This week a joint ESPN and PBS investigation
broke the news that the NFL did seemingly have knowledge of the brain damage caused
by head collisions for NFL retirees.
This comes despite the fact that the NFL has continually denied having
any direct knowledge that their sport has directly caused brain injuries in
former players. It’s starting to
look worse and worse for the NFL in their court cases that have been brought
against them by former players, and the stories of these former players are sad
and tragic. Over 2100 former
players have joined the law suit against the NFL that accuses the NFL of hiding
the information they had that indicated long term brain injury and disease were
linked to seemingly minor injuries suffered during games. It may sound totally insane, but I
think that Football will slowly begin to vanish and eventually be replaced as
one of the major sports in America today.
The mounting evidence of horrendous brain injury, the popularity of new
sports amongst youth and the desire of parents not to allow their young boys to
play football will all contribute to it taking more of a minor role in the
American sports landscape.
It used to be that when a player
suffered a concussion he would “suck it up” and get back in the game. While that may have been the manly
thing to do back then, it was not a good long-term decision. The suicides of Dave Duerson and Junior
Seau alone are tragic and seemingly linked to brain injury suffered from years
of playing football. Duerson was a
four time Pro Bowler and played for Notre Dame and the Super Bowl Champion
Chicago Bears. After his career in
the NFL he became a successful businessman until 2006. On February 17, 2011 he shot and killed
himself and notified family members that he couldn’t take it anymore and that
he wished to donate his brain to medical research to examine the full extent of
damage he suffered while playing football. 
Junior Seau was continually one of the most respected
players in the NFL. He was a 12
time Pro Bowler and became a San Diego sports icon while spending most of his
career with the San Diego Chargers.
He started a foundation in his name to prevent child abuse and was
always involved in the community in which he lived. When he committed suicide this year at the age of 43 it
stunned everyone. His mother’s press
conference was emotional and sad and immediately the city of San Diego mourned
the loss of the great man. Remember,
these are only two of thousands of tragic cases of former NFL players. 
It is bad enough that these player
and their loved ones have to suffer this, but while the NFL sits on this
information, how many young boys are signing up to play a game that may have
significant long-term detriment to their health? Scientists in numerous investigations have also said that
while the players have gotten bigger and stronger over the past 40 years, the
safety of equipment has not kept up.
According to a study from Virginia Tech University the safest helmet is
amongst the least popular and the least safe helmet is the most popular amongst
college and NFL players. The
reason being that the safest is least restrictive while the least safe allows
players most range of motion.
Clearly these players need to be given the new evidence on safety and
hopefully they will start to make better-educated decisions on their helmets
and equipment. Although I don’t
watch the NFL I do confess that I still watch college football regularly, but
if this evidence gets worse and worse I may have to choose a new fall sport to
follow.
In the 21st Century
there has been major shifts in youth sports in America. First off, more and more kids are
choosing to specialize in one sport, maybe two, and play that given sport all
year. Gone is the day of the three-sport
athlete in high school and with so many private teams and organizations, the
landscape of junior sports is rapidly changing. As private trainers and AAU like organizations in all sports
have become more prevalent high school sports has continually been
deemphasized. All this has been
done with the hope of students attaining an athletic scholarship in college. As this has happened new sports have
arisen in popularity amongst American youth. Soccer is growing in participation faster than any other
sport, but sports such as lacrosse and Field Hockey are also gaining in
popularity. In both high schools
and colleges brand new sports have arisen like women’s crew and men’s
volleyball. All have appealed more and more to a new generation of
Americans. With all of the new
opportunities available to young people participation in football is slowly
starting to decline and I believe that this trend will continue.
One of the major reasons that this
will continue is simple. Parents
are starting to realize just how dangerous (short and long-term) football is
and encouraging their young boys to play soccer, golf or lacrosse. As these sports have increased in
popularity, football has begun to decrease.
Not only in youth sports, but the
increase in popularity in sports such as soccer and golf are reflected in TV
ratings and professional sports.
Soccer is more popular than ever in America with ESPN broadcasting the
World Cup, the Euro Cup, Premier League, Champions League and even the weak
MLS. Golf has experienced the
“Tiger Effect” with its boom in popularity since the late 90’s with Tiger
Woods’s explosion into the game and now the PGA TOUR is playing for record
purses with virtually every tournament having a $1 million dollar first
prize.
I’m sure many people will think I’m
crazy with the popularity and profits of the NFL and the accompanying
popularity of fantasy football, but I think it is clear that in time football
will cease to be the dominant sport in America and I think fall out of the top
4 most popular sports. Anything
that dies amongst younger generations will in turn begin to lose popularity,
just as we’ve seen in baseball. I
will personally miss college football if the sport goes away, but if it is
truly is as dangerous as many believe it is, then maybe it’d be a good thing
for American society to embrace new sports.
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