3 ms·

I never really followed it but could enjoy a game every now and then. Now I have a distaste for it. My biggest issue by far is how embedded football is into ou

by Rapzid 9y ago

I never really followed it but could enjoy a game every now and then. Now I have a distaste for it. My biggest issue by far is how embedded football is into our public school system. They are essentially feeder leagues for the NFL that the public pays to operate. We glorify the sport to little kids and then shove them into the head trauma pipeline. We should absolutely not be a party to that at the public level. I'm aware of the issues with drawing a line on dangerous sports, but I'm sure something a ton of people can agree on is that wherever the line ends up, football is on the wrong side of it. It's position is relative to the line.

dhimes 9y ago
The parents are the problem. It's ridiculous to see them. Football is the most important part of their life and damn if their kid isn't going to play. Could you imagine if our schools and home cultures emphasized putting that kind of work into math rather than football?
- moriarty-s3a 9y ago
  I have seen a few environments like that and they can be just as corrosive. I have seen middle school kids that were great artists or writers or musicians told that they were failures at life because they weren't one of the 15 best math students in their school.
- Rapzid 9y ago
  That's a lot of stuff though to be fair. This On Point episode seems very timely: http://tpr.org/post/big-business-youth-sports http://tpr.org/post/big-business-youth-sports . I didn't catch the entire thing but they were discussing some pretty shocking dollar amounts parents spend on sports that are not football.
  - dhimes 9y ago
    Great post, thanks. Indeed- we can generalize beyond football. These kids have no time for intellectual curiosity any more. It's really a shame. Again, I blame the parents. They should know better. But the kids' sports become part of the parents' ego and there's no going back. Source: am parent of three almost grown boys. Two were sports kids, one is not.

by Rapzid 9y ago

dhimes 9y ago

The parents are the problem. It's ridiculous to see them. Football is the most important part of their life and damn if their kid isn't going to play. Could you imagine if our schools and home cultures emphasized putting that kind of work into math rather than football?

moriarty-s3a 9y ago
I have seen a few environments like that and they can be just as corrosive. I have seen middle school kids that were great artists or writers or musicians told that they were failures at life because they weren't one of the 15 best math students in their school.
Rapzid 9y ago
That's a lot of stuff though to be fair. This On Point episode seems very timely: http://tpr.org/post/big-business-youth-sports http://tpr.org/post/big-business-youth-sports . I didn't catch the entire thing but they were discussing some pretty shocking dollar amounts parents spend on sports that are not football.
- dhimes 9y ago
  Great post, thanks. Indeed- we can generalize beyond football. These kids have no time for intellectual curiosity any more. It's really a shame. Again, I blame the parents. They should know better. But the kids' sports become part of the parents' ego and there's no going back. Source: am parent of three almost grown boys. Two were sports kids, one is not.