If you're a football fan, your kids can play football, right?
So blueblood2991 had a good diary entitled Is football dying? By the Numbers.
I thought it was interesting when glancing through it. Seth also reviewed his diary and commented yesterday. My one quibble: the chart at the end of blueblood's diary shows the correlation between parents having graduate degrees and their children's participation in School Athletics, not in football in particular. I can imagine a fair number allowing their children to participate in gymnastics, badminton, swimming, figure skating, etc., but not in football. More detailed stats would be needed to show that correlation.
My question is more for mgobloggers who are parents. I'm curious if there are those here who are rabid football fans, yet will either not allow or strongly discourage their child's participation in football. Full disclosure: my 9th grade son will be playing ball this Fall, He has never had even a hint of a concussion in 4 plus years of tackle football. Of course, the risk heightens significantly from this point forward.
Still, I get the feeling that there are lots of fans who love and follow football . . . but not for their own sons. It kind of brings up visions of the fans depicted in The Hunger Games. What about you? Would you let your son play football, and encouage your son to play football? Our own beloved football coach has talked about how great the sport is for becoming a man. I agree with him. If all the Michigan football fans out there (and all the college football fans out there, and NFL and High School football fans out there,) encouraged their own sons to play football, I think we'd see an increase, not a decline, in the sport of football.
August 4th, 2015 at 11:40 AM ^
August 4th, 2015 at 12:28 PM ^
no kids yet, but if i have a boy i wont not allow him to play, but certainly will not encourage it. I played, and its just a brutal game.
They can watch all they want though. I'd discourage combat sports and ice hockey as well (for those who care).
However, I'd ask this...what if your kid was a 5-star level player in football, but wasn't good in any other sport?
Would you then let you kid play if he (I guess I have to also say "she") was good?
August 4th, 2015 at 11:43 AM ^
I like football and no, my son isnt playing until he's in middle school at least (if then).
FWIW I like porn and no, my daughter wont be allowed to do that either.
August 4th, 2015 at 11:51 AM ^
August 4th, 2015 at 12:04 PM ^
Continuing with that line of thinking, I find movies about superheroes entertaining, but I'm not going to encourage my son to become Batman (partly because that might mean I'd have to get shot in an alley while getting mugged...)
August 4th, 2015 at 12:09 PM ^
Pornographers and football players actually exist
So does Batman you troglodyte.
What are you trying to say?
This isn't the metaphor this mgoboard deserves, but its the one it needs right now.
August 4th, 2015 at 11:42 AM ^
They can play whatever sport or have whatever job they want.
...they cannot do whatever they want. At least not without serious consequences in some cases.
August 4th, 2015 at 11:43 AM ^
August 4th, 2015 at 11:44 AM ^
August 4th, 2015 at 11:47 AM ^
So I for sure won't be encouraging them to play football. But I love football and if I had a son, I wouldn't prohibit him from playing. My dad discouraged me from playing because he blew out his knee(s) playing in HS and he didn't want me to play. I played one year, in 8th grade and it wasn't that much fun. I was tall and skinny so not the best combination. Long story short, I won't discourage anything my kids want to do.
August 4th, 2015 at 12:39 PM ^
I respect your decision as a parent, but I'm more interested in your fish story. Musky or Pike? How big? What did you catch it on? Trolling or casting?
This one is a musky. I guess, if I have to say casting or trolling it was trolling. In the late fall we troll suckers around and this was one I got last year. I prefer to catch them casting but late fall and suckers can mean lots of fish and really big ones. Multiple fish days are the norm not the exception during this time with this pattern.
August 4th, 2015 at 11:47 AM ^
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August 4th, 2015 at 11:56 AM ^
Your opinion is not very informed.
August 4th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^
Do you have any idea how many more people in the world ride bikes than play organized football?
August 4th, 2015 at 12:27 PM ^
August 4th, 2015 at 12:41 PM ^
Yes. I also know how to factor in ratios and per capita.
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So do I...
...and when you do that, you find out that on a per participant basis tackle football is the worst common sport for TBI.
You also find out that a number of sports really aren't much better.
Frequency and rates of concussion in NCAA from 1988-89 through 2003-04:
| Sport | Injury Rate per 1000 Athletic-Exposures |
| Women' ice hockey | 0.91 |
| Men's spring football | 0.54 |
| Men's ice hockey | 0.41 |
| Women's soccer | 0.41 |
| Men's football | 0.37 |
| Men's soccer | 0.28 |
| Total Concussions | 0.28 |
| Men's lacrosse | 0.25 |
| Women's lacrosse | 0.25 |
| Men's wrestling | 0.25 |
| Women's basketball | 0.22 |
| Women's field hockey | 0.18 |
| Men's basketball | 0.16 |
| Women's gymnastics | 0.16 |
| Women's softball | 0.14 |
| Women's volleyball | 0.09 |
| Men's baseball | 0.07 |
Personally I've had about 8-10 concussions. Two from football, one from bike riding, and the rest from snowboarding.
