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Posted

Or they will continue their current trend, and in a back-to-the-future sort of way, become a sort of gladiator blood sport wherein the poor risk life and limb for the amusement of the wealthy.

I mean, that's kinda what pro sports are anyway, so its the natural place to start if you're willing to pigeonhole your kid as a future cripple early in life. 

Posted

Or they will continue their current trend, and in a back-to-the-future sort of way, become a sort of gladiator blood sport wherein the poor risk life and limb for the amusement of the wealthy.

 

I doubt it dies out entirely, but the quality of the product will likely be significantly diminished. I'm thinking sort of like what has happened to boxing--the best athletes gravitate to sports where their brains won't turn to mush.

Posted

I mean, that's kinda what pro sports are anyway, so its the natural place to start if you're willing to pigeonhole your kid as a future cripple early in life. 

 

They're getting there.

 

We were watching the Bills-Colts game, and one of my younger kids asked -- in that sincere and honest way that only an elementary school-aged kid can -- "why are almost all of these players black?"

 

I simply answered with something to the effect: Well. ... The guys who play in the NFL are in the NFL because they're the best American football players around. No one is chosen to play in the NFL because they're black. ... Or white, for that matter. Whoever is the best, gets to play.

 

Which was more or less true. But it obfuscated the point the kid was (unwittingly) trying to make. This kid is not yet nimble enough to have pressed me for a better answer. Nor is the kid old enough to get into the whole larger question that was being asked. Soon enough.

Posted

All contact sports probably. Definitely hockey. 

 

I can't see that happening though. I think it will be forced upon the players to understand the risks they're taking. 

 

Parents of child athletes will be the ones with the toughest decisions to make. 

I'm guessing that most of them won't have to be forced too hard. I heard a former NFL player talking off camera one time and he was talking about how he was a part of that class action law suit (merely by having been a player) and he was a little miffed. He thought it was BS because he said he would have played anyway, knowing the risk.

Posted

All contact sports probably. Definitely hockey. 

 

I can't see that happening though. I think it will be forced upon the players to understand the risks they're taking. 

 

Parents of child athletes will be the ones with the toughest decisions to make. 

 

All the more reason the NBA is on the upswing. Wait until they're the first American sports league to be all in on gambling. They've already partnered with Fanduel.

Posted

They're getting there.

 

We were watching the Bills-Colts game, and one of my younger kids asked -- in that sincere and honest way that only an elementary school-aged kid can -- "why are almost all of these players black?"

 

I simply answered with something to the effect: Well. ... The guys who play in the NFL are in the NFL because they're the best American football players around. No one is chosen to play in the NFL because they're black. ... Or white, for that matter. Whoever is the best, gets to play.

 

Which was more or less true. But it obfuscated the point the kid was (unwittingly) trying to make. This kid is not yet nimble enough to have pressed me for a better answer. Nor is the kid old enough to get into the whole larger question that was being asked. Soon enough.

It's a very weird topic. Philosophical even.

 

Football was created to provide young men with something they could do that was akin to war during times of peace. It was intended to keep men competitive in nature. There's a reason it's birth place was college campuses.

 

But it's not that animal anymore. It's not something young men pick up as a hobby or a way to stay physically and mentally sharp. It's very Spartan now. You start when you're young, your whole family is a part of it and you hope you're good enough to achieve glory. If you don't then what else are you good for? You're not a true warrior.

 

It almost makes no sense in the 21st century. Is the caste system alive and well? Do we now have an athlete class and an educated class with much less mixing between the two than ever before?

I'm guessing that most of them won't have to be forced too hard. I heard a former NFL player talking off camera one time and he was talking about how he was a part of that class action law suit (merely by having been a player) and he was a little miffed. He thought it was BS because he said he would have played anyway, knowing the risk.

I think more attention needs to be paid to the long term financial health of NFL players. I think contracts should be paid out slowly over time, we specific amounts set aside for a lifetime of healthcare funding. Make sure these guys don't spend all their money and end up like Darryl Talley.

Posted

I'm guessing that most of them won't have to be forced too hard. I heard a former NFL player talking off camera one time and he was talking about how he was a part of that class action law suit (merely by having been a player) and he was a little miffed. He thought it was BS because he said he would have played anyway, knowing the risk.

 

"He would have played." I think that misses a big piece of the puzzle: parents, families.

 

Would that former NFL player's parents have signed him up as a kid, if they knew and appreciated the risks? Maybe. Maybe not.

 

I myself know a former D-1 football player (mid-major) who has two sons. He's an accountant. His boys are both big fellas, and good athletes. They live in northern Ohio. They're not playing football. It pains my friend to hold them out -- and they have complained bitterly about not being allowed. But he and his wife are sticking to their guns. No football.

