[NU Sports] Football Rule changes for 2012

[Beamsley, Jeff]

This may come down to where you sit on the political spectrum, and that's not what this list is about.
 
Still I do want to be honest and confess that I am conflicted.
 
The way the game is played today, we are creating a generation of kids who are putting their mental health at risk playing what should be a game.
 
A college chum of my oldest son graduated with a BSME from UoM.  His first job was with a sports equipment start-up working on the problem of concusions.  They had come up with an inexpensive device which could provide information about the type of accellerations that were likely to cause some brain trauma.  The start-up failed, not because they couldn't deliver a reliable product at a good price, but because nobody wanted to know and as a result nobody wanted to buy.
 
That seems to be the place we are at today.  We don't want to know how wide spread the problem is, because we fear that it might affect a game that we enjoy.
 
This is certainly a problem that we fans can ignore.  We can also say that this is a risk that kids take, so we shouldn't worry about it.  Or we can wander off into the political arguments about the intrusion of government and the growth of the nanny-state.
 
The data is distrubing.  34% of college football players admit to having at least one concussion.  20% admit to having multiple concussions.  The other things that we know is that once you have had a concussion, you are much more vulnerable to another.  We also have plenty of examples of athletes whose careers where ended by concussions (Steve Young) or whose life after football were affected by the brain damage they received during their playing days (Dave Duerson).  
 
We have better protocols these days for handling those who are obviously injured.  That's good.
 
We need better data and monitoring for all those who play the game, not just those who display obvious symptoms, in order to determine how big a problem this really is.
 
We also may need to think about changes in the game which could reduce the potential of brain injury.
 
I came across this Time article from a couple of years ago which suggests some fundamental changes in tackling technique based on experience in Rugby.  
 
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2027053,00.html
 
The biggest change, however, has to come from us the fans.
 
I think that it is time to acknowledge that there is a problem and that something needs to be done about it.
 
If we continue to ignore the problem, football could easily go the way of boxing and become a mainly pro sport where the risks are well known and significant, and only those who have few other choices choose to participate.
 
Jeff
 

________________________________

From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com on behalf of Eric Kunkel
Sent: Sat 2/25/2012 1:05 AM
To: tbng at comcast.net; nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Football Rule changes for 2012



Hell Yes.  Brad Phillips knocking Io-a running back Greene into yesterday was lovely.  Seeing Louis Ayeni drill any thing that moved was also high on my list. Chris Spielman has it right: a slobber knocker is a beautiful thing.  GO CATS!!    Eric



-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis W. Brandt <tbng at comcast.net>
To: nwu-sports <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Fri, Feb 24, 2012 5:56 pm
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Football Rule changes for 2012


We train football players to have prodigious strength, to maximize speed and
uickness, to hit with the force of a truck, and then pass rules to subdue that
ower.  Anyone see a contradiction there?
Some rule changes have made sense, such as disallowing - even disqualifying (and
ining) - any player who deliberately uses his helment as a weapon and keeping
layers with concussion symptoms out of the game.  But don't expect to eliminate
ignificantly helmet-to-helmet contact, broken ribs, or knees being snapped into
selessness.  With powerful, athletic guys flying around at awesome speed, it is
mpossible unless you want the NCAA to switch to flag football (although broken
ody parts are still possible even then).  And don't tell me you don't jump up
nd cheer when one of the boys in purple knocks an opponent into
emiconsciousness with a clean hit.
At what point to you destroy the game of football?  When do games become
onsumed with referees tossing yellow hankies and moving the ball back fifteen
ards?  Maybe JoePa was right and players should go back to wearing leather
elmets.  Then no one will lead with his head.
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