Follow Up On Baning Football, Now SI's Peter King Is Thinking About Banning FB

[Tugg Speedman]

Last week I started a thread with several links from sports writers saying Football should be banned.  
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=32449.0

These links included Buzz Bisinger the author of "Friday Night Lights" saying college football should be banned and Kurt Warner saying he doesn't want his sons playing football.  So, this sentiment is not coming from pansy pacifist but from people closely involved with the game.

Now we have the most devastating of them all ... arguably the dean of Football writers, Sports Illustrated Peter King wrote this on May 8:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/peter_king/05/08/eric.legrand/index.html#ixzz1uUp9Rk3B

I write in SI this week about how I feel some guilt for the way I helped (in a small way, but helped nonetheless) make Junior Seau a Superman over the years, by writing about him as if he were Superman. Not to give it away, but that's been on my mind a lot over the past week. I am thinking about the game, and about all the head trauma, and I need to do some more thinking about whether it's in anyone's long-term interests to play this game.

----

Now go ahead and tell me that the NFL makes too much money.  Tell me the sport is too popular.  Tell me it's a truly American sport.  And I agree with all of this.

I love football as much as anyone.  But I also know a death changes things.  Junior Seau's suicide, following on Dave Duerson's suicide is looking more an more looking like it was a watershed event for football.  The sports popularity might have peaked last week when Seau pulled the trigger.  

If so, the slide will be long and slow.  The sport is going nowhere for years, if ever.  But don't be surprised if in say 10 years, the Packers are the only team left in the league that sells out more than two games, the games are no longer national TV but local TV, and the Superbowl audience is about the same as the Academy awards (about half its current Superbowl audience).

Maybe I'm wrong but for these people to make these statements about the sport they cover, their livelihood, is amazing.  Seau's death is a real game changer and its effect on Football is going to be much bigger than most appreciate.

[brewcity77]

This is one person shouting at a hurricane. Something tells me the hurricane isn't going to listen.

[Dawson Rental]

Sorry AnotherMU84, I've got to agree with brewcity on this one.  I guess that your thinking is that if Peter King can be brought to reflect, then it could happen to anyone.  But, I think that because Peter King's life and livelihood involve pro football, he's going to look at this issue much much sooner than the average fan.  Dave Duerson was a very popular player in Chicago, but his suicide hasn't dampened football fever here in Chi-town to any significant degree.

The game will change, it has to due to the threat to the NFL from lawsuits, but it ain't going anywhere.

[connie]

While one voice now (and Peter King at that--shouldn't he be complaining about extra foam on his latest latte?) the football industry needs to jump on this fast and hard, although I think they are safe as long as boxing is allowed.

[CTWarrior]

The game will change, it has to due to the threat to the NFL from lawsuits, but it ain't going anywhere.

Those lawsuits are the key and the insurance companies reaction to them.  If insurance becomes impossible to get or so exhorbitant as to be unmanageble, high school football could cease to exist in most of the country.  If high school football goes, where do colleges and subsequently the NFL teams get players from?

I also think football will lose some popularity if big hitting is legislated out of the game, which is definitely going to happen. 

But the big thing that will keep it going and one of the biggest reasons it is so popular now is that it is the best sport to gamble on by far.  And that won't change by softening the rules.

[mu-rara]

Things change.

Novell once ruled computer networking.  GONE.

Microsoft rules PC desktop, but they don't influence any new technology.  Not GONE yet, but irrelevancy leads to GONE.

Things change.

25 year olds gather in bars to watch Premier League Soccer.   What do you think their kids will follow?

Things change.

My elementary school gave up football in 1980.  This led to the slow demise (less relevancy) for the HS football team.

Things change.

[Tugg Speedman]

rara

+1

I love football but I've seen this is other venues.  An "incident" causes a "reappraisal and "review" and attitudes change.

Yes the lawsuit of 1,500 former players over concussions is the device for change.  The NFL is going to lose.  They have the money to pay but, as was said above, high schools will never be able to afford insurance.  Could high school football be the first to go?

Anyone remember the lawsuits about smoking.  Once attitudes started to change about smoking, guess what, the tobacco companies started losing.  Now they are paying hundreds of billions in damages to the states.

Peter King, Bisinger, Kurt Warner SUGGEST that attitudes are changing.  If so, the NFL loses.

[Lennys Tap]

Things change as attitudes change, but "banning" is (and should be) anathama in the U.S. We learned our lesson with alcohol. If parents are moved in droves to forbid their children from playing or if enough fans are turned off by the violence/injuries then football will gradually lose its appeal (see boxing). But banned? If that happens, what's next? I'd be very, very scared.

[Blackhat]

History shows there's progressive pussification.   Media controls attitudes/social acceptance eventually.

[brewcity77]

25 year olds gather in bars to watch Premier League Soccer.   What do you think their kids will follow?

Things change.

• For every 1 bar playing those games, there are 100 bars playing NCAA and NFL games.
  
• A sport where the best teams are playing from 6:00 am to noon on Saturdays and Sunday is not going to take over football here.
  
