Bob Costas on the future of football: 'This game destroys people's brains'

[DanT]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...ins/842904001/

Quote from top of article:

Originally Posted by USA Today article

As far as longtime sports broadcaster Bob Costas is concerned, the future of football in the United States is clear — and bleak.

“The reality is that this game destroys people’s brains," he said Tuesday night.

Speaking at a roundtable discussion at the University of Maryland, Costas, who hosted Football Night in America on NBC for more than a decade, said the sport could collapse over time, barring a development in technology to make it reasonably safe. He said the decline of football, which was once “a cash machine,” is the most significant story in American sports.

“The cracks in the foundation are there,” Costas said. “The day-to-day issues, as serious as they may be, they may come and go. But you cannot change the nature of the game. I certainly would not let, if I had an athletically gifted 12- or 13-year-old son, I would not let him play football.”

[Easy 6]

Count me among the people hoping that helmet technology continues to improve, serious advances have already been made... so just keep at it until its been perfected

Without the physical violence, the NFL will be a boring shadow of its former self

[KranzDictum]

Originally Posted by DanT

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...ins/842904001/

Quote from top of article:

This is why I won't let my son play it. I let him play soccer and am worried about headers but they are illegal in our league at his age.

That said I don't care about the guys who are getting paid hundred of thousands if not millions to play it for a few years. That is their call, it's their life.

[KranzDictum]

Originally Posted by Easy 6

Count me among the people hoping that helmet technology continues to improve, serious advances have already been made... so just keep at it until its been perfected

Without the physical violence, the NFL will be a boring shadow of its former self

Helmet can't prevent the brain from hitting the skull. It is just not going to happen. What they should do is reduce the padding and give them the leather helmets back so they can't use them as weapons. It will change the way the games are played but would limit spearing unless a dude is insane.

[ottawa_chiefs_fan]

Originally Posted by KranzDictum

Helmet can't prevent the brain from hitting the skull. It is just not going to happen. What they should do is reduce the padding and give them the leather helmets back so they can't use them as weapons. It will change the way the games are played but would limit spearing unless a dude is insane.

not unless they have helmets that reach through the skull and create a buffer between the brain and the skull. Sound crazy? not really - that will be done eventually.

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by KranzDictum

Helmet can't prevent the brain from hitting the skull. It is just not going to happen. What they should do is reduce the padding and give them the leather helmets back so they can't use them as weapons. It will change the way the games are played but would limit spearing unless a dude is insane.

Well there is no arguing with that, but if thats the criteria then they'll eventually have to ban MMA and anything else that involves blows to the head

The leather helmets would still need a facemask though, Hamas made an excellent point about that earlier

[lcarus]

Football destroys brains. So what's Bob's excuse?

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Chief3188

haha.. alright bud. I would challenge you to come meet me on the playground but I have to get some rest for my job little fella.

Cool, internet tough guy!

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Chief Roundup

Basketball over the last 10 or so years.

Jimmy Graham
Donovan McNabb
Antwaan Randle El
Connor Barwin
Terrell Owens
Tony Gonzalez
Julius Peppers
Antonio Gates
Vincent Jackson
Martellus Bennett
Julius Thomas

Baseball players over the last 10 or so years.

Golden Tate
Russell Wilson
Eric Decker
Kyle Long
Tom Brady
Brandon Weeden
Jameis Winston
Colin Kaepernick


I am sure there are many many more.

Dude, outside of Antonio Gates, all of those guys played college football as well.

He was talking about guys that never played football until college that went on to successful NFL careers or guys that never played college football at all that went on to have successful careers.

Those guys don't apply.

[BigRedChief]

I have no doubt that they will be able to provide helmets/medical devices/drugs that will substantially decrease the risk to the brain.

I've seen scientific data that proves success with nano tech. The brain is a helluva lot more complicated than attacking something specific in the brain but its the same ballpark.

The NFL should be funding the research at a BILLION $ clip. Their business model is under scrutiny and threat.

Look how quickly the people turned against sexual harassment. All its going to take is some beloved player, aka Montana to publicly share and document their struggles with memory/motor skills and speak out against the NFL, they knew and should have done more. It will be wayyy worse than bad publicity and they knew the risks excuses.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Yeah, it was determined by the court that $765 million wasn't nearly enough

I had no idea. How are they going to determine how much reparations are to be paid over time?

[Rasputin]

Breaking news this just in. Living a life causes Death. Who knew

[kchero]

Originally Posted by jaa1025

Go back to the leather helmets and people won't be using their helmets to tackle.

This. I jokingly bring this up with friends, but there is validity there.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by kchero

This. I jokingly bring this up with friends, but there is validity there.

No, there isn’t.

Players in those days weren’t all amazing athletes.

The league wasn’t filled with 6’6, 275 pound guys running 4.7 40’s.

The NFL would become so bloody and so gruesome without helmets that they’d lose all of their advertisers in one week.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

No, there isn’t.

Players in those days weren’t all amazing athletes.

The league wasn’t filled with 6’6, 275 pound guys running 4.7 40’s.

The NFL would become so bloody and so gruesome without helmets that they’d lose all of their advertisers in one week.

I don't want the game to lose what it's about but I do understand players retiring early to avoid the worst.

What I wonder is why players with less protection in the first 80 years of the NFL/AFC clearly suffered worse but have less CTE issues.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Rausch

What I wonder is why players with less protection in the first 80 years of the NFL/AFC clearly suffered worse but have less CTE issues.

It's because of the size of the athletes.

Nutrition, supplements, weight and speed training has changed not only football but basketball as well.

These guys are so big and so strong and so fast that the collisions are easily 10x as powerful as those guys that played in the 40's and 50's (let alone, the 20's and 30's).

Just 30 years ago, while in high school, the biggest guy and fastest guy, who went on to have a stellar career in NCAA Division I football, was 6'0, 210 pounds and played defensive line.

He wouldn't be big enough to play Safety in today's NFL.