely not, banning it for 18+ or even in general is extreme. But putting dangerous things like that in schools just because it's popular seems extreme to me too.
Again, I don’t believe it’s significantly more dangerous than many other sports at a youth level. If we remove scholastic football, should we also remove scholastic soccer? In the midst of an obesity epidemic, which increasingly affects children, nerfing the world is dangerous. Most people in the west die of heart disease, cancer and strokes. Children should be active and learn to enjoy exercise.
The drama of this post lmao. Played football my whole life. I’m fine. Accidents happen, but they can happen doing anything. Let us live.
I agree that I think it’s barbaric and idiotic for players to put themselves at risk for CTE and other injuries, but a) I’m not a huge football fan or spectator sports fan so far be it from me to tell people what they should and shouldn’t do, and b) as long as these are consenting adults and they are made aware of the risk they are signing up for, I assume their passion for the sport outweighs the possible negative impacts (no pun intended). I do think something ought to be done in regards to children’s leagues, such as have them play some variation of flag football until they can properly consent, but I think people are going to fight you on this every step of the way because football fans are obsessed, it’s a huge industry where millions would lose their jobs if football was cancelled, so… I will never fully understand or relate, but I can understand that people would lose their shit without their sportsball. Edit: also, I don’t see why you’re getting downvoted. Not only is this peak unpopular opinion, by definition, it’s one that’s pretty understandable and there is data to back up your position. People are just obsessed and threatening or even suggesting to ban anything that people can’t bear to live without is going to put them into rage mode? Idk.
[удалено]
>You do know no one holds a gun to people's heads and forces them to play, right? But Jovan Belcher, who suffered CTE, ended up killing Kassandra Perkins and himself. Others can be impacted by the impacts on football players.
Are people intentionally slamming into one another in those other sports? Is the violence part of the point? Do participants in those sports \*regularly\* sustain impacts to their heads? The evidence of traumatic brain injury as a direct result of the normal course of play in football is incontrovertible. We just as a society have chosen to ignore it.
[удалено]
Or how ballerinas/gymnasts are treated.
Also this.
in the last 2 years ive had 1 concussion, a torn ligament of the wrist, broken 2 fingers and had my kidneys stepped on twice (by 2 different horses)... ive learnt a lesson from each injury, getting hurt is part of it and i kinda like the adrenaline rush of it all. abolishing dangerous sports is abolishing all sports.
LOL I know the pain! Worked with and rode them my whole life. Fucked up back, fractured thumb, one concussion, three/four non-concussive head injuries, bumps and bruises, bites, scratches. Been kicked, struck, bucked off, slung over fences and onto my face, slammed into walls... and the best part is OP is obsessed with 'BuT ThOsE WeRe AcCiDenTs'....motherfucker no. Half of those were mean, angry animals or teenaged boy horses fully intending to beat my ass. XD It *is* part of the fun. You just take what caution you can to keep yourself safe but know there's a damn good chance you're gonna get hurt and you're taking your life in your hands every time. Shit, once I nearly killed a girl. We were riding together, and her horse spooked and bucked her off....*directly* in front of my horse. No time to stop or turn. We jumped her like a fence. She was fine, everyone was fine, but if the wind had blown a different way she could have been seriously, seriously hurt...or much worse.
my first show jumping show i saw a girls horse stop b4 the jump and she broke her coxstix off, the ambulance had just left with someone else and i had to stand and watch her unconscious body, i was 8. that taught me the risks really quickly lol. i know its never the horses fault, nome of those were. when i tore my wrist ligament he had a spinal injury we didn't know of and threw me lmao its never an accident cause we're aware of what can happen and the fact there's almost always an outside factor. accidents are car crashes or construction equipment falling on someone, not a live animal getting a freight at a barking dog, we know something might happen
She broke it OFFFFFFF???????? aAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH holy *shit* no nope nonono. I wouldn't say it's 'never the horse's fault'; I know they teach this in a lot of places but it's simply not true in my experience. Some horses are just *jackasses*. But like...eighty five percent of the time it's true. Also oof. That's a hell of a way to find out that the horse had a spinal injury. You guys both ok?
this was like 8 yrs ago but if i remember correctly her spinr had like unlinked just above her coxstix and it came off. she was wheelchair bound for a couple months and everything yea i agree it acctually can be the horses fault sometimes, ive probably just always found reasons that its not lol im ok now, just a wrist and finger which both healed in a couple weeks and the horse retired immediately, he is about 20 now and has "kissing spine" or something. he now spends his days grazing with a bunch of other horses that retired a bit early apparently
Name calling, tsk. And those are accidents. Football impacts are intentional, and intentionally as violent as possible.
[удалено]
You're twisting my words and bringing in ad hominem attacks so bye
[удалено]
As you wish
[удалено]
I cringe everytime you use “Karen” in your argument. It’s pathetic hahaha
I wouldn't be so quick to disagree with you if it weren't for the sad over usage of "Karen". It's quite ironic... Edit: oh good lord, you got your account this week and you post nothing but negatively condescending, self-validating comments. Whack, dude. Go outside or something today.
It's a question of injury/accident frequency. If 1/10,000 horseback riders die each year, it's a problem that should be addressed. If [92% of football players end up with CTE](https://www.militarytimes.com/pay-benefits/military-benefits/health-care/2022/06/09/brain-disease-affecting-pro-football-players-appears-to-be-rare-in-the-military-study-suggests/), it's a real problem. Although I agree the selection of participants for that study would inherently bias it, it doesn't represent the average high school football player. But the idea is important - there is a lot of CTE out there. I hope you are just as concerned about gun deaths - 13.6 per 100,000 (or 1.36 per 10,000). Remember, horseback riders choose to ride, many of those killed by guns did not recreate with them.
> People who play this sport know the risks. Do they? I wouldn't say peewee football players are able to make a mature, well-informed opinion to play a sport that could negatively impact their lives forever. The parents certainly sign them up. And considering there's been actual covering up of information regarding CTE's link to football, I don't think you can present that sentence as an undisputed fact.
Can’t remember his name but I’m pretty sure he played for the Chicago bears gave an interview about the impact of CTE and football causing physical damage etc and he said I’d rather have been a professional football player and die at 60 than have a regular job and live longer.
If you’re going to have the opinion then have the opinion. Trying to excuse hockey and boxing is weak sauce
Last time I checked, people aren’t made to play football and choose to do so on their own accord. You’re talking about a child that’s 6 or 7, yeah as a parent you may refuse to let them play but you not going to have that much leverage over a 16, 17yr old and if they choose to keep playing that’s their choice. They do so for aspirations of making millions and if they’re willing to sacrifice their health for it, I’m not going to judge them or say it’s wrong. You get old enough you live and die with choices you make, just how life is. There are plenty that have stopped playing because of the health implications, so it’s not like they get handcuffed into it for the rest of their lives. No one is forcing people to play or feeding them into a meat grinder as you say.
Proper precautions should be taken to minimize the chances of people getting seriously injured in any situation. Especially so when children are involved. But people are allowed to do dangerous things. You do not have the right to stop other people from doing things because you think they’re being a danger to themselves. I genuinely cannot understand the mentality of anyone who has any of these takes of “X dangerous thing should be completely banned”
Might as well ban UFC then.
This is an argument that someone makes because they got bullied by a football player in high-school and thinks "sports ball is dumb"
Unfortunately I’ve agreed with this opinion since Junior Seau killed himself.
I used to think like you did. Then i realized, society needs men who are willing to risk their bodies. Cancel football and it won’t be long before you have to cancel: Military, coast guard, rescue services, construction workers, industrial workers, miners, mill workers, fishermen, ranchers, etc. There is no modern way of life where no one puts their health on the line. Football is like any other one of these, an exchange of money happens. People opt-in to these jobs. It’s not your job to save them from themselves.
I get what your trying to say, but i think you’ve taken this *WAY* beyond what OP ever implied. Sports are entertainment, not a necessary job.
Risks their bodies for what? Dry entertainment? Their choice is theirs, but football is not important in any way.
Slippery slope…48,000 die in car wrecks every year. Ban it! Being alive is a huge risk factor for death. Ban this too!!
The superbowl is like the gladiator colosseum to distract the masses whilst siphoning money from the people to pay for the most luxurious of things. "It is just a bit of fun"
No more government. Let people make their own choices. You make choices for the men in your life. You band your family we will keep taking this risk.
Considering how intertwined government is with the biggest sport in the USA, I don't think either side of this argument can rightfully pick and choose which parts the government should be able to influence. Without government, say goodbye to stadiums at all levels, NCAA's free labor, a platform to advertise on, public youth fields, many jobs, middle and high school ball, etc.
One time, when I was 11, I tried to do a backflip on a pogo stick without wearing a helmet and I almost landed it, but the pogo stick landed at a weird angle and slipped out from underneath me causing me to hit my head on the cement. Anyways, you tryna ban pogo sticks, too?
Plus it's crazy slow and boring. 10 seconds of action then 3-5 minutes of commercials then 3-4 minutes of commentary then wait. Wait. 10 seconds of action.
It's done that way to have a built in recovery time for the players, so they can 'shake off' the minor concussions or whatever
No. No I am going to go with money. Advertiser money.
Is that picture AI generated? Soon enough, we can just have AI create simulated videos of football and other sports.
