I don’t think it needs to be banned necessarily. Full contact sports have been a thing since forever. I don’t watch nor do I know the history of football so I don’t know why it seems to be different to other contact sports, but I’m sure someone could explain and maybe figure out a solution.

[–] Frank@hexbear.net 18 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Well, it's. A bunch of things. The players have gotten massively bigger with steroids and scientific body building. So instead of two 160lb guys whacking each other like in the 1920s it's two 300lb guys. Helmets and pads let people hit each other real, real hard without ijury to the body, so they're getting hit more often, so they've got more chances for tbis. Tbis result from anything that knocks your brain around, not necessarily things that cause concussion. They build up over time, causing more and more damage.

And this is just subjective, but people seem a lot more vindictive now, hitting people harder when there's no need.

We had this problem in a larp. Headshots were illegal, but even accidental blows to the head could add up so we were really encouraging people to start wearing helmets and head protection.

[–] Tunnelvision@hexbear.net 10 points 9 months ago

That is pretty crazy. I saw someone mention that they should remove the excessive padding since that would make guys think twice about hitting and being hit, which would be good I think. Would also make training focus on speed and endurance instead of strength, which would make guys smaller overall and discourage steroid abuse. It sounded like a good idea I think.

Overall it’s kinda insane that every sport has weight class distinctions, but in football you can have brick walls playing against speedy twigs and it’s completely fine.

[–] thisismyrealname@hexbear.net 11 points 9 months ago (2 children)

removing pads and helmets could do a lot to make the game safer; afaik no other contact sport besides hockey gives players that much "armor."

if making players not hit each other as hard doesn't reduce injury enough you could turn the NFL into a flag league. i don't have viewership numbers but anecdotally the Pro Bowl was still pretty fun to watch this year

[–] sooper_dooper_roofer@hexbear.net 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

flag football is way more fun to play than tackle or touch

I don't watch football tho

[–] Frank@hexbear.net 2 points 8 months ago

Word. Footwork matters in any sport, but with flags you can really dance bc you're protecting something specific on your body.

[–] alcoholicorn@hexbear.net 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Flag football might be fun to watch if the flags were strongly connected to the armor, so to tackle someone, you had to get a real good grip and basically hammer throw the runner.