NFL helmet to helmet hits

[temfarang]

last Sunday NFL games provided were several great / incredible knock out head to head hits.

yesterday several $$s fines for sunday's highlights

 

If fans PAY TO SEE & want to see knock outs / head hits / players on stretchers .. why not?

 

is this more of the feminization of america .. & no doubt Obama is a soccer fan..

 

http://www.profootballweekly.com/2010/10/19/nfl-fines-meriweather-50000-for-hit

 

one of my favorite all time players Earl Cambell (late '70s) is now in a wheel chair physically & mentally crippled after many seasons & 1000s of head hits.

I still have a ragged 20 YO earl T shirt

 

earl's collisions are always 'NFL running back great play' highlight shows... earl's 'hit' on the the all pro LA middle linebacker might be my favorite all time plays .. or was it his 81 yard run on Monday night, a 220#er out running D backs .. ..

[Central Scrutinizer]

The fines are there to help prevent more players ending up like Earl, dude. It's a rough game, lotsa huge hits, collisions, and injuries, many career ending, and some life threatening. Rules are needed at times to keep the players reasonable safe from deliberate injury and maiming by losers. It is a GAME, not mortal combat. It is a dangerous game at times where each year many young boys and men are seriously injured and even killed. These guys playing are not pussies, the game is not a pussy's game. Anyone thinking so has likely never played the game, and never played at a pro level for certain.

[ThaiHome]

One point is Earl's problems are not due to helmet to helmet hits which can cause concussions and neck injuries.

 

He suffers from arthritis in his knees and debilitating back pain attributed to a congenital back condition aggravated by his football career.

 

Its a fine line the NFL is trying to walk with this issue.

 

Does this one look deliberate? Could Eric Smith have made this hit without leading with his head? I think it comes down to coaching, though coaches deny it,, kids are trained to make these kinds of hits starting at very young ages.

 

j9RfJwSkMU8&feature=related

 

[itsmedave]

Far too many of my childhood heroes now suffer from dementia or have trouble walking.

 

80's qb Phil Simms recently said that as tough as it was in the old days he doesn't remmeber much helmet to helmet contact or people launching themselves like missiles to make a tackle until it was glamorized in the 90's.

 

Add to that, players today are both bigger and faster than they were in the past meaning far more damage created by the same manuevers.

 

In short, football will always be a violent game and big hits will still be fun to watch...but causing permanent brain damage and early Alzheimers need not be a big part of the game. It is okay to have a few rules and regulations.

[cavanami]

Remember when Joe Theismann had his leg broken, compound fracture...OUCH!!! career ending injury!

 

I hope that they will improve the protective gear even more as it is difficult to have a competitive event without some hard hitting, IMO.

[Steve]

As it was mentioned on this thread, the players are bigger and faster. Nowadays you have 6'4" or bigger 300 lb linesmen that run as fast as TEs and FBs in the old days. That amount of mass runnning a 4.5 or better 40 is...well, you can do the math.

The blind tackles and such on QBs were banned as well as other things. It can be a very, very violent sport. Remember the Jack Tatum incident?

There's a lot I don't like about the sport anymore (the self promotion most of all) but none of the reasons is that its less violent.

Not sure if it was Sanders or some other player who retired early because he said he didn't want to end up walking on crutches later on in life.

Its true. The George Blanda, 20 year vet guys are extinct as the dodo bird. The sport has gotten so physically grueling now that 10 years is a big achievement. Especially for the positions like RB. The knees get pounded each game by 300lb linemen and LBs who resemble more Predator than person in physique.

Plus the glorification of good hits that make ESPN highlights. Players live for it. Different in the old days, pre ESPN.

Throw in the artificial terf which doesn't give like the old grass fields and that cuts on artificial terf are sharper putting more stress on ligaments.

 

I do long for the old warriors like Jim Brown, Butkis, Lambert, Campbell, Payton and others. They could take it or give it and didn't complain about it.

 

The problem with football as I hinted at earlier, for me at least, is the invidualisation of the sport. The Ocho Sincos of the league. I no longer watch it. Guys doing video dance routines after a score or a sack. Celebrating like its a super bowl win for routine things that are part of every play. I got bored with it long ago and started watching...gulp...soccer. The Super Bowl is the only football I watch nowadays and I missed the last two actually. That is no longer a sport. Its an event, no different than the Oscars, Emmy's or Dick Clark's Rocking Eve. The halftime show and ads are just as important as the game in the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl parties have as much women as men, not because they have gotten into the sport but because its the new singles meeting place. I met a former gf at one of them. She couldn't tell you the nickname of more than 1 or 2 teams in the NFL at the time.

