The Super Bowl | Imamother

MagentaYenta

Mon, Feb 08 2016, 12:54 pm

PinkFridge wrote:

Kind of. But I'm sure most of the billion or so viewing would never think to see it that way.

Actually I do see it that way. I see most male dominated contact sports that way, including soccer and rugby.

STMommy

Mon, Feb 08 2016, 1:41 pm

I did not like Gaga. Did not like the halftime show. Good thing it was a good game!
Fox I agree with you. That's why my football interest will never go beyond watching it. Would not pay one penny towards it.

MagentaYenta

Mon, Feb 08 2016, 1:46 pm

STMommy wrote:

You must be a Colts fan. Very Happy

I thought the Panthers were totally outplayed by the Colts. But I had no side in this game, and tuned out in the middle of the third quarter. FWIW the last time I recall watching a SB half time when Bruce Springsteen played.

Fox

Mon, Feb 08 2016, 3:32 pm

shoshanim999 wrote:

I read a very interesting article a few months ago about how a group of Players from the 80's and 90's are suing the football league because they weren't informed of the dangers and long term consequences of violent collisions. It sounds kind of disingenuous to me. As if had they known they would have all quit and worked for a fraction of the money and give up all the fame, glory, and adulation. And so now that we know the dangers of the sport are the current players quitting? Of course not!

The lawsuit wasn't really motivated by the argument that former players would have walked off the field. Rather, it was motivated by the fact that the NFL spent over a decade engaging in an aggressive cover-up of CTE evidence.

The goal was really to bring the NFL cover-up into the legal arena as well as ensure that former players would have the resources they need for long-term assisted living.

When most of us think about professional football, we think about the salaries of the superstars, measured in tens of millions of dollars a year. The median salary, though, is $770K, and a rookie makes about $375K. The average NFL "career" is 3.5 years. Enough for even a financially savvy player to buy a nice house and establish a healthy nest egg, but not enough to provide the kind of assistance needed by someone with severe osteoarthritis and demential -- for as long as 40-50 years!

For anyone who has an interest, I'd recommend Slow Getting Up: A Story of NFL Survival from the Bottom of the Pile, by Nate Jackson. If you're not interested enough to devote that much reading time to the topic, here's a link to a shorter article by Jackson:

Life After Concussions

Chris Borland of the SF 49ers received a lot of publicity when he quit playing for the NFL after his rookie season, specifically because of CTE concerns. However, at least six additional players have quit unexpectedly after a season or two, and apparently even more are quitting after significant injuries rather than follow the old pattern doing anything to keep in the game.

yogabird wrote:

I've heard them make the claim that they'd quit if they had opportunities to make money elsewhere.

Most if not all of the players are blacks from poor neighborhoods.

Not to my knowledge. Football is a financially-demanding sport, and most inner-city schools don't have the budgets for the kind of training, coaching, and league participation that builds college and pro players. I don't know the statistical breakdown, but my impression is that most successful college and pro players come from middle-class families with a strong ethos based on team sports.

Football players, in particular, have to make it through college, so they need to be academically prepared. Back in the day (way, way back!) I used to teach a section of football players at a MAC Division I university each semester. Worked out great, btw: I couldn't teach on Friday/Shabbos, and they were busy those days, too!

It was true that they had a ton of tutors, but I interacted with the team academic directors weekly, and they were definitely not allowing the players to cheat or squeak through. They weren't being hard-nosed about academics because of they wanted erudite players: it turns out you have to be pretty darned smart and have good study skills to play football at a top college or pro level. Each week's "playbook" can run 200 pages or more, and you have to have every single play memorized down to the detail.

I agree with those of you who said that most Americans aren't ready to hear exactly how brutal football is. It's sad, though. Most of us recoil at the idea of dog-fighting, for instance. Yet we have every excuse imaginable to rationalize our enjoyment at watching young men crash into one another repeatedly until they suffer brain damage.

STMommy

Mon, Feb 08 2016, 3:38 pm

MagentaYenta wrote:

You must be a Colts fan. Very Happy

I think you mean Broncos Smile

And yes I tend to root for the underdog Smile

sequoia

Mon, Feb 08 2016, 3:42 pm

What about soccer? Is that (more) ok?

dancingqueen

Mon, Feb 08 2016, 3:42 pm

Fox you're right that football is dangerous, though I don't know if it's much more dangerous than many other professional sports(gymnastics, hockey, mma etc).

I personally am not into football but I enjoyed lady gaga and the halftime show.

Fox

Mon, Feb 08 2016, 4:00 pm

sequoia wrote:

What about soccer? Is that (more) ok?

Interesting question. Soccer is definitely less dangerous than American football, since it doesn't have the hard tackles and hits. However, there has been at least one soccer player diagnosed with CTE in the US and a handful in Europe.

The most common culprit is thought to be "heading the ball," where players hit the ball with their heads. It's a move that's often practiced for hours.

From what I've read, most youth soccer leagues have outlawed this move in games and discourage kids from practicing it.

FIFA has its own problems, of course, but it definitely doesn't want to make the same mistakes as the NFL, so they're trying to act more proactively and be more aggressive about changing practices that contribute to brain injuries.

Btw, the rules issue is one of the major complaints about the NFL: many people associated with the football industry at various levels claim that a handful of rule changes would significantly reduce the number of hard tackles and hits that players endure. They admit that it wouldn't solve the problem, but argue that it would decrease the risk somewhat without significantly changing the nature of the game.

MagentaYenta

Mon, Feb 08 2016, 4:01 pm

STMommy wrote:

I think you mean Broncos Smile

And yes I tend to root for the underdog Smile

Yea I knew it was some kind of a horse. embarrassed

That shows you how interested I was in this years game.

greenfire

Tue, Feb 09 2016, 11:41 am

dancingqueen wrote:

I personally am not into football but I enjoyed lady gaga and the halftime show.

I was rather disappointed - while she was unique and could carry a voice ... it felt too showy

would like to hear pink sing - bet that would be fabulous