American Football causes brain damage

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http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/m ... knowledges

Should American football be banned?

There's always baseball, ice hockey and basketball to fall back on.

Absolutely not. If people don't want to play it. Don't. If you don't want to watch it, don't. Simple. There are still plenty of people who do.

There are many jobs that carry occupational hazards. The old timers who may not have been as well informed- I do empathize with those guys a bit. But today, you have to choice to chance the millions and it may scramble your eggs. Police officers, fire fighters, even crab fisherman and many more work jobs where they could be killed any day. For way way way less money.

Oh, you mean damage to players of the sport, my mistake!

Seriously though, to satisfy the curiosity of a cynical Englishman, I have one question...
Are children expected to take part in this, for example as a compulsory part of physical education in school? That would worry me, as then there is less personal choice involved, and a child is still growing and maybe more vulnerable to injury.

It's not a sport I understand or appreciate, but for consenting adults who are informed of what may be at risk, I would be inclined to agree with beakybird. I used to be a caver (spelunker), and I wouldn't want anyone to have criminalised my enjoyment, either.

It's not compulsory at all and take about any sort of ban or major change is ridiculous to me, boxing is an entire sport built on head trauma and look at how those guys are after they retire. Doing any physical activity raises the chances of CTE, female dominated sports sports like cheerleading are even more dangerous than football but you don't hear about it.

I think that all professional sports should be banned.

Imagine how much money could then be spent on caring for homeless people.

What about music and movies, should those be banned and all money funneled to the homeless?

Money doesn't transfer to something else automatically like that, that's why all these stupid Nate Silver wannabe "progressives" all became experts about the public financing of stadiums get their premise wrong. Take that outlet away and that money doesn't necessarily transfer to something more preferable or get spent at all, where people spend their money is very important so malls 30 miles out of the city aren't much of a boon to us in the inner city.

Great idea! Let's start by banning the Emmies, the Grammies, and the Oscars.

In my day we did a different sport every coupla weeks in jr. high, and in highschool in "Phys Ed" class. We were "compelled" to play football for a few weeks, but it was "flag football" (basically 'touch foot ball"- if you're a Brit that means you just touch the guy, you dont tackle him- thats how American kids play it on the street). But in school phys ed class we had bright colored flags attached by velcro to the waistbands of our pants so you could rip the flag off the guy. No need for helmets.

Highshools have football teams that play other schools (helmets, tackling, the real thing), but they are not compulsory for you to join.

part of the reason there are so many brain injuries is that helmet since guys lead with it and don't protect themselves, I've heard the leather helmets of old which didn't protect the face were actually better since guys wouldn't smash into each other the same way.

Yeah the modern helmet protects you more, but it lures them into doing stuff thats more dangerous. Literally "using your head" more: as a battering ram - risking neck injuries.

Thanks for the info, guys - I always had a suspicion that the US shows we see over here exaggerate the amount of football played by schoolkids.

We were made to play full contact Rugby as a compulsory part of PE - not tagging; proper tackles around a running guy's legs and studded boots, with no padding or helmets. It used to make me laugh when soccer and rugby players would ask if caving was dangerous. It's rare that I've met a keen amateur soccer or rugby player that hasn't broken at least one bone out on the pitch. Over five or six years, the worst caving injury I ever saw was a particularly nasty hangover!

Re: Money in sport. "Panem et Circenses" as the Romans would have put it. Seems to me that as long as there's a demand for circuses, someone is going to jump in to satisfy that demand at whatever profit they can squeeze out of the fans. The desire of people to spend silly money on tickets, cable channels, replica strips etc. so that they can feel part of a cult that supports a bunch of people who aren't actually members of their community, and who's success depends largely on which oligarch can afford to import the most expensive players - well, it just boggles my mind, it really does. I'll give my few sporting friends credit where due, they do mostly play for and support truly amateur teams of their friends and peers.

I think it is hard for someone from the UK to understand but a lot of these sports stadiums are islands in dying economic depressed urban areas which have seen massive white flight and urban decay, what municipality people spend their money in is important as my hometown is/was very segregated by race and economic status.

What's with this obsession with banning everything?
Football isn't going anywhere because we're addicted to it in this country. If you dont like it then don't play it and don't be a spectator of it.

Sarcasm, right?

Any sport that is played professionally and gives athletes 1/2 a million dollars or more in annual salary, attests to the low utility that they give to society as a whole.