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A good friend of mine died a few months ago from ALS, clearly - also by his own reckoning - a delayed consequence from a severe car crash in his youth. "I was g

A good friend of mine died a few months ago from ALS, clearly - also by his own reckoning - a delayed consequence from a severe car crash in his youth. "I was given an extra 29 years, I can't complain" he tapped out to me the last time I saw him, speechless and immobilised in a hospital bed. There's a fairly well established correlation between head trauma and this abominable affliction. Why anyone voluntarily would throw themselves into that kind of risk is utterly beyond me. But then, so is any kind of football, be it the US or the European kind.

djohnston 9y ago
Because a lot of these people grow up in poverty and a culture that tells them this is their best chance out. By the time they actually have a shot to do so, football is their entire life. It's easy to sit from a presumably educated and wealthy position and scoff at these people, but it's not going to lead you to any insights as to why it happens.
mnm1 9y ago
"But then, so is any kind of football, be it the US or the European kind." How so?
- interfixus 9y ago
  Beyond me. Not understood. I don't get it. I don't get the attraction, the excitement, the hype. Which is all purely subjective, of course. I see two teams of idiots chasing a ball. Haven't they got better to do?
  - mnm1 9y ago
    Can you even tell the difference between American football and association football (soccer)? Seems doubtful. You certainly have no basis to discuss the comparative risks between the two. Maybe the people that play these games don't want to sit around in front of a computer all day atrophying and getting fat and sick. Maybe they like to be healthy and have fun. That doesn't make them idiots. It just shows your intolerance to something that doesn't even affect you.
    - interfixus 9y ago
      May I humbly suggest a basic course of reading comprehension?
      - mnm1 9y ago
        You're the one that needs to learn how to write properly.
ido 9y ago
European football (soccer) is not comparable to the American kind in the amount of risk players are at - it may not be as safe as basketball or baseball, but it actively penalizes contact that may injure a player where as American football incorporate them into the game.

djohnston 9y ago

Because a lot of these people grow up in poverty and a culture that tells them this is their best chance out. By the time they actually have a shot to do so, football is their entire life. It's easy to sit from a presumably educated and wealthy position and scoff at these people, but it's not going to lead you to any insights as to why it happens.

mnm1 9y ago

"But then, so is any kind of football, be it the US or the European kind." How so?

interfixus 9y ago
Beyond me. Not understood. I don't get it. I don't get the attraction, the excitement, the hype. Which is all purely subjective, of course. I see two teams of idiots chasing a ball. Haven't they got better to do?
- mnm1 9y ago
  Can you even tell the difference between American football and association football (soccer)? Seems doubtful. You certainly have no basis to discuss the comparative risks between the two. Maybe the people that play these games don't want to sit around in front of a computer all day atrophying and getting fat and sick. Maybe they like to be healthy and have fun. That doesn't make them idiots. It just shows your intolerance to something that doesn't even affect you.
  - interfixus 9y ago
    May I humbly suggest a basic course of reading comprehension?
    - mnm1 9y ago
      You're the one that needs to learn how to write properly.

ido 9y ago

European football (soccer) is not comparable to the American kind in the amount of risk players are at - it may not be as safe as basketball or baseball, but it actively penalizes contact that may injure a player where as American football incorporate them into the game.