Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinksi, 21, was found dead

We need to enjoy football while we can. Most of us will live to see it gone (or changed so much that it will be a different sport).

OakMtn4Bama said:

We need to enjoy football while we can. Most of us will live to see it gone (or changed so much that it will be a different sport).

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Maybe it needs to change. Think of the implications of a kid his age with CTE. This isn’t something he developed overnight. It came from his high school career or club football before that.

Think of how many kids already have permanent damage. Think of how many more will have damage after this season. One of those things that you can’t help but worry about now that the cat is out of the bag.

AUDub said:

Maybe it needs to change. Think of the implications of a kid his age with CTE. This isn’t something he developed overnight. It came from his high school career or club football before that.

Think of how many kids already have permanent damage. Think of how many more will have damage after this season. One of those things that you can’t help but worry about now that the cat is out of the bag.

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The sad truth (as based on my limited understanding) is that many of the worst cases are started with head injuries at young ages - HS or before.

The NFL and the College's seem to have been taking this seriously, at least in recent years, but how much is being done at the youth levels? How many club and park level coaches are teaching proper tackling techniques, and enforcing concussion protocols during games?

Every story like this is crushingly sad and tragic!!! Much as I'd hate to see the game disappear - or become Flag-Football - that's eventually going to be the inevitable result IF things aren't changed for the very youngest kids playing the game. Once the first HS gets stung with a lawsuit over a kid who suffered this type injury, then the floodgates will open, and HS football will END.

Maybe part of the answer is not to let kids play full-contact football before they are 16-17-18? or under proper supervision for head injury issues? I don't know......

crimsonaudio said:

Think about how many of us probably have it and aren't aware yet.

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True. I can remember multiple instances of "getting my bell rung," not to mention the numerous smaller impacts playing TE/DE. It was a point of pride to have your opponent's colors on your hat after every game, a competition with your teammates.

crimsonaudio said:

Think about how many of us probably have it and aren't aware yet.

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That is certainly a worry of mine. I think about it now when I begin to have memory issues. Only 2 serious bell ringings, but both in HS.

crimsonaudio said:

Not saying this as a joke, but I can't begin to remember how many times I felt like my head was going to explode after a big impact with a RB or pulling guard.

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I felt like Superman when I put on those pads. I worry. I think that most of us do.

B1GTide said:

I felt like Superman when I put on those pads. I worry. I think that most of us do.

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But damn do I miss those days.

AUDub said:

Maybe it needs to change. Think of the implications of a kid his age with CTE. This isn’t something he developed overnight. It came from his high school career or club football before that.

Think of how many kids already have permanent damage. Think of how many more will have damage after this season. One of those things that you can’t help but worry about now that the cat is out of the bag.

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it's time. It sucks. If there is anything all of us agree on here it is football. We may not agree on teams and certainly not politics or religion or any number of things but we all love the sport. I saw elsewhere that the medical examiner described Hilsinki's brain as that "of a 65 year old man" this was a 21 year old athlete in the prime of his life. There are jut too many, i'm finding it harder and harder to watch games

Jon said:

it's time. It sucks. If there is anything all of us agree on here it is football. We may not agree on teams and certainly not politics or religion or any number of things but we all love the sport. I saw elsewhere that the medical examiner described Hilsinki's brain as that "of a 65 year old man" this was a 21 year old athlete in the prime of his life. There are jut too many, i'm finding it harder and harder to watch games

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Me too.

It's hard to watch someone else's kid put themselves on a potential path to long-term damage while glad my son didn't really like it or want to play other than his one year as an eight-year old.

I'm getting to the point I can't justify it.

crimsonaudio said:

Think about how many of us probably have it and aren't aware yet.

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I’ve thought this same thing. I started playing when I was 5 years old by a bunch of dads who had us doing bull in the ring (which was deemed illegal by the time I was in HS). They just did what they were taught in HS. Then no one even thought twice about it and even laughed when you “got your bell rung.”

My sons will not be allowed to play until at least Jr high and may be not even then.

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Fascinating reading, although also sad.

In our high school you either surfed or played sports.

I didn't make the team so I surfed. I did play football as a youngster but just the neighborhood stuff. Never got serious about it.

With the information coming out now, maybe we will see an uptick in prevention....hopefully......more screening of the brain and better head protection?

Bazza said:

Fascinating reading, although also sad.

In our high school you either surfed or played sports.

I didn't make the team so I surfed. I did play football as a youngster but just the neighborhood stuff. Never got serious about it.

With the information coming out now, maybe we will see an uptick in prevention....hopefully......more screening of the brain and better head protection?

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Admittedly, I'm not a doctor - I don't even play one on TV.

But I've read just a little on this, and part of the problem is the nature of the human skull. You can put the best helmet in the world on a human head - the best padding, cushioning, the best shock absorbing shell - whatever; but the problem remains because no helmet can change the laws of physics. When the brain itself decelerates abruptly from a relatively high speed on impact, OR accelerates abruptly from an impact, it's going to strike the inside of the skull and this is going to happen no matter what sort of device is attached to the outside of the skull.

I'm reminded of a comment famously made many years ago by the late PSU coach Joe Paterno - to the effect of - if you want to stop spearing, take the facemasks off the helmets. No one's going to use their head as a weapon when they know they will share in the consequences. In fact, a quick search and I Found the Actual comments - from 2010:

"I've been saying it for 15 years," Paterno said this week, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. "Then, you would get back to shoulder blocking and shoulder tackling and you wouldn't have all those heroes out there. Guys would have to worry about broken noses, knocked-out teeth, which we would like to prevent, but you don't get anything for nothing.

"We used to have one single bar," said Paterno, 83, who played at Brown in the 1940s. "Now we have a weapon."
https://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/10/paterno_lose_the_facemasks_to.html

MAYBE the answer is to take the "Head" out of the game entirely. Penalize any player who initiates any contact with his head, or to the head of another player. And maybe we take away the incentive to use your head - I think this style "Helmet" might be just the thing to discourage head impacts:



Thoughts??

Soft headgear like this is used in 7 on 7 camps already.

Sadly, if you try to make the game safer, you are branded a libtard or a vulgar term for a vagina.

My son played a couple years but was never really into it. He has creaky ankles and cauliflower ear from wrestling, but I’m fine with that.


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I watched some college rugby a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it.

In watching it, I think it would be appropriate now to see a spring football league that played with a lot of rugby concepts. Take away helmets and shoulder pads all together. Establish a tackle zone on a players with uniform coloring. Reintroduce laterals and pitching, etc.

I think we could learn a lot about how to make the game safer without completely abandoning scrimmage play.

Which this is a different topic but about the rule changes on kickoffs planned for this season, who says you have to play kickoffs with 11 on 11? Why not keep kickoff plays as they are but do it with 9 on 9 or 7 on 7? It would open up the field considerably and decrease the threat of the big hits. You couldn't be as aggressive with you gunners with this style. Even without a rule change the kickoff team would be strongly incentivized to execute a touchback or fair catch otherwise increasing substantially the threat of a return TD. Thoughts?

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selmaborntidefan said:

Me too.

It's hard to watch someone else's kid put themselves on a potential path to long-term damage while glad my son didn't really like it or want to play other than his one year as an eight-year old.

I'm getting to the point I can't justify it.

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I'm there with you...

gtgilbert said:

Soft headgear like this is used in 7 on 7 camps already.

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Didn't know that! Thanks for sharing!

To be clear, I'm not advocating "7 on 7" or "two hand touch" or "flag football" in place of actual football! - simply throwing an idea out that has enjoyed support from actual experts in the field.