• There's still too much of a "field fairy" stigma for the mass populace to shift to soccer.
  
• There isn't enough interest here in the buildup, too many focus on diving and scorelines.

.
If anyone is going to support a change in our culture toward soccer, it's me. I'm a huge devotee of the sport. But it's a niche sport that isn't going to gain enough ground here to overtake American football in my lifetime.

The NFL may need to improve padding, they may need to institute rule changes, but the notion that football is going to disappear is simply ridiculous. Like I said...shouting at a hurricane.

[Tugg Speedman]

The NFL may need to improve padding, they may need to institute rule changes, but the notion that football is going to disappear is simply ridiculous. Like I said...shouting at a hurricane.

So why are Bisinger and Peter King either call for banning Football or thinking about banning it? 

Do they understand their careers end if they get what they want?

[mu-rara]

• For every 1 bar playing those games, there are 100 bars playing NCAA and NFL games.
  
• A sport where the best teams are playing from 6:00 am to noon on Saturdays and Sunday is not going to take over football here.
  
• There's still too much of a "field fairy" stigma for the mass populace to shift to soccer.
  
• There isn't enough interest here in the buildup, too many focus on diving and scorelines.

.
If anyone is going to support a change in our culture toward soccer, it's me. I'm a huge devotee of the sport. But it's a niche sport that isn't going to gain enough ground here to overtake American football in my lifetime.

Brew, I am 52 years old.   Couldn't care less about soccer.  Scream at the TV when ESPN shows freakin soccer on Top Ten Plays.  That is me and my outlook.  Some of the younger people working with me sit around and talk about the soccer game they watched last night, or last weekend.  Not saying it will happen in my lifetime or yours, but there's a lotta sh*t happening, and you had moms not letting their kids play football before this.  It can only get worse from here based on the Saints debacle.

[mu03eng]

• For every 1 bar playing those games, there are 100 bars playing NCAA and NFL games.
  
• A sport where the best teams are playing from 6:00 am to noon on Saturdays and Sunday is not going to take over football here.
  
• There's still too much of a "field fairy" stigma for the mass populace to shift to soccer.
  
• There isn't enough interest here in the buildup, too many focus on diving and scorelines.

.
If anyone is going to support a change in our culture toward soccer, it's me. I'm a huge devotee of the sport. But it's a niche sport that isn't going to gain enough ground here to overtake American football in my lifetime.

The NFL may need to improve padding, they may need to institute rule changes, but the notion that football is going to disappear is simply ridiculous. Like I said...shouting at a hurricane.

Amen.

I love soccer, I've played since I was 5 all the way up to and including the college level and I enjoy watching the sport on tv.....but it will never overtake football in this country.

Don't mistake an issue for a crisis.  There is a lot of noise around the injuries, especially head injuries in football, but its just that, noise.  Don't get me wrong I think the injuries are real and a tragedy but ultimately its going to boil down to the players putting themselves in this position.  Hell, I've gotten 4 concussions from playing soccer myself(hazards of being a keeper) so any sport is going to have similar issues.  So the league has an obligation to act now that more info is known and I think its getting there but to say this could bring down this behemoth is just crazy talk

Look at the way current players reacted to the punishment of the Saints for the bounties.....if they were concerned for their health they would have supported the suspensions but instead came out against them.  Don't think that won't be factored into any legal proceedings.

Anything could change, but its not like this whole no youth football play is new.  I never played football because my dad was a Joe Paterno disciple and he said kids shouldn't play until high school because of injury risk and that was in the 80s.  Yet people still play.  If there is money to be had people will do it, welcome to capitalism.

Also I agree with Stone Cold, some of this is a general wussification of society that is going on, but like all things in life the pendulum will swing the other way, the generation having kids now IMHO will be more likely to keep score and expect their kids to be tough because they are looking at the millenials and younger going oh my god what did we create.  I just don't see enough mass to create the paradigm shift 84 is calling for.

Also don't forget about the rampant ADD in the media these days.  Its a big deal right now, wait until something else comes along they'll go running after that and the injuries will be forgotten.

[mu03eng]

So why are Bisinger and Peter King either call for banning Football or thinking about banning it? 

Do they understand their careers end if they get what they want?

You also understand their careers are based on page views and stirring the pot.  They are paid to generate discussion.  Peter King bloviating about something and something actually happening couldn't be further apart.  Just take a look at all of his playoff and draft predictions.

[Chicago_inferiority_complexes]

Even if football declines, I don't see soccer taking over. Sure, it would probably go from the 7th most popular to the 6th most popular sport, but I don't see any reason for it to jump #1-#5. (I'm using the numbers generically, not sure exactly where it would be placed, but there is no way it's top 4.)

[lab_warrior]

I look forward to Monday, when Kissing Suzy Kolber will take a Ziggy's-post-Taco-Bell level s*** all over this particular PK column...again.  FWIW, I think Christmas Ape has done a very admirable job taking over for Magary. 

History shows there's progressive pussification.   

