American Football (NFL)
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glad as I am surprised to hear a positive reaction to my sports hot take
A game that used to have almost no padding and leather helmets has never been more dangerous than the current era of space aged armor that the players wear, and I agree it’s because of the increased size, strength, and speed of the athletes combined with the recklessness that comes from the false security this armor provides. It’s a meat grinder and a blood sport, but hard to let go of it when you grew up with it. Then there is the more subtle chronic damage from not just concussions, but repeated minor impacts that go unnoticed until CTE sets in years down the road.
At this point the cow is out of the barn and it would be dangerous to remove padding, but the padding probably has led to a more dangerous game on balance. I know rugby is similarly violent with relatively no padding by comparison, and I’d be interested to see a comparison of injuries. My guess is more ears ripped off and fewer of just about everything else. One difference though to a rugby scrum is whole concept of how the lines work in football is hard to reconcile with safety, as it is predicated by sudden collisions at the snap of the ball.
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Thank Christ.
yeah, thought he was gonna Harbaugh up this game too
and the Iggles are unbeaten. The mind reels.
I yelled FOR THE LOVE GOD DONT GO FOR IT!!!
he's thinking with his dick
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…and a little more thought into this. I have found over the years that NFL players have been getting larger and larger. 20 years ago the avg. player was around 225 with the avg. now being 245. I don’t know if weight plays into more serious injuries or not, but I feel it does have a role to play. If you take physics and vectors into it, you have to guys with more mass hitting each other which should equate to more serious damage upon impact.
College players are now pushing the body weights that the NFL was 20 years ago (their avg. used to be 190). Games were quicker and the hits less severe.
I hate to see guys destroying themselves for a game, especially now that we are starting to understand the long term neurological damages being done.
anybody played rugby? speaking of destruction. just saw your post @mclaincausey ,I'm betting lots of knee and shoulder damage along with the headbashing. and some players are NFL sized
Your rule changes are excellent #5 is on the money -
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@mclaincausey Really well thought out set of changes that would improve the game. I would think the NFLPA would be against the one I like most which is changing the overtime system. The college system is far superior but can stretch a game’s duration by…a lot. Would think that increases injury chances and therefore won’t happen. It’s more exciting and fair to both teams for sure.
@goosehd I’m with you on preferring College to Pro.
@steelworker i played rugby once in college with a buddy who played regularly. It’s pretty brutal. Most of the guys would smear Vaseline all over their faces like a boxer to avoid cuts that would require stitches. It’s fun to play but even at 20 I knew I didn’t want to spend my time in the ER after a game. Can’t imagine football ever going back to less padding.
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Mahomes isn’t looking for anyone else and everyone in the stadium knows that’s who’s getting the ball.
like Brady back in the day-you know whats gonna happen
longtime Pats fan from the Berry days to the sports pornography that was the Brady era. I work with Philly fans and I lorded it over them like the asshole that I am
until that 2nd Super bowl. 
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I like divisions to make geographic sense. I love the rivalries, but Cowboys being in NFC East never made sense. I
some incredible NCAA games yesterday, hope today’s games continue that trend. That Bama/TN game was nuts.