Pain is injury is NFL

TdogProspective Member

The NFL helmet is a big symbol of the NFL all over the place. They sell replicas, they market the helmets to kids in numerous ways, two of them violently smash together before MNF and other games, even the robot wears one (why I don't know).

Anyone who has played HS football and beyond was taught to tackle to blow up the target. I know when I played there was nothing better than getting an open lane on a guy and drilling him for all he was worth. What's the intent? To tackle the guy so hard he feels the pain... and hopefully fumbles - to me, that's football. Survival of the toughest in a grueling physical game that will take your measure.

What is pain? It's an injury to the body. It's your body saying ouch impending trouble, stop doing what you're doing or it could get worse. Football is a contest between men to see who's the toughest and most talented bunch.

What's my point? The NFL is pain and pain is injury. Who's kidding who trying to talk about it any other way? "with intent to injure" gimme a break - all these NFL defenders are taught for years to bring the pain(injure) when they tackle. Ask Ray Lewis if he's just trying to bring a guy down. No, he's trying to bring him down with maximum pain(injury). The NFL has celebrated and marketed the violence of the game for years. What allows players to bring maximum pain? Helmets and shoulder pads. You don't see rugby players (at least the smart ones) launching themselves head and shoulders first into players/piles of people. The only way the concussions and violence go away is to do away with the armor of helmets and shoulder pads. When you have concern for your noggin cuz it's not in a protective shell you will take care of it unless you're an idiot.

I'm not advocating getting rid of the helmets and shoulder pads - I like the NFL the way it is. I just think any discussion about getting rid of concussions or limiting the violence of the game that doesn't include doing away with helmets/shoulder pads is ingenuous.

There is the defenseless receiver stuff that I can kinda see, but on the other hand it's not the defenders fault. Tell your QB to keep the ball down and/or don't lead you into murderous situations. How many WRs did brent get killed? Do you see the same thing with AR? Rarely. He understands that part of the game and tries to take care of his WRs.

Anyway, it was on my mind and thought I'd let you guys show me the errors of my opinion.

5/11/128:26 AM

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FountainfoxMember

Good points, but I'm not sure removing pads and helmets would mean all that much.

In my younger years I remember seeing NHL guys on TV playing without helmets for years (I think some still do) and goalies without masks. Sometimes I wonder if sports isn't a form of sanctioned mental illness.

At least in football players are not whacking around with sticks and getting a puck to 100 mph. And ice is a lot less forgiving than the hardest artificial turf.

Besides, we all know it's the other guy who's going to get hurt.

5/11/128:36 AM

trumpMember

Get the roids/supplements out of football at all levels and a lot of this will go away.

The stamina will be down, the speed during the collisions will be down, the size of the mass goin at each other will be down.

You are gonna have some concussed but I'm thinkin the severity of the brain sloshing around if the above is done would be reduced.

BTW, I know a lot of people over the years(Including ladies) that have/had dementia, depression and other people that have killed themselves and they did not know what a football was.

5/11/129:11 AM

Satori"...going where the climate suits my clothes"

Interesting comments and lots of good points Tdog

I heard a guy on the radio yesterday talking about how pain killers are really performance enhancing drugs - his view was that without the pain killers many would not be able to perform at their elite levels because of the pain - ergo they are PEDs

The intent to cause pain is as much about the mental side of the coin as it is the physical. DBs often talk about drilling anybody who comes over the middle so they will think twice about it next time- leading to alligator arms and hearing footsteps.

I think the distinction, while subtle, is in intent- I think Ray Lewis wants to inflict mental and physical pain WHILE he is tackling, but not sure if he ONLY wants to inflict pain and the tackling part is secondary

Its a tough game played by tough guys- and now many are looking at the long term effects and giving it some more consideration. I don't believe they are interested in doing away will all the violence, just looking at ways to reduce some of the "unnecessary" violence and still keep the game entertaining

The NFL is quite hypocritical so this is just one more example. Consider that the League promotes alcohol incessantly, but then has to adopt rules to keep the fans from getting out of hand while drinking the highly- promoted alcohol and looking the other way while inebriated fans drive home

They publicly decry gambling, but then turn around and set up strict rules on injury reporting to level the playing field for gamblers and are now allowing lotteries and scratch- offs to use their NFL logo's and tie ins

In the end, its always the same - follow the money. So long as the money is rolling in, they'll window-dress the concussions, the gambling, the alcohol

And as I mentioned earlier- the bountygate is not about some nasty hits -its about protecting the NFL's image for advertisers and keeping wise guys from putting hits on NFL players to influence the outcome of games

If the punishments seem over the top, its because they are addressing a much bigger issue than whether or not Hargrove hit a guy late

5/11/1210:07 AM

TdogProspective Member

quote:
I heard a guy on the radio yesterday talking about how pain killers are really performance enhancing drugs - his view was that without the pain killers many would not be able to perform at their elite levels because of the pain - ergo they are PEDs

got a brother-in-law who is a trainer for the MLB Rockies. He told me ALL those guys eat Advil, Tylenol, etc. like candy, excessively every day. I wonder if anyone's studying the effects on pro athletes livers from all of that...

5/11/1210:44 AM

Satori"...going where the climate suits my clothes"

The radio host was former pitcher Rob Dibble and he said they all loved the games in Toronto because they could load up on "22's" which is tylenol with codeine in Canada. He said the players' suitcases would be filled with pills for the trip back to the US...

5/11/1210:52 AM

JJSDSitzpinkler Schadenfreude

5/11/1211:16 AM

PackerRussDo I amuse you?!

Baseball players were known to suck down tons of amphetamines and beer before every game, to "get up". I mean when you play 162 games basically for about 6 months, you'll need a "pick me up". I thought baseball tried to deal with this in theei last CBA, I'm not sure how it has worked.

As for the NFL, valid points, I have thought that if they take the facemask off or change the helmet to leather (old school). This might esure that players wont lead with their heads. Which could mean that big time collisions will be few and far between, possibly leading to a less violent game and greater health for players?

5/11/1211:21 AM

GoallineLarge Antenna

quote:
Originally posted by Tdog:
You don't see rugby players (at least the smart ones) launching themselves head and shoulders first into players/piles of people.

Rugby players tackle 10 times better than do NFL players for this reason. The Pats drafted one this year. Curious to see how he will do.

5/11/1212:21 PM

J-BarnMember

My high school coaches taught me to tackle with my shoulder and keep my head up. We spent hours every day of our summer practices just doing drills. One big problem is all the guys putting their heads down. That leaves the neck more vulnerable and takes the eyes off the target. Also, opening up the game and giving players longer running starts going into the tackle does not help. In running games people get tangled up and hurt knees, but everyone is so close that the tackle ends up being just a group of guys dragging someone down. In older games it was the linemen getting the big concussions, now it has moved outward. Linemen start with a step backward now, with all the passing.

Still, my drill sergeants always told me pain was just weakness leaving the body. Your answer may be more correct. I think they may have lied to me about some things.

5/11/1210:55 PM

WoosterMember

Make the game continuous - no commercials, like a high school game. The weights of the players would come down immediately, and I believe less injuries as well. However, not realistic, I realize.

5/12/128:53 AM

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