Saf(er) Football

For decades I have been an advocate of better safety in American Football. I can talk from experience, as a fast but underweight player who had to make contact with players much bigger than me, as well as being a professional physical therapist with an understanding of the effects of bodily contact within the game.

Specifically, I have called for no contact above the shoulders or below the hips. The little-known American 7s Football League (A7FL) was started in 2015 and has rules very close to my recommendations. Click here for a brief look at it in action.

Frankly, I see the excitement of American Football in this league without as much danger to the players. I challenge the NCAA and the NFL to seriously consider this way of playing the game.

https://www.a7fl.com/

https://www.a7fl.com/

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: More Evidence Needed

"A YEAR AGO, as more than 6,000 media representatives descended on Arizona for Super Bowl LVII, Boston University's Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center issued a news release with the headline: 'Researchers find CTE in 345 of 376 former NFL players studied.' It emphasized that two of the brains dissected in the previous year and found to have the neurodegenerative disease tied to football came from men who once played for the very teams that would be vying for the Lombardi Trophy, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs.

"The release had no new information about CTE itself, nor was it tied to fresh research produced by BU. Still, it had the desired effect: It put the topic back on the radar on the eve of football's biggest event. The idea to issue the release had come from Chris Nowinski, a BU researcher and the co-founder of the CTE Center's education and advocacy partner, the Concussion Legacy Foundation.

"Sometimes 'people need to be exposed to certain ideas and information multiple times to understand, you know, to learn them,' Nowinski told ESPN recently.

"What we've learned about CTE and its connections to football has been shaped largely by the research produced by BU over the past 15 years. That work has led to a revolution in the way America considers its most popular sport: instilling a deeper understanding that repetitive hits to the head can lead to cognitive problems later in life, prompting reforms at all levels of the sport, sparking a decline in participation and spawning legislative debates in some states, most recently California, about whether youth tackle football should be banned altogether.

"But the narrative about CTE has outpaced the science. Fueled by the publicizing of several high-profile cases and data that even the BU researchers acknowledge is limited, the result is a heightened level of fear in players and families, from the pros down to pee wee. That fear has led some NFL players, teenagers, and weekend warriors to conclude -- fatalistically -- that whatever cognitive or emotional troubles they're enduring must be rooted in CTE; and it has created tensions within the research community that the story has become far too simplified."

Click here for more.

Football Decisions Are Not Science-Based

"Massey, Thaler, and Romer's works have been known for more than a decade, but NFL football coaches and owners still show near universal hesitance to adopt their advice. For all its high stakes, pro football is very much a conservative sport. Tradition trumps reason. Football is powerful, irrational, and instinctual, with an almost animal magnetism. Perhaps that's what keeps us watching."

If Football Teams Heeded Science and Reason, They Would Win a Lot More

Athletics Are Rewarding, But There Are Risks

This post is an attempt to objectively look at a category of activity that I have joyfully participated in virtually all of my life.  Following essentially is my life story regarding such, and some advise after over 71 years of active living.

Ivy League Leads The Way For Safer Football

As a former high school and college football player who has always loved the game, as well as being a science-based thinker, I have been sensitive to the issue of safety in football.  In recent years, I have been vocal about two sports issues:  safety in football; the culture of sports.

The History And Science Of Football

I recently read an interesting book on the history and science of American football.  Only near the end of the book are concussion addressed scientifically.  That said, any fan of the game and/or science-based thinker should find it worthwhile.

Newton's Football: The Science Behind America's Game