Commenters on the AJC Get Schooled blog debated whether high school football was becoming a liability to schools, in view of new research on the lasting effects of concussions to the developing teen brain. In one recent week, three high school players died of injuries sustained on the field. Here is a sampling of comments:
William: Football is not the only athletic competition that has had fatalities. There have also been fatalities in track and field, baseball, swimming and diving, and even basketball. Does that mean we reconsider these sports, too? If we were to end all sports that have had fatalities, the only sport that would be left is competitive shooting, which has never seen a single fatality and only one minor injury.
Ralph: I think we all know football is a silly activity. The recent findings that at least a third of regular players have permanent reductions in I.Q., shortened life spans and chronic progressive brain damage — as well as a wide range of chronic arthritic problems requiring joint replacements and opiate addiction — should make any intelligent person avoid it. However, like residual smokers, drunk drivers, skydivers, gun twirlers, chainsaw jugglers, etc., there will probably always be a group of men, threatened by others' masculinity and needing some reassurance of their own, who pursue this "game." As long as there is a multitude of paying, cheering observers, the game will go on.
Lurker: Arguing that football should be stopped for the protection of the children trivializes the children who died. If your real reason was to protect children, then you would be fight extremely hard against cars. Cars kill 300 times more children per year. You don't fight against cars, you trivialize unfortunate tragedies to try to further your own cultural preference.
Lee: Ironically, the advances in equipment safety have also enabled more violent collisions, especially at the collegiate and professional level. Add to the fact athletes are bigger/stronger/faster, and you have a lot more chances of injury.
Jupiter: No parent expects a perfectly safe world. But the odds are great that if you put your child in football, say at age 10, and they are talented and continue to play for many years, they will have a brain disease at age 50. Why do so many people knowingly go down that path with those odds?
Noah: This is nothing more or less than furthering the emasculation of the American male by the fems and effeminate.
InTeach: Yes, there are many different sports and occasions where teens can get hurt. I am assuming there is a reason why we do not offer boxing, car racing and motocross in high school. I am also assuming that might have to do with the risks involved, and that the risk is deemed too high to expose our students and children to. Maybe we need to reevaluate the risks involved for football. Does football have to be associated with schools? Why can football not be organized in private sports clubs and leagues?
Jeremy: For me, and mine, football is off the table for those safety reasons. Play if you like, but you can't say you weren't aware of the risks. Truly there are other sports, and even non-sporting activities, that help to develop those all-important soft skills.