Plus the players move around so much that there is no loyalty. When you thought of Lambert you thought of the Steelers. When you thought of Archie Manning you thought of the Saints, same with OJ and the Bills. Even if those player ended up on other teams late in their career, the vast majority of it was tied to one team. Nowadays they are all over the place. You have the franchise players but the rest of them move around the league like chess pieces, even rival teams. You didn't see much trades between the Redskins and Cowboys or the Raiders and Chiefs back in the old days. YOu hated that team and you didn't want to play for them.

 

The only real passion left in football is college football. However, that is slowly eroding away. You still go out there and play for the sole purpose of your school. Ohio State really does hate Michigan and visa versa, same with Auburn and Alabama and countless other rivalries. There is real passion there. Its getting diluted a little but its still there.

 

I grew up a Philadelphia Eagles fan but felt more passionate about my alma mater.

 

Soccer (football to 95% percent of the world) still has it but that's getting diluted as well. I love the passion. I hate Tottenham and Man Utd with as much passion as I hated the Cowboys and 'Bama when I was younger. Its an unhealthy hatred that only comes from loving your team too much. Its what we used to have in America for some teams.

[TroyinEwa/Perv]

Pretty good post above this one and I agree with alot of it. However, this particular part, I have long thought the same.....

 

"Guys doing video dance routines after a score or a sack. Celebrating like its a super bowl win for routine things that are part of every play."

 

How many times have we heard these guys say that it's a job. This is business.

 

Well, my previous job was an airline employee. Gate agent type. In my job, when we got a flight out on time or made a quick turn or finished taking a luggage claim, we didn't all group up and start doing chest bumps and dancing with members of the same sex. If they want us to believe this is just a job to them.......follow Barry Sanders' example of what to do when you've done what you're supposed to do.

[dave32]

While I agree with Steve on probably most things I've seen him post here -- I completely disagree on this one.

 

Despite the prima donna factor, which does degrade the sport, American Football is a beautiful thing. I always smile at those who attempt to reduce it to brute force (not implying that was done here, maybe a little). A very complex and intense physical game in which you must work as a team and self-sacrifice to win. Constantly shifting dynamics and a need to adapt.

 

It's the only sport I bother to watch at all, other than the NBA play-offs. And I love it. Love playing it too, though after fracturing the left elbow in high school then left shoulder in the Army (playing w/o pads on a Sunday afternoon, not very smart) - had to give that up (note: I am somewhat of a pussy).

 

Anyway....

 

Anyway. I forgot my point.

 

Ps. Soccer fucking sucks. It stimulates about as much as watching 'little house on the prairie' reruns.

 

No offense to any present company, of course.

[cavanami]

When Walter Payton scored a TD, if he was running he would do that high step, then when in the end zone, causally drop the ball over his shoulder behind him...it was it!

On a special occasion he might throw the ball to some fan in the stands.

 

When a player went to tackle Payton, he would lower his shoulder so as to say, "...I going to give it as good as i get it...".

Class act he was.

 

Far different then what we see today

[Steve]

Perv, sadly, professional sports is seen as a job. You're absolutely right. All of us on here would have loved to play for our childhood teams.

I'd have played for the Eagles or Sixers for free. Havng gone to one of those big football schools and getting to know a few of those players personally, they view the sport as a means to the end. I didn't get the idea they loved the sport and played because of their love moreso than they have a talent that could net them and their family millions. I can understand that to some extent but I didn't see enough passion.

 

Dave32, LMAO. No offense taken whatsoever. I never try nd defend soccer to Americans. I was bored shitless from it at first then I got "Stockholm'd". My brothers chide me for it incessently. One of them said '..when you gonna start watchign 'brotha' sports again?' hahaha...despite the fact 'football' is as 'brotha' globally as you get.

I also don't try and defend baseball to the Brits who hate it to no end. Sports is cultural to a large degree. You're right in that its a beautiful, complex game. It just changed too much for me. I'm too nostalgic perhaps. It was a big deal when the Colts left Baltimore. Even the clubs are moving around or threatening to half the other time if the city doesn't front some land or money for a new stadium. One more complaint that will step on toes. Fantasy football. Half the time someone's fantasy team is more important than the actual game. ESPN and others now post fantasy team points, etc. I've done it. Its a bonding thing for guys in every office and it allows the girls to join in (with their bf's help...hehe). So, its changed to much for this guy. I am happy so many people still find it so great. I envy you and them frankly. Uh oh, gotta go watch Arsenal :content:

 

cav, in the old days as you know, the players were part of the community. They had houses in the neighborhoods of their fans. There wasn't as much money as there is now and while I'm glad they make more, I think they are also detached.

I recall hearing stories of how the Brooklyn Dodgers players lived in Brooklyn and were seen at the corner store or local bar on their days off. Thing of the past now.

 

I will say this. The athleticism nowadays (in all sports frankly) is amazing. Looking at old clips and then seeing the present day highlights its like silent film and special effects. I think its much more of a chess game nowadays. Smaller margin for error as well. It has gotten more complex but at the heart of it, its a simple game if that dichotomy makes sense.