Apparently they are escalating the amount of the fines. Isn't this still a drop in the bucket to many of these guys? Linkage.
Just ask HOFer Rodney Harrison, he's been on record a couple times on this one that he didn't care. He was also one of the most feared safeties of all time.
While these guys do make lots of money, it is worth mentioning that they are paid per game, not throughout the year. 75k could be almost an entire check for some guys-superstars, not so much .02
On the Monday night pre game show he actually said "I'd put $50k a year aside for fines just so I could keep my reputation as a hard hitter."
Yeah, Harrington was a hard-hitting asshole (I loved to watch him play.) Teddy B. was on ESPN showing how solid pain inducing hits can be done with the shoulder, and I've seen them before and buy that. I don't want football to be pussyfied, but part of my poor ass really can't stand hearing grown men whine about the rules being enforced in a game they get paid a million dollars to play. It really annoys me. "Oh we're going to reduce the risk of you getting injured so you can make millions of dollars a few more years." To be clear, I don't want a softer football, but to me it is like hearing Steve Jobs complain that his new product presentations have to be cut down by 10 minutes. Also, everyone keeps saying that this rule enforcement and the 18 game season together is hypocritical. People need to look "hypocritical" up, because the two together are on in the same plan. Have less devastating hits so people can play more games and everyone can rake in more money. I also should have taken bets on the Farve thing. I said it before, girl ain't talking. Refuses to cooperate with NFL investigators, and only comments come out through a PR firm. Smart girl.
If the NFL changes their policies towards "dirty hits", you can expect the NCAA to adopt similar rules, and high schools to follow suit. So, I wouldn't be too hasty in bitching about millionaires being pussies. Yes, there are a lot of highly paid athletes, but the majority of those guys who are taking this ridiculous punishment are making the league minimum. Ask yourself how many punt returners, fullbacks, or back-up tight ends can you name on a team like Kansas City, who has at least 8 of those guys on the roster, absorbing the equivalent of a car crash's worth of force each game.You don't see guys like Randy Moss going over the middle for a 2nd and 4 to get obliterated. Granted, that's what they are paid to do, and paid pretty well. However, you want to make the game safer for EVERYONE, not just the people who play at the highest level. I think the best way to address this is through drastic equipment changes, but I think this NFL policy is more geared towards sending a message of: "Hey asshole, don't give yourself a concussion and take years off some other players life trying to make the Top 10 or some highlight reel."
Well, not Randy Moss specifically since he's not a short yardage receiver, but you do see the stars in those situations more often than back up TEs and the other positions you listed. Where did you come up with the conclusion that the lesser paid players are taking more hits? It's kind of the other way around. I don't think anyone should be calling the players pussies considering they aren't the ones asking for the suspensions and rule changes. If the guys taking the hits are fine with it (and from what I've seen most of them are), why need the change? I would be ok with equipment changes, but only if it didn't hinder the quality of play on the field.
<a class="postlink" href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5706081" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5706081</a> This story was pretty funny. I have to say though, I've been around .15 many a time and while obviously hammmered, I was much more in control of myself than this guy was.
I was listening to the radio this morning, they were interviewing Dana White, the prez of the UFC. One of the DJ's said something to the effect of how brutal the sport is, Dana spat back that it was no more brutal than football. I thought to myself, really? Granted I can't sit through an entire fight but.....that's because it's too brutal. Thoughts?
All of you saying you don't want to see foosball "pussified" can take a giant taste of my cock. Try having a family member who has severe PCS from playing college football (and probably a shortened life expectancy because of it) and see if you still think they should be allowed to hit with their helmets. And all because you 'like to watch those kinds of hits'. Go fuck yourself, you selfish bastards. NFL trainers have a hard enough time spotting a concussion if it isn't reported to them. College trainers don't fare too well, either. Most high school teams don't have the slightest clue of how to spot one. Kids copy what they see. Do you want your kid to have brain damage because he got concussion on top of concussion in high school by copying what the pros do? There is absolutely no reason why anyone should lead with their helmet. You can still drop huge hits with your shoulder and from someone with experience, it's not that difficult to put your head to one side or the other at the last second. I've been playing rugby for 15 years and have only had a handful of concussions and those were from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, not because of leading with my head. Proper form tackles greatly reduce the incidence of concussion. There's a reason the NFL is cracking down on it now and that's because they can no longer deny the overwhelming mountain of evidence being brought forward proving the long-term effects of concussions. If they don't do something now, the impending lawsuits would force them to.
