Anybody read the George Will column from this past weekend? Gives me pause...

[ouwasp]

...about my favorite pastime, watching football. At all levels. George is an intelligent, well-spoken man. Hope he is wrong about the future of football.

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/will080412.php3

[badger]

I just read it now that you linked it :)

I like that he compared it to smoking, because I see it having a similar outcome as the tobacco industry:

1- A huge settlement due to the health impacts.
2- Will not end the industry (sport)
3- Will lead to more education about the harmful impacts

And in all likelihood, it will not be as popular as it once was... but then again, stuff can't remain popular forever. look at baseball

[Bourbon St Sooner]

I like George but he's still pining away for the days when baseball was king.

The difference between football and cigarettes is I can't make a ton of money smoking cigarettes. The risks are pretty well out there now and every participant will have to sign a waiver in the future, but I don't think the public's appetite for football and bone crushing hits is going away.

And there will continue to be plenty of participants because kids living in the slums or in south winnetonka mississippi are going to continue to see it as their way to a better life.

[KantoSooner]

George Will is a bloviating nitwit who's last relevant days were some 35 years in the past. All you need to know is that he's a baseball fan. Yes, you heard right. He's a man who has focused on baseball for nearly 3/4 of a century. For that, alone, we should pity him. Think of the sheer, mind-numbing boredom.
Football requires athletes, but is not to me, primarily a sport. It's a ritualized combat spectacle that stands in for personal participation in war. Americans like it because it presents the physical crushing of opponents. We like that. Embrace it. When we stop loving football, our life force as a great nation will begin to wane, as well.

Look what happened to Rome when the gladiatorial 'games' were cancelled.

[cvsooner]

Much farther on this thread but it will wind up over on the South Oval. George has a valid point here, which is rare: I find him to be rather pedantic and overblown. This man is held up as an intellectual? Okay. That explains a lot.

[SoonerBBall]

As soon as I see some blowhard relate MMA to cockfighting, I ignore the rest of the drivel that spews forth.

[badger]

As soon as I see some blowhard relate MMA to cockfighting, I ignore the rest of the drivel that spews forth.

A documentary on MMA shows that its roots were a lot more like cockfighting. Then, they instituted rules and regulations and such :D

[ouwasp]

I'm sure as long as there is big $ to be made that football is here with us. But a coach told me a few yrs ago that the number of helmet manufacturers has really dwindled in recent times. He said it was due to liability; that many manufacturers were just walking away from the product...

You guys have made a good point about Will's infatuation with baseball. I hadn't considered that. Makes me feel sorry for him in a way. What an empty sport to be in love with.

[8timechamps]

I'm sure as long as there is big $ to be made that football is here with us. But a coach told me a few yrs ago that the number of helmet manufacturers has really dwindled in recent times. He said it was due to liability; that many manufacturers were just walking away from the product...

You guys have made a good point about Will's infatuation with baseball. I hadn't considered that. Makes me feel sorry for him in a way. What an empty sport to be in love with.

I've been active in coaching for the past 15 years, and the only reason there has been a reduction in helmet manufacturers is because the market space is being dominated by Schutt and Riddell. However, in the past couple of years a company called Xenith has been making headway (after introducing the safest helmet on the market). As with any other business, the companies that make money are still in it.

Liability to helmet companies (for football related head injuries) is becoming more difficult to prove. It's common knowledge now that a concussion is not prevented by wearing a helmet, so it's really hard to fault a helmet company for sustaining a concision.

I've heard Will drone on and on about the eventual decline of football. He has an agenda (the baseball angle), and the country is not on his side. He'll keep trying though, and the country will keep playing/watching football.

[cvsooner]

Will even wrote at least one book extolling the great American pastime: http://www.amazon.com/Men-Work-The-Craft-Baseball/dp/0060973722.

He longs for a day that never was.

[OU_Sooners75]

Who is george will and why am I suppose to care what he says?

[SoonerBBall]

A documentary on MMA shows that its roots were a lot more like cockfighting. Then, they instituted rules and regulations and such :D

A lot more like cockfighting than what? Bowling? All combat sports are violent by nature, but it takes less than 5 minutes on the net to find out it is far different.

I also love how he suggests fighting just for money is disgusting but playing other sports just for money is laudable.

Dude is a super blowhard and a dinosaur. His writing is worthless.

[goingoneight]

A Jewish guy talking about sports?

Well, I'll be...

[Jacie]

He did make one comment i liked. Some years ago in his weekly column, he covered the signing of an economic development agreement between Japan and the Soviet Union (this was before the fall). One of the Soviet signees was quoted, "The economy of the Soviet Union today is where Japan's was following WWII."

Said George Will: In other words, after 70 years of the Great Experiment (aka Communisn) the Soviet Union today is in the same condition as Japan after six months of round-the-clock bombing by U.S. B-29's.

[MamaMia]

Football as Americas favorite sport and the love to play and watch football is never going to change, not as long as newborn babies are being carried out of hospitals in outfits with their parents favorite team logos. :)

[usmc-sooner]

has the cray spread?