Yes, women voting, and black people being not enslaved.  Also, indoor plumbing.  Pussification, INDEED.

[jficke13]

Peter King is an embarrassment of a journalist. It's pitiful that people read his nonsense.

[GGGG]

So why are Bisinger and Peter King either call for banning Football or thinking about banning it? 

That's not what Peter King said.  He said: " I need to do some more thinking about whether it's in anyone's long-term interests to play this game."

He isn't calling for a ban.

I frankly don't think it is anyone's long-term interests to play football.  But if other's want to do so, I don't have a problem with it.  Free choice.

And with regards to Junior Seau, when kickoffs begin in September, it will be in front of packed stadiums and record to near record television audiences.  Seau might be given a moment of silence that will be forgotten as soon as the ball is kicked off.  And by the end of the week, it will largely be forgotten.  You completely under-estimate how much the game of football is woven into our society.

[Nukem2]

That's not what Peter King said.  He said: " I need to do some more thinking about whether it's in anyone's long-term interests to play this game."

He isn't calling for a ban.

I frankly don't think it is anyone's long-term interests to play football.  But if other's want to do so, I don't have a problem with it.  Free choice.

And with regards to Junior Seau, when kickoffs begin in September, it will be in front of packed stadiums and record to near record television audiences.  Seau might be given a moment of silence that will be forgotten as soon as the ball is kicked off.  And by the end of the week, it will largely be forgotten.  You completely under-estimate how much the game of football is woven into our society.

Agreed.  Also, the Seau "incident" is most likely more about post-retirement issues than concussions...?  Some folks just can't make that transition.

[Lennys Tap]

Brew, I am 52 years old.   Couldn't care less about soccer.  Scream at the TV when ESPN shows freakin soccer on Top Ten Plays.  That is me and my outlook.  Some of the younger people working with me sit around and talk about the soccer game they watched last night, or last weekend.  Not saying it will happen in my lifetime or yours, but there's a lotta sh*t happening, and you had moms not letting their kids play football before this.  It can only get worse from here based on the Saints debacle.

For every thirtysomething guy chatting up soccer there are 50 in NFL fantasy leagues or gambling on NFL/NCAA games. We've been told for awhile that because so many of our kids PLAYED socceer that they would want to WATCH soccer as adults, but up til now it hasn't happened. Some sports are just more fun to play than to watch.

[brewcity77]

I really hope I'm not completely stepping in it here, and if so, I apologize, but is this that much different than PTSD? These guys lived their lives for the excitement and rush of the NFL and didn't have an adequate plan as to how to adjust to real life. Similar to soldiers coming back from Afghanistan or Iraq and committing suicide (in far greater numbers than ex-NFL players). No one is calling for a ban on the military, are they?

Some people commit suicide. It's unfortunate, it's tragic for the families, but it's also something that is a part of life. Would Seau and Duerson have been well-adjusted, normal functioning members of society if not for the NFL? My guess is that football was a band-aid on an already damaged psyche.

And while I disagree with Lennys about soccer being more fun to play than watch (it's far more TV friendly than American football), I don't disagree that there's a massive popularity gap that won't be overcome any time soon. Even if the NFL did go away (which it won't), I think it's more likely that basketball and hockey would fill the popularity void than soccer would.

[mu-rara]

For every thirtysomething guy chatting up soccer there are 50 in NFL fantasy leagues or gambling on NFL/NCAA games. We've been told for awhile that because so many of our kids PLAYED socceer that they would want to WATCH soccer as adults, but up til now it hasn't happened. Some sports are just more fun to play than to watch.

Not predicting the end of football.  All I'm saying is people who think that things will remain the same are the same people caught with their pants down when a big change happens.

A year ago I could not comprehend this topic coming up.  Now, here it is.  It needs examination.

[GGGG]

Not predicting the end of football.  All I'm saying is people who think that things will remain the same are the same people caught with their pants down when a big change happens.

The OP said he wouldn't be surprised if it were "10 years."  Cmon...

[Mods, Delete me please. 8/26/2020]

Yes, women voting, and black people being not enslaved.  Also, indoor plumbing.  Pussification, INDEED.

TOTALLY.    You and I both know that is EXACTLY where he was going with that post.    Stone Cold is clearly a racist/misogynist calling for the legalization of slavery and an end to women's suffrage.   He probably won't admit to it, but you and I are super duper smart and know what he really meant.   

[PaintTouches]

I haven't seen a good counter argument made to the point someone brought up about what happens if the high school game is reduced due to insurance companies being unwilling to cover them. This, more than any national shift in preferences is the biggest danger to the NFL's behemoth status.

I don't think it would be a death knell, but it would drastically change the way the system works. Can anyone imagine a development academy system like those for Barcelona and United popping up? AAU run by teams themselves? It's happening a bit with soccer as it is (and in the process killing it since the best players in the next few years will skip high school sports altogether).

I think football is untouchable in places like Texas where Friday night is about as important as Sunday morning, but I'm not convinced many other states feel the same way.