Football is way more brutal long term to your body, there are far more injuries due to the nature of the sport and the frequency of performance. And like lhprop was saying about the long term affects of concussions, they are much more prevalent in football. Also add the fact that if you do get concussed in a fight, it's over right then and there. In football, you go back in and compound the damage which is pretty much the worst thing you can do. Football players are notorious for getting Cortisone shots to numb the pain, get right back into the game and let their injuries get worse until the season is over. Most fighters are forced to rest and postpone fights until they are mostly healed. One of the things that popped out in my mind was a recent season of TUF (UFC reality tv show) where an NFL player wanted to get a Cortisone shot so he could get back into training hard and his coach looking at him cross eyed for wanting to do that to himself. Granted MMA is still a fairly young sport and it's tough to call it this early, but Dan Severn is over 50 years old, started in 1994 and still competes regularly (though not at a high level). Find me a pro football player not named Herschel Walker in that age range with that much play time that can even jog without being in pain.
What most people don't realize is that many fighters are given medical suspensions after fights and wouldn't be allowed to fight if they want to. Things as simple as a broken nose/hand/finger/foot or a small cut will get you a medical suspension in MMA, all of which would be considered inconsequential to most other athletes who compete in contact sports. In order for MMA to have even gotten sanctioned in the US, they had to set their safety standards higher than any other. A lot of that is because of Big John. I think they do a much better job of looking out for the fighters health and safety than the NFL, NHL, MLB, or NBA.
Just to add, not only are they prevented from competing in the octagon during medical suspensions, they're prevented from training full contact and sometimes from training altogether for a certain amount of time. Though I don't know how well enforced this is.
Depends on what you mean by "too brutal". MMA/UFC is way less damaging to the participants. Hell, cheerleading is WAY WAY more dangerous than MMA if you take a look at the numbers. (Go watch the Penn & Teller episode on Cheerleading if you want to see some pretty funny shit on that). But to people watching it, it's a sport that's IS fighting. Fighting is, at it's base level, violent and brutal. It's also pretty well the simplest and oldest form of competition. Other games, like hockey, football, etc., can be just as brutal, it's just not the focus of the sport, it's like an extra feature that happens every now and then. But don't kid yourself, I'd imagine that, on average, a lineman in the NFL takes more damage in a game than a fighter does in a fight. Long term effects? Hands down the fighters will be in way better shape to do silly little things, like walk.
I read that Harrison is contemplating retirement, because he can't play by these baby rules. I don't have any facts, but I'm guessing 98% of these helmet to helmet hits are purely incidental and happen because the other person moves at the last second and gets his head smashed. Fines and penalties/suspensions should only be issued on clearly flagrant helmet to helmet hits (apparently like meriwethers..I didn't see it, so I'm not sure) The rest, well that's just part of the game. It's going to happen. It sucks, but like I said, it's incidental, and a risk you need to be willing to take when you step on the field.
It's not remotely incidental. I've been playing rugby for 15 years and have taken exactly 1 head on head hit. I've probably seen only a half dozen in that time as well. I know it's not the NFL, but it's still tackling another running human being. Add to that the fact that rugby is 80 continuous minutes as compared to 60 minutes with less than 1/2 of that as actual playing time and you're looking at A LOT more tackles per game/match in rugby (anywhere from 250-300 tackles per match vs maybe 50 tackles per average football game). The bottom line is that I've given and received literally thousands of hits in my career and some of those have been hits that would cripple many people. All of them were done by putting the shoulder into the gut. Nearly the same rate of head to head hits takes place at the international level as it does at the local levels, telling me that it's not "incidental" in the NFL. The main reason being that it's illegal in the game of rugby to tackle without making an attempt to wrap up the person. Forcing the tackler to attempt to wrap forces them to put their shoulder into the guy and put their head on one side or the other. Football players, on the other hand, are coached to try to cause a fumble at any cost. The helmet is a very effective way to do that. Make it a rule that the tackler has to wrap up the runner and you've just taken a giant step toward solving the problem.
Even though you're right, you and I both know that'll never happen. I don't like seeing anyone hurt in any way and be carted or aided off the field. I'm not a fan of those that wish injury on any player out of spite or hate for whatever their reasons are. I think it takes away from the game when a player is taken out of a game, because as a competitor you want to play the best you can and you can only do that against the best there is.
That's nice and all that this would result in fewer injuries, but they're not going to have the sport ruined because of it. Part of the reason the hits are easier to take in rugby isn't just because of the rules, it's how the game is set up. Wrap tackles are more practical when you're only lateralling backwards. When a safety or linebacker only has one shot to knock the ball loose as a receiver is coming down with it he often doesn't have time for a wrap tackle. Or, if he does, the play would definitely result in a reception. Maybe not leading with the helmet is possible, but only allowing wrap tackles would be stupid.
And here we go: One comment on the story: I see that side of it too. If they can manage to control the hits it'd be for the better of everyone. I'm just skeptical they can do it effectively. I mean for the most part they're dealing with athletes and their egos, which in many cases is far bigger than any fine.