Not surprising, but that was a totally heartbreaking article to read this morning. IIRC from the article, they found CTE in something like 140 of 141 of the brains they studied. That's scary stuff, and I feel partially responsible, because I love football.
The study included college kids, and I believe (but don't quote me) HS kids too. My point was, it's getting harder and harder to justify our collective love of football.
I don't think you can say that for guys like Tommy Nobis who played decades ago. Hell, even my middle school coaches in the early 2000s were telling us to aim with our heads occasionally. The League of Denial documentary made it clear that acknowledgement of CTE is a very recent development in the NFL and there are still scores of local coaches who are "old school" in their approach to tackling and playing the game. I'm in the same boat as @Buck Turgidson. I like watching the Longhorns play football, but I don't think there's ever a universe where I'd let my children play the game. The player pool will shrink over time if others share the same mindset.
The players didn't know the risk until recently. Many parents are turning their kids away from footbal. I have a friend who played for the eagles who won't let his sons play football. They are all soccer players.
Sadly, that's an entirely different thing. I say that as an adult who has and continues to play soccer for nearly 40 years. Kickball is extremely lame. I let my kids pick their sports. Now that my oldest is 13, he's pretty much settled into basketball. My 9-yr old plays soccer, basketball, and taekwondo. I've told them that they can play football but that it would be flag until at least high school. Both tried it early on and both hated it. If it wasn't the idiotic screaming jackasses who signed up to be coaches for 5-yr olds, it was the shear amount of standing around. If they're going to play, they want to be active. Football as we know doesn't have a very long shelf life at this point. The youth ranks are going to be shrinking in size. Flag is the only way to save the game. If the NFL was even a little smart, they'd put their time and effort in youth outreach to flag football and discourage full contact leagues until high school. Out of all of the major sports, football is the one that has the most stories of players making it to the NFL who didn't start playing until high school. Basketball, baseball, soccer all take some natural ability that has to be, typically, nurtured from earlier ages. Football is merely a sport of either being a huge person or having excellent athletic ability...with maybe the exception of quarterbacks.
Young kids may like it more because there's no standing around. For adults its very boring to watch two teams score one goal and 3 fans in the stands get killed. Soccer is a 3rd world sport regardless of how much ESPN tries to push it on this country. I do enjoy the day drinking and atmosphere during the world cup.
Ok...you're one of those. Not sure when the last time someone was killed in the stands of a game was and I don't think the entire rest of the world is considered 3rd world...but whatever makes you feel better about yourself.
Unlike some sports, soccer requires intelligence to make decisions in real time. I'd get it if you said you hated MLS, but soccer at a high level is very entertaining. And regarding concussions, soccer isn't immune - mid-air collisions, getting flipped over and hitting your head, etc. And to bring us back on topic, I hope we continue to recruit 2019 grad transfer OL because there are some good ones available. Shepherd and FWK's continued drama is unappealing to say the least.
It's not about me feeling better about myself. I too have a friend that used to play competitive kick ball. His son went to Duke on a kick ball scholarship. Just last yr they had to play some game/match without fans in the stands due to fan violence and racism.
2019 RB commit Derrian Brown was rushed to the hospital this morning. "A Buford Elite statement said, "(Derrian) is very sick and had surgery today to remove a blood clot from his brain. He has a long road ahead but we are believing that God is going to restore his abilities 100%. Please join us in praying for D and his precious family. #prayfordarrien #hookemhorns #bufordstrong."
Really sucks to see that because he has a great attitude. Football doesn't matter - he just needs to get well. He's a Longhorn no matter what.
There really isn't much suspense for NSD2, is there? You have the afternoon announcement on if the OL commit Shepherd is going to stay but isn't that about it?
Couple notes from Herman's presser: - Derek Warehime will take over special teams freeing up Safeties Coach Craig Naivar to help out on defensive. - Looking at grad transfers for OL and RB. - 2019 WR recruit Jordan Whittington will get "a lot" of work at RB. - Update from Derrian's Brown family is that he is "alert and getting better everyday."
