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Football is America's premier sport, and the Super Bowl is America's most prestigious sporting event. People will collide just as hard without helmets as they d

by sasvari 16y ago

Football is America's premier sport, and the Super Bowl is America's most prestigious sporting event. People will collide just as hard without helmets as they do with in order to win a Lombardi trophy regardless of the cost to themselves. Isn't it that when you hit your head without a helmet, it's going to hurt much more and thus you avoid getting hit (at least that's the argument used here)? As far as I understood, the problem with the helmets is the hits you don't feel as painfully with the helmet as you would feel without, but which are very dangerous if they occur very frequently. I don't know if you can compare that to MMA or boxing the way you do, but I'm not a professional football player either.

baddox 16y ago
As mattmaroon just said, American football players will sacrifice themselves (i.e. tolerate the pain) for the game.
- aliston 16y ago
  I think the argument is that, by and large, Australian football is no less violent than American football. However, helmets incentivise poor tackling technique (i.e. leading with the helmet). If you took off the facemask, the game would be just as quick/painful etc. but you wouldn't see defensive ends driving quarterbacks into the ground with their helmets... instead, they'd be wrapping up and tackling the way they did back in the day, before the "human bowling ball" approach became popular. EDIT: by the way, kids in peewee football are taught from day 1 to tackle with the head up. The "big hits" you see on ESPN are fundamentally poor tackles... they just seem to get the "oohs and ahss" because they look cool to people who don't understand football.
  - zach 16y ago
    Maybe this is why this quarterback tackle from last weekend was such a "big hit" -- QBs never practice tackling. It's the old thing about the most dangerous opponent for a swordsman, apart from a master, is one who is completely untrained. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5STc2_bM7k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5STc2_bM7k

by sasvari 16y ago

baddox 16y ago

As mattmaroon just said, American football players will sacrifice themselves (i.e. tolerate the pain) for the game.

aliston 16y ago
I think the argument is that, by and large, Australian football is no less violent than American football. However, helmets incentivise poor tackling technique (i.e. leading with the helmet). If you took off the facemask, the game would be just as quick/painful etc. but you wouldn't see defensive ends driving quarterbacks into the ground with their helmets... instead, they'd be wrapping up and tackling the way they did back in the day, before the "human bowling ball" approach became popular. EDIT: by the way, kids in peewee football are taught from day 1 to tackle with the head up. The "big hits" you see on ESPN are fundamentally poor tackles... they just seem to get the "oohs and ahss" because they look cool to people who don't understand football.
- zach 16y ago
  Maybe this is why this quarterback tackle from last weekend was such a "big hit" -- QBs never practice tackling. It's the old thing about the most dangerous opponent for a swordsman, apart from a master, is one who is completely untrained. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5STc2_bM7k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5STc2_bM7k