The NFL Settlement

Mott the Hoople

Mott the Hoople

Sweet Jane
What a farce the NFL settlement is. Some ex players will receive some much needed immeadiate relief but it's essentially hush money. The NFL doesn't have to open it's books and show what it knows about it's records on player long term disabilities and brain injuries from playing football.

Something needs to be done. To many lives are being wrecked from playing this sport. The recent article on Reggie Williams probably having to get his leg amputated is a real eye opener about the long term disabilities being suffered by many former NFL players. With players continuing to get bigger and faster and hitting harder at this level it's only going to get worse.

The question is what needs to be done? Do we just accept that football is a blood sport and do nothing?

To be honest with you the increased violence of the pro game is alienating me from it. The college game probably isn't much better. I know some very young men with long term disabilities from playing the college game. Thirty fiver year olds shouldn't be getting knee replacement surgery.
 
Had a friend...her son was getting in to sports and liked both baseball and football. They happened to know an ex-NFL player ... he told her "put your son in baseball; football is too destructive" She took his advice.

The guy later killed himself.

it's a hard game, hard on the body, even if you don't get concussions.
 
I don't know....I love the sport. Of course there are risks...a lot of them.

You know....it's often times the repeated contact of practices that cause most of these injuries. They've already dialed back the intensity of practices in most programs.

Another issue is that players don't report injuries for fear of being replaced. This is especially true for older players who have lost a step physically, but rely on their experience and knowledge of the game overall to keep playing when they should probably retire. Same goes for fringe players who know they'll be released and offered an injury settlement and the team will easily get a replacement the next day.

If it was just a matter of a 16 game season(plus playoffs if you get there), those debilitating injuries would be reduced significantly.

These types of things have been going on forever. Teddy Roosevelt wanted the game outlawed when he was president. Of course, protective equipment back then consisted of minimal pads and leather helmets, which were optional.

Which brings me to another issue....protective equipment. Many players especially positions that rely on speed, don't use much.padding. they don't wear thigh pads, knee pads, hip pads or tailbone pads....they also wear small shoulder pads to reduce weight.

Maybe teams from the NFL on down should require ALL players to wear ALL the equipment. Perhaps they should add equipment. They make knee braces that players use when they have a minor injury to the knee....why couldn't all player be forced to wear them all the time?

It will slow down the performance of the players a little, but it would help with the injuries.

There's no way to make a full contact sport 100% safe....but they should be doing whatever they can to make it as safe as possible.
 
PostmodernProphet said:
$70+ million is a lot of hush......
Click to expand...

I don't think the money is the issue(as in, it should be more).

I think it's the idea that the NFL can keep on using unsafe practices.

I just saw on the news that WVU, or another college in West Virginia(I was posting when the piece was on on) uses sensors in key areas of their helmets that measure impact in G-force. When a certain level of impact is reached....the team doctor's pager goes off with the g-force number and the player's number. Then he can immediately evaluate the player...which eliminates the non-reporting issue.
 
Steelplate said:
I don't know....I love the sport. Of course there are risks...a lot of them.

You know....it's often times the repeated contact of practices that cause most of these injuries. They've already dialed back the intensity of practices in most programs.

Another issue is that players don't report injuries for fear of being replaced. This is especially true for older players who have lost a step physically, but rely on their experience and knowledge of the game overall to keep playing when they should probably retire. Same goes for fringe players who know they'll be released and offered an injury settlement and the team will easily get a replacement the next day.

If it was just a matter of a 16 game season(plus playoffs if you get there), those debilitating injuries would be reduced significantly.

These types of things have been going on forever. Teddy Roosevelt wanted the game outlawed when he was president. Of course, protective equipment back then consisted of minimal pads and leather helmets, which were optional.

Which brings me to another issue....protective equipment. Many players especially positions that rely on speed, don't use much.padding. they don't wear thigh pads, knee pads, hip pads or tailbone pads....they also wear small shoulder pads to reduce weight.

Maybe teams from the NFL on down should require ALL players to wear ALL the equipment. Perhaps they should add equipment. They make knee braces that players use when they have a minor injury to the knee....why couldn't all player be forced to wear them all the time?

It will slow down the performance of the players a little, but it would help with the injuries.

There's no way to make a full contact sport 100% safe....but they should be doing whatever they can to make it as safe as possible.
Click to expand...
I don't know about the protective equipment in football. Studies I've read indicate thst it is part of tje problem. That ig permits vastly more violent collisions. Rugby and Aussie football are very sfimilisr sports which do not use the type of protective equipment use in American football and ergo they don't have the violent collisions as our sport does and far less disabling injuries. Maybe a paradigm shift is needed and maybe we need reavaluate protective equipment design and use?
 
Mott the Hoople said:
I don't know about the protective equipment in football. Studies I've read indicate thst it is part of tje problem. That ig permits vastly more violent collisions. Rugby and Aussie football are very sfimilisr sports which do not use the type of protective equipment use in American football and ergo they don't have the violent collisions as our sport does and far less disabling injuries. Maybe a paradigm shift is needed and maybe we need reavaluate protective equipment design and use?
Click to expand...

Rugby and Aussie Rules is quite different than American Football. There isn't the violent collisions by the structure of the game, as well as no protective equipment...as you stated.

If the game were slowed down a little....like using those knee braces and requiring all pads be worn...perhaps that would reduce injuries also.

Did you know that in the NFL there is an official on each sidelines looking at the player's uniforms to make sure their socks are pulled up, their shirts are tucked in and a host of other cosmetic stuff.

But that doesn't apply to protective equipment....just to the uniform.
 
Steelplate said:
Rugby and Aussie Rules is quite different than American Football. There isn't the violent collisions by the structure of the game, as well as no protective equipment...as you stated.

If the game were slowed down a little....like using those knee braces and requiring all pads be worn...perhaps that would reduce injuries also.

Did you know that in the NFL there is an official on each sidelines looking at the player's uniforms to make sure their socks are pulled up, their shirts are tucked in and a host of other cosmetic stuff.

But that doesn't apply to protective equipment....just to the uniform.
Click to expand...
I don't know if that would help. What if we walked away from the hard shell protective equipment? What if we replaced the standard football helmet with polysterene helmets that crush and absorb impact. One would not be able to hit with the degree of violence as they would with a hard shell helmet, which would radically change tackling technique. Same with protetective pads. What if they were made of soft impact absorbant materials? Again, athletes would not be able to hit with the degree of violence as they do now as injury would be certain. How about if we added an extra yard to the line of scrimmage that creates a safety buffer? These ideas would radically change the game but would also make it safer.
 
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