 

More and more families headed by educated and well-employed parents are going to opt out of football as time goes on. The talent pool for football is changing, and will be radically different in the coming years. 

Posted

Bills going with Home whites again, but with the new Buffalo logo on the helmet

 

:beer: :beer: :beer:

@BenVolin

#Patriots C Ryan Wendell is OUT for Sunday, meaning UDFA rookie C David Andrews should start again. DT Dominique Easley is DOUBTFUL

Can someone save me some work and post the new buffalo logo. I'm just not seeing it.
Posted (edited)

Can someone save me some work and post the new buffalo logo. I'm just not seeing it.

As opposed to the old logo of the red, standing Buffalo (i.e. the current logo) Edited by WildCard
Posted

I was gonna say. I was there for that one in 2011; the crowd was as loud as I can remember (and that includes playoff games in the 90s).

 

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

And I agree with the sentiment upthread: So long as Belichick and Brady are in NE, the AFC East is presumptively theirs. I hate that I think that, but I do.

it help to know and communicate the plays ahead of time and qb with no morals willing to cheat because he isnt good enough to win without help... if they keep allowing their home lockeroom to be accessed with flir technology sees easily through walls in 1993 (watch waco video) or 1985 blue thunder... anyway if they dont act like they know every signal and sign and play call ahead of time we are fools and deserve to lose for a sixteenth year assuming the other team has honor... i think rex will at leasr get us a fair game and i like them spending 20 mil on a lame cheating qb that wouldnt have one ring without help.... yes, not one.. the raiders and st louis would have killed them if pats didnt have walk thru of scripted plays...  the scum.. seattle overcame cheating  until the ensd when another ne uknown jumps a route like he was in the huddle...  i believe rex will fake everything and shove it up krafts poisoned fluoridated cheese hole and we will climb slowly out of the dark ages into a society the loves real atletic competition that two groups love to compete not get paid to accept help and dishonor their city and families... we are going to take a step to helping our division destroy these scum bottom dwellars and relegate them to the basement since nilly cheatchek belongs as he has been stealing wins from us.. maybe he isnt even hired if he isnt aided by one of the worst tackling or yhe greatest post season efforts in  history by mark ingram... hope you all help the team by unrelenting taunts against the cheating trio that is ruining the nfl for kids everywhere.. stick up for your children and  remind them this is redemption for our team who played by the rules and didnt stoop to bugging conversations... make bill and brady ashamed of their deeds and wait for the nightmare to end as they slink like the dogs they are back to the comfort of cheatyland, bought and paid for by lies and deceit.. i actually feel sorry for their fans forced to back scum.the liars and scourge of sport... well.. i hope we arent fools any longer and our city is no longer bamboozled by the rich and honor less.. cant wait to see... 

Posted

Bills going with Home whites again, but with the new Buffalo logo on the helmet

:beer:  :beer:  :beer:

@BenVolin

#Patriots C Ryan Wendell is OUT for Sunday, meaning UDFA rookie C David Andrews should start again. DT Dominique Easley is DOUBTFUL

 

he cant be looking forward to seeing a rested dareus with something to prove, lining up across from him... brady has a built in excuse to fall and quiver as a built broken play option to hope for a flag from hughes... (throw the lipstick and cheaties boxes, at this moment) 

Posted

Betting on a QB starting his second game ever against Belichick is probably a terrible idea, but I don't care, it feeling this. I've bought the hype! I expect our DL, the interior, to eat the Pats rookies for lunch. Brady's so hard to sack, but I think we knock him around a bunch and that'll be enough to unsettle him and jack up the timing. Bills, 20-17.

Posted

Betting on a QB starting his second game ever against Belichick is probably a terrible idea, but I don't care, it feeling this. I've bought the hype! I expect our DL, the interior, to eat the Pats rookies for lunch. Brady's so hard to sack, but I think we knock him around a bunch and that'll be enough to unsettle him and jack up the timing. Bills, 20-17.

Whatever Bill does, their BEST corner this year is that Butler guy. And Pittsburgh blew holes in their line all night long.

That said, I'm still very nervous, biggest football game of my fanhood.

Posted

Omen? I'm watching Sabres, June 19, 1999 on NHL Network, now. Yes, it's on. At 11:30, I'm leaving to get a seat at a Bills Backers bar for today's game.

 

Low point, high point?

Posted

Betting on a QB starting his second game ever against Belichick is probably a terrible idea, but I don't care, it feeling this. I've bought the hype! I expect our DL, the interior, to eat the Pats rookies for lunch. Brady's so hard to sack, but I think we knock him around a bunch and that'll be enough to unsettle him and jack up the timing. Bills, 20-17.

 

Hope!  Change!

 

If TT plays as well as he played last week, the Bills can win this game (and a lot more).

 

I'm in.

 

Bills, 23-20.

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