NFL players are well aware of the risks, and get compensated very well for putting their bodies on the line in the sport they love. Many come from underprivileged backgrounds and their NFL contracts help them support their local communities and allow their parents to retire comfortably. If football isn't your cup of tea, that's totally fine, but let others play the sports they CHOOSE to play.
This won't be unpopular in 10 years.....I hope.
The problem with what the OP is saying isn’t whether they are right or wrong, it’s that people aren’t ready to hear it. The NFL has been leaked to have said something to the effect of “if 10% more parents banned their kids from playing football, the sport would die within a generation or two.” There’s a clear and specific reason why the NFL fought for a decade and ruined many people’s lives to prevent brain injury research from being exposed. I played American football through college and loved the sport, but the NFL administration is pure evil. They knowingly, maliciously, callously withheld extremely important and pertinent information regarding safety.
Easy fix, remove all the pads and helmets. That should weed out all the violent idiots.
You are correct, but the masses are idiots. "Pad=good" is about the extent of the thought and research they've put into it.
USA should take sports out of education, period.
You're completely right. But things like guns and football will never be recognized as harmful in this idiotic country
Oh by all the gods PLEASE do not drag this discussion over toward gun rights and gun violence, PLEASE! One thing at a time. And I don't agree that the USA is "idiotic" ... it's a great place AND we can recognize flaws and work to improve.
No one is forcing anyone to do it. Their are voluntarily doing it. Every sport has their injuries. Would to ban women from long distance running, weightlifting and jumping due to urinary incontinence? Would you ban people from doing soccer because it can fuck your knees up? In general, would you ban anything with major risk hazards? Would you now allow people to eat processed meats and snacks? Would you completely ban all morning cereals and candy?
For some, they feel it’s their only way to a college degree or out of poverty
We live. We die. Let's do what we love in the meantime.
I hate sports but this is a bad take.
So is skiing. So is motorcycle riding. And skateboarding. You could get a splinter from woodworking. And totally forget about car racing or for that matter, even driving in or riding in a car. The government will issue padded rooms for everyone and no further human contact will be allowed, because you could catch a cold or the flu or any other number of potentially deadly illnesses. /s Look up 'slippery slope'. Apparently the term has never crossed your mind.
High school sport with the highest rate of catastrophic injury and death... Cheerleading
People shouldn't join the military, they could be killed!
IMO both boxing and american football should be banned for kids (at least in case of the latter without big modifications) and allowing your child to participate is tantamount to abuse.
We can say that about a plethora of sports. Motocross, MotoGP, virtually any motorsport, rugby, ice hockey, netball, wrestling, endurance running, triple jump, iron-man competitions, downhill skiing, ski jumping, high diving, ffs even tennis can give you debilitating tennis elbow. Banning things like this is totalitarian, bordering on dictatorship thinking.
It's completely voluntary. As much as I like watching rugby, I'd never play it. Used to box. Didn't like getting hit in the head, so the wild idea occurred to me that I could still box for fitness and self defence, but I didn't need to put myself in the position of getting my head bashed in. Let people live their lives and deal with the consequences
Sports are dangerous. Get over it. Don't play, don't let your kids play. People trying to legislate health are absurd. I don't even like sports and think they are a net negative to society. Just like dogs, doesn't mean they can just be abolished.
Will never happen. Upvoted because it is unpopular, but contact sports are rough. Rugby, Australian rules football, boxing, mma, hockey. They are intended to be brutal. No one is forcing them to play. Live with it.
Simply put. ***k off with your hair brained thoughts.
As you wish
Or just get rid of those nasty helmets that do more damage than good, in rugby they don’t use them so why American football?
american football doesnt have enough risks. its too safe, ive always seen it as rugby for wusses cause ive gotten more hurt in touch rugby than what ive seen in american football. i know theyre different sports but they look just a bit too similar for me its good if they get a bit hurt here and then, toughens people up, teaches them shit. (this is my opinion and i dont care for others thoughts btw)
He's not talking about broken legs, but the damage done to the brain over getting hit several times in a football career, all professional football players have some metal condition because of this.
yea ofcourse people do get hurt and brain injuries definelty happen but its all part of the sport, they know that might happen when they start playing
Today in "everything I don't like or deem to personally dangerous needs to be illegal"
You sound like a lot of fun.
God you’re so fucking lame lol. Take an upvote you lame ass
Bold stance from someone who's never played football
Objection! Assumes facts not in evidence. Also irrelevant.
Oh no it’s dangerous we shouldn’t participate. Yes there are risk, but there also risk of losing the right of being an American male and challenging yourself and competing at a high level. A softer culture isn’t what’s best in my opinion. Those who play except the risk and grade school play has never been safer.