I love football, deeply and completely. Just as previous generations left the game better than they found it for me and my peers, I very much want to help pass the game along to future generations in better shape than I found it. The Great Game is just that. Nothing else even comes close. But there are problems with the Great Game, and because I love it, I want to address those problems rather than ignore them. It is an inherently rough and violent sport, and Im fine with that. But every possible measure MUST be taken to reduce the number of catastrophic injuries. While those injuries are MUCH less common than todays headlines would suggest, we still need to make this a safer....not safe...safer....sport. First off, Im gonna ask folks to knock it off with remarks like Put a dress on em, or ...pretty soon well be playing flag football. Those remarks are ignorant, and generally fly out of the mouths of people who have never donned a sweaty jock in their lives. The game is plenty violent...and is in absolutely no danger of becoming a pansy sport. Stop it. The targeting rules are generally good....although they need to be refined, focused, more clearly defined and more consistently applied. We have to do everything possible to take the head out of the game. Im open to suggestions, even radical ones. Heres where Im gonna lose a lot of your. Nobody.....nobody....should play suit em up, full contact football until they are in the 7th grade. Nobody. Younger bodies...and younger minds....are just not ready for that. And Ive seen youth football ruin the sport for boys who would have absolutely loved it later. Yes...play football. But play touch and flag football...and emphasize fun and ball skills. Theres no 9-year-old on Earff who doesnt want to touch the ball. The Great Game needs future generations. And that pipeline is going to be pinched and even cut off unless we address these issues fully and immediately. It is because I love The Great Game so deeply...and because I am so grateful for the wonderful impact it has had on my life...that I will not stick my head in the sand and pretend that everything is fine. I have some other radical ideas. Make the field 4 yards wider. You would instantly reduce train wreck collisions by 60%. You dont pass, you dont play. Make college student/athletes just that. You cant cut it in the classroom....you dont get a scholarship. Football has always been our most progressive sport in terms of willingness to change and improve. That spirit must be preserved and advanced.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 13:58:00 +0000
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