Watching football gets harder and harder...

[Dugan15]

This article is limited to the NFL. It is hard not to think that at some point soon we are going to look back and say: "What were we cheering for?". https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...ugs815p:homepage/story&utm_term=.28b3362ef5bc

 

[T_Levine]

I heard this second hand...but one lead broadcaster...who happened to also be at welsh Ryan for the Purdue game hint hint thinks that 20 yrs from now the NFL may be no more. All it takes is one death during a game.

 

[FrancisSearle75]

Playing high level D1 and NFL football is like making the proverbial deal with the devil. You get a little fame, some money, and adulation for a short period of time in exchange for health issues down the road. I look at some of the high profile NFL players who suffered from or are suffering from CTE. Many of these guys ended up with great post football business or broadcasting opportunities that they may not have had without football. In the end it's a cost benefit analysis. Would I rather have a relatively short life that had 7 great years (4 years NCAA + 3 years Pro) with fame and adulation, followed by 10 average years, and then ended after 10 horrible years, or would I rather have an average, ordinary life for 50 years?

It probably depends on the individual, their underlying personality, and their station in life.

In the end, death comes for everyone, pro athlete and couch potato, rich and poor, famous and ordinary. And dying is usually not a pleasant experience for anyone. If you're not dying from CTE, then you're wasting away from cancer or alzeimers, or you're suffocating from your heart failure, or you're bleeding out from a horrific traffic accident. Once it's over, it's over, so you might as well maximize the years that you have and live it according to your priorities.

 

[TheC]

Playing high level D1 and NFL football is like making the proverbial deal with the devil. You get a little fame, some money, and adulation for a short period of time in exchange for health issues down the road. I look at some of the high profile NFL players who suffered from or are suffering from CTE. Many of these guys ended up with great post football business or broadcasting opportunities that they may not have had without football. In the end it's a cost benefit analysis. Would I rather have a relatively short life that had 7 great years (4 years NCAA + 3 years Pro) with fame and adulation, followed by 10 average years, and then ended after 10 horrible years, or would I rather have an average, ordinary life for 50 years?

It probably depends on the individual, their underlying personality, and their station in life.

In the end, death comes for everyone, pro athlete and couch potato, rich and poor, famous and ordinary. And dying is usually not a pleasant experience for anyone. If you're not dying from CTE, then you're wasting away from cancer or alzeimers, or you're suffocating from your heart failure, or you're bleeding out from a horrific traffic accident. Once it's over, it's over, so you might as well maximize the years that you have and live it according to your priorities.

Um..... go Cats?

 

[FrancisSearle75]

Um..... go Cats?

Sorry. Just trying to occupy myself until the 2:30 tip off.

 

[TheC]

Sorry. Just trying to occupy myself until the 2:30 tip off.

It just got too dark too quick. Who cares if we win the BTT? We're all just going to die someday.

 

[Alan Smithee]

It just got too dark too quick. Who cares if we win the BTT? We're all just going to die someday.

In that vein, here's a cheery reminder from the Chicago Tribune this morning:

Don’t forget: Clocks skip ahead one hour this weekend, but the slow trudge towards mortality continues unabated

 

[TheC]

In that vein, here's a cheery reminder from the Chicago Tribune this morning:

Don’t forget: Clocks skip ahead one hour this weekend, but the slow trudge towards mortality continues unabated

As my wife likes to say after the painful process of preparing and feeding our boys dinner, that's one more meal down.

 

[stpaulcat]

Have you have seen the current Marine Corps TV ad with marines disembarking from various landing craft and charging across the desert (interesting also) into battle which is depicted as a giant cloud of smoke? That ad gave me a scary thought, which is that in 10 or 20 years we won't need football (which will have ironically have become too violent), since we will be able to watch actual war played out in the moment on TV. Watching actual death in combat on TV in real time will be justified by the fact there is a real enemy. And it will be sponsored by Budweiser.