Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

American football is too dangerous, and it should be abolished
The Guardian ^ | Monday 4 January 2016 | Dave Bry

Posted on 01/31/2016 9:12:38 AM PST by MinorityRepublican

We just completed another regular season of NFL football. Now let’s see if we can make it the last such season ever played. In its current state, professional football is immoral and we as a society should end its existence.

I imagine some fans of American football felt their hackles rise upon reading that. “Immoral” is a strong word, impossible to type from anywhere other than the saddle of a very tall horse, which isn’t the most comfortable seat for me.

I ate foie gras with Christmas dinner last week and enjoyed it immensely. I know that its production involves torturing ducks, which I think is wrong. In eating it, I am putting my own pleasure over the wellbeing of another living creature.

So I don’t take the moral high ground lightly. But I value human life more than avian life, so I will continue to scold those of you who put the pleasure you derive from watching football (and in so doing, paying money to the NFL, propagating its immoral practices) above the wellbeing of the players you’re watching play.

The damage football players suffer need not be debated at this point. The new Will Smith movie, Concussion, is based on one of the many books detailing the mountain of scientific evidence proving that the sport shortens lives.

Efforts to make it safer with better equipment will not work, because the damage happens inside the players’ skulls, when the brain sloshes around and smashes against its bone casing.

It’s the speed and power with which players ram their helmeted heads into other players that’s the problem. The game as it is played today kills the people who play it, period.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: banukcuisine; football; nfl; shutupsissyboy; stfu; unitedkingdom
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 161-180181-200201-220221-236 last
To: dfwgator

Megatron is smart. He already made his millions. Why stay longer for a losing team? 20 years from now he wants to be able to remember his children’s birthdays.


221 posted on 01/31/2016 4:10:11 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 218 | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican

Yep, as a Lions fan, I’ll be sad to see him go, but other part of me says, good for him. Just like when Barry Sanders retired. Bet every day he wakes up now he’s glad he got out when he did.


222 posted on 01/31/2016 4:13:16 PM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 221 | View Replies]

To: 1rudeboy

Crash vests are great for eventers who jump big, solid fences. A really tough sport. Other equestrian sports don’t need that much protection.


223 posted on 01/31/2016 4:14:18 PM PST by Himyar (Sessions: the only real man in D.C.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican

I think if I were a football player, my plan would be to play for no more than two contracts, then get out before reaching 30. But so many players blow their money that they have no choice but to keep playing.


224 posted on 01/31/2016 4:15:41 PM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 221 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

Yeah I’m glad that Barry Sanders get to enjoy a higher quality if life. Can’t say the same for late Junior Seau.


225 posted on 01/31/2016 4:23:15 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 222 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

It’s sad to see what happens to those former athletes in dire straits” after watching 30 for 30 — “Broke” on ESPN. They’re typically come from lower class and the Universities they played for failed to give them an education which includes financial literacy. That’s the consequence of taking “Mickey Mouse” classes.


226 posted on 01/31/2016 4:26:11 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 224 | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican

The Guardian - the paper of record for Britain’s poofters.


227 posted on 01/31/2016 4:31:28 PM PST by Steve_Seattle ("Above all, shake your bum at Burton.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican
"In rugby, you do not use your head to tackle."

I've often wondered if all the "protective" gear in American football might actually make the sport MORE dangerous, not less. Helmets and such allow the players to use their bodies as weapons. What player would intentionally spear another player in the head if it were noggin to noggin instead of helmet to helmet? Today's helmets weigh several pounds, and - by making the head area unnaturally heavy - they create a lot of torque in the neck.
228 posted on 01/31/2016 4:38:22 PM PST by Steve_Seattle ("Above all, shake your bum at Burton.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

Drunkenness aside, who in their right mind plays soccer on concrete?


229 posted on 01/31/2016 5:46:33 PM PST by NTHockey (DuPontRules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners. And to the NSA trolls, FU)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 118 | View Replies]

To: needmorePaine

http://www.lflus.com/

There are several other leagues also but LFL has a TV contract (cable, I forget which channel).


230 posted on 01/31/2016 6:20:43 PM PST by scrabblehack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican

Let’s all play loser soccer and be like the loser euros.


231 posted on 01/31/2016 7:57:45 PM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Vendome

Nobody won the war of 1812. If anyone won it, it was Canada. Throwing a US invasion out for the second time in 37 yrs.

And anyone who thinks America won WW1/WW2 and saved Britain needs to read a history book.


232 posted on 01/31/2016 8:42:57 PM PST by the scotsman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 219 | View Replies]

To: PIF

So you have watched rugby.


233 posted on 01/31/2016 8:43:32 PM PST by the scotsman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 217 | View Replies]

To: hal ogen

No, you have your own loser sports.

(well, actually you don’t, baseball, basketball and gridiron aren’t American. Ice hockey is Canadian, lacrosse French)


234 posted on 01/31/2016 8:44:53 PM PST by the scotsman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 231 | View Replies]

To: txnativegop

The reason for the steadily increasing coverage of US affairs, and use of American writers (like the author of this article) in The Guardian? It’s simply that The Guardian now has a larger readership, especially online, in the US than the UK.


235 posted on 02/02/2016 8:02:26 AM PST by Winniesboy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Winniesboy

I read the Economist (affecting English accent) LOL


236 posted on 02/02/2016 8:11:29 AM PST by txnativegop (Tired of liberals, even a few in my own family.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 235 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 161-180181-200201-220221-236 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson