FB: American Rivers Conference

[DutchFan2004]

AZD,

I too have seen my son on the field in pain.  Never had they not been able to move.  I know it is a horrible feeling to see one of your sons in pain, but if you ask them they will tell you they are there of their own free will not forced to play a game they love but are doing it for the fun of it.  As some have stated on here we can try to make it better and safer but we will never completely remove the danger from this game we all love. 

[5 Words or Less]

Outlaw helmets

[AZDutchman]

You cannot overlegislate football. It is dangerous by nature. That is why there is so much cameraderie on a football team. Everyone that steps on the field has to acknowledge that any play could be their last. You can never make the game 100% safe. You can say that there is nothing outside of war that gaives the same experience. That is why we like to watch it and that is why they like to play it.

There are risks in life. If you try to avoid them all you would never drive, fly, or walk across the street. When it's your time, it doesn't matter if you're playing football or walking down the street, it's your time.

This is a great post. Agree 110%

[5 Words or Less]

I tell my boys to play hard, and then play harder and then hit them till it hurts. I just called my son last week to tell him to turn it up a notch. I want to see him hit harder.

I am repetitive on what I tell my boys....This is football, not badminton; Hit them till they don't want to come back on the field; continue hitting them until the whistle blows; I want to see the other guy crying to his mommy from the side lines....I probably drive my sons crazy when I continuously tell them the same thing over and over and over again.

Why bring this up? There are going to be a lot of players hitting the field this week end and football will continue. Is there going to be any team thinking to themselves, we better turn it down a little this week? I do believe there are going to be some players this week end giving some second thoughts on how to play and those players will get hurt.

Don't get me wrong everyone and please don't think that this is bad timing. Football will continue and it already has.

The other side of the ball....Let me tell you, I had to do some serious sole searching, praying and a very large review after this happened with Chris Norton. I consoled with friends and family as to what would be the best thing to do with my own sons.

I received a call in the past from my son's coach said that he was being rushed to the hospital. He was in New York, us in Phoenix. To let you know on how much of an emotional turn around news like that can be, we received the news when we were heading into the stadium for my other sons high school championship game. Your heart seems like it stops beating, the confusion of thoughts that fly through your head, trying to stay focused on what is the proper thing to do now?, the concern, the helplessness, etc. After a five day stay in the hospital, he was fine.

It goes beyond that. We have seen are son down on the field not getting up. There have been broken bones, slight concussions, pain noises from their beds, etc. on that too. My sons during one of our Thanksgiving dinners were comparing bruises like in the movie Jaws when they were comparing scares. Then to I quietly thought to myself, is this the best sport for my sons?

My wife's and I always come up with the same decision when it comes to football, yes.  We think it is best for them to play. We always think to ourselves that they will look back at the day of playing football and will have great thoughts to cherish.

I know all of you have been praying for Chris and his family. You may want to add a couple more prayers towards his parents. I think they could use a couple more.

Complete Contradiction

[BB]

Great win for the Knights last week...keep it up!

Great discussion about safety and football.  It seems to me that most of the serious neck injuries have occured on special teams.  I know they have changed the rules regarding setting up a wedge and/or wedge busting to cut down on some of the violent hits.  It would not surprise me to see more rules being passed to eliminate this, especially with the NFL starting to crack down on some of the helmet to helmet things.

The "highlight" culture of football today is somewhat to blame for some of this.  A few years ago on Monday Night Countdown they had a segment called "jacked up" in which they pointed out the 5 best hits of the week.  Most everyone of those hits was a helmet to helmet on some defenseless player. 

At the high school level...the amount of attention given to head injuries has increased a TON within the last 7 years that I have been coaching.  I know that we spend a lot of time teaching the proper tackling form, however once the lights come on we see a lot of our kids leading with their helmets.  In my opinon, the only way to stop this is the refs flagging or kicking out kids that do this intentionaly.

[AZDutchman]

I tell my boys to play hard, and then play harder and then hit them till it hurts. I just called my son last week to tell him to turn it up a notch. I want to see him hit harder.

I am repetitive on what I tell my boys....This is football, not badminton; Hit them till they don't want to come back on the field; continue hitting them until the whistle blows; I want to see the other guy crying to his mommy from the side lines....I probably drive my sons crazy when I continuously tell them the same thing over and over and over again.

Why bring this up? There are going to be a lot of players hitting the field this week end and football will continue. Is there going to be any team thinking to themselves, we better turn it down a little this week? I do believe there are going to be some players this week end giving some second thoughts on how to play and those players will get hurt.

Don't get me wrong everyone and please don't think that this is bad timing. Football will continue and it already has.

The other side of the ball....Let me tell you, I had to do some serious sole searching, praying and a very large review after this happened with Chris Norton. I consoled with friends and family as to what would be the best thing to do with my own sons.

I received a call in the past from my son's coach said that he was being rushed to the hospital. He was in New York, us in Phoenix. To let you know on how much of an emotional turn around news like that can be, we received the news when we were heading into the stadium for my other sons high school championship game. Your heart seems like it stops beating, the confusion of thoughts that fly through your head, trying to stay focused on what is the proper thing to do now?, the concern, the helplessness, etc. After a five day stay in the hospital, he was fine.

It goes beyond that. We have seen are son down on the field not getting up. There have been broken bones, slight concussions, pain noises from their beds, etc. on that too. My sons during one of our Thanksgiving dinners were comparing bruises like in the movie Jaws when they were comparing scares. Then to I quietly thought to myself, is this the best sport for my sons?

My wife's and I always come up with the same decision when it comes to football, yes.  We think it is best for them to play. We always think to ourselves that they will look back at the day of playing football and will have great thoughts to cherish.

I know all of you have been praying for Chris and his family. You may want to add a couple more prayers towards his parents. I think they could use a couple more.

Complete Contradiction

Complete Contradiction = The other side of the ball

[Walston Hoover]

I see quite a few violent hits every day at practice, and I told my wife the first year that I never realized football was such a violent sport as a player, but see it every day as a coach. SOme hits that surprise me that kids can get up from. I joke (somewhat) with my wife that if we every have boys (2 girls now) that I won't let them play football. Cross country for them 

[footballdaddy]

WH, I agree about watching is sometimes harder than playing. The other side is that we've all seen what look like high speed car wrecks on the field and no one gets hurt. The hardest hit I've ever seen in person was at an ISU spring game from the sideline. The saftey blitzed and caught the QB's blind side. The biggest hit I was ever that close to and both players got up laughing about it. You just never know. I believe that any blatantly illegal or unsafe behavior needs to be flagged, but you still have to let them play. Otherwise you end up with soccer.

[AZDutchman]

How about this....ballet in football? When my older son was in high school the coach had the boys taking ballet lessons during the season. Laugh as you may, they won the championship that year!

[Mr. Ypsi]

WH, I agree about watching is sometimes harder than playing. The other side is that we've all seen what look like high speed car wrecks on the field and no one gets hurt. The hardest hit I've ever seen in person was at an ISU spring game from the sideline. The saftey blitzed and caught the QB's blind side. The biggest hit I was ever that close to and both players got up laughing about it. You just never know. I believe that any blatantly illegal or unsafe behavior needs to be flagged, but you still have to let them play. Otherwise you end up with soccer.

There are more serious injuries each year in soccer than in football.  You wimps have pads and helmets!  Ever seen soccer players of opposing teams going up for headers?

(signed) A soccer (football, to the rest of the world) coach.

[Fannosaurus Rex]

WH, I agree about watching is sometimes harder than playing. The other side is that we've all seen what look like high speed car wrecks on the field and no one gets hurt. The hardest hit I've ever seen in person was at an ISU spring game from the sideline. The saftey blitzed and caught the QB's blind side. The biggest hit I was ever that close to and both players got up laughing about it. You just never know. I believe that any blatantly illegal or unsafe behavior needs to be flagged, but you still have to let them play. Otherwise you end up with soccer.

And they need to know they are going get disiplined every time it happens and not just after a player has been taken off in an ambulance which, for all of the head to head I have seen, is the only time I have seen  a flag for "illegal helmet contact."  I'm glad to hear the coaches on here teach their players better and I hope whenever they see it on films they use it as a "coaching opportunity."

[footballdaddy]

WH, I agree about watching is sometimes harder than playing. The other side is that we've all seen what look like high speed car wrecks on the field and no one gets hurt. The hardest hit I've ever seen in person was at an ISU spring game from the sideline. The saftey blitzed and caught the QB's blind side. The biggest hit I was ever that close to and both players got up laughing about it. You just never know. I believe that any blatantly illegal or unsafe behavior needs to be flagged, but you still have to let them play. Otherwise you end up with soccer.

There are more serious injuries each year in soccer than in football.  You wimps have pads and helmets!  Ever seen soccer players of opposing teams going up for headers?

(signed) A soccer (football, to the rest of the world) coach.

No, but I have seen world Cup players writhing on the ground like a limb has been ripped off after the most incidental bump.

[AZDutchman]

[Mr. Ypsi]

WH, I agree about watching is sometimes harder than playing. The other side is that we've all seen what look like high speed car wrecks on the field and no one gets hurt. The hardest hit I've ever seen in person was at an ISU spring game from the sideline. The saftey blitzed and caught the QB's blind side. The biggest hit I was ever that close to and both players got up laughing about it. You just never know. I believe that any blatantly illegal or unsafe behavior needs to be flagged, but you still have to let them play. Otherwise you end up with soccer.

There are more serious injuries each year in soccer than in football.  You wimps have pads and helmets!  Ever seen soccer players of opposing teams going up for headers?

(signed) A soccer (football, to the rest of the world) coach.

No, but I have seen world Cup players writhing on the ground like a limb has been ripped off after the most incidental bump.

Touche'.

There is FAR too much 'flopping' in soccer.  But do you think no football player has ever faked injury to stop the clock as a game is winding down?!  Or 'writhed in pain' to try to draw a flag?!

The point remains - serious injuries occur MORE often in soccer than football.

[Purple Heys]

Outlaw helmets

Improve mouthpieces.