I'm not an avid watcher but it seems every World Cup match I've seen lately has had at least one concussion. Worth noting, the players never seem to come out. I cringed watching this one:
August 4th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^
That is not true at all. All of your points are wrong.
You can suffer head trauma without getting a concussion. The small, repeated helmet knocking is so much worse than the big hits and it's even worse in youth players because their brains aren't developed.
CTE doesn't start when you get to the pros. It doesn't magically appear because you hit helmet to helmet once really hard. It starts at the youth level, slowly and over time.
August 4th, 2015 at 11:50 AM ^
And like everyone else here, I'm a huge football fan. If he really wants to play I'll probably let him, but I won't encourage it. In fact, I'll discourage it strongly and make him wait until he's in middle school at the earliest.
Is it hypocrisy? Sure. But that's my only son, and his health is more important to me than anything else.
August 4th, 2015 at 11:52 AM ^
They are not good at basketball, I pulled the plug on that one. Terrible basketball players....
August 4th, 2015 at 11:54 AM ^
August 4th, 2015 at 11:55 AM ^
August 4th, 2015 at 11:55 AM ^
but I imagine my love will decrease as my son starts playing other sports. Whatever he plays, and I will not let him play football unless he shows a passion for it that is innate, will become my favorite sport. My goal is to encourage him to put his heart in whatever interests him, but I'd like to think I can guide his interests a bit.
August 4th, 2015 at 11:56 AM ^
August 4th, 2015 at 11:57 AM ^
August 4th, 2015 at 11:59 AM ^
I would certainly not forbid him from playing. That said, I won't push it on him either. Like others have said, kids can get concussions in any number of sports. I know that from experience. Also, just because he plays doesn't mean he has to KEEP playing forever. If he were to be concussed, we could determine whether to stop playing at that time.
August 4th, 2015 at 12:35 PM ^
But the most concerning recent developments in CTE research involve repetitive sub-concussive hits. They don't display any symptoms like concussions.
August 4th, 2015 at 12:01 PM ^
I grew up playing hockey, so I have experienced the hitting sports. If my kid wants to play football, I would probably let him do so as long as he is willing to put in the time and effort to make sure he knows the correct way to tackle (head up, look where you are hitting).
Now, if my kid is very good at football and baseball, I'm stearing him to baseball. If he could be pro in either, football players are paid peanuts in comparison to baseball players.
August 4th, 2015 at 12:02 PM ^
August 4th, 2015 at 12:02 PM ^
August 4th, 2015 at 12:08 PM ^
I generally hate it when people give parenting advice. Most I have received has been subpar or worse. That said, let me dispense some parenting advice....You can't possibly give a kid that sort of legit decision making info and expect a rational decision until at least 10th or 11th grade. Ask him if they want a puppy, give him the pros and cons, tell him he will need to do all the work and tell him he'll need to pick up some side lawn work to take care of vet bills, and we still know what the answer is.
You need to decide whether it will be allowed to play football or not, then, if it's allowed, you may encourage it or just let him find it or not.
My boy has played contact football from the begining. I do fret the decision, but I pay very close attention to the collisions and the coaching. For now I've seen nothing disturbing, and I have seen it benefit my boy incredibly in ways other sports have not. There is an expectation of respect in football and hockey that I have not seen in other sports. Hockey got expensive and, more importantly, a significant portion of the parents are straight-up nuts.
In the end, football is certainly more dangerous than cycling or track or soccer. It is also dangerous to go through life without many of the qualities football (and contact sports in general) impart in a young man.
August 4th, 2015 at 12:03 PM ^
My son is much more of a baseball person so I may yet be spared the decision if the trend continues (my daughter is a huge basketball fan actually), but if it came to a point where he asked about it, as much a fan as I am of the game, I wouldn't actively encourage it but I wouldn't disallow it (if he really pressed the matter) so long as it was an informed decision and he understood as much as possible the risk involved. He has a grandfather who is a living example of some of the lingering issues that the game can leave physically, so there's that as well.
Then again, my wife is not a fan of even the faintest prospect of the kids playing something much more dangerous than baseball, so there is also this to consider.
August 4th, 2015 at 12:04 PM ^
It depends on the kid.
I never played Football - although I could have and wanted to (dad said he'd throw me out of the house) - and I gave myself more concussions than I can count.
That said, I understand most kids won't experience the stupidity I did outside of football.
But, if I had a child that was large, compact, thick-boned and he REALLY wanted to play, i'd probably allow it.
But, if the kid was a gazelle or had a great basketball build, or even just had more slender bones - no chance.
Unless he's an ELITE athlete with real pro potential, there's plenty of sports you can play without risking a knee injury that will totally alter your life or worse. And in that case, I'd argue that basketball or baseball provide much more lucrative potential futures.
August 4th, 2015 at 12:04 PM ^
August 4th, 2015 at 12:12 PM ^
That's a pretty quick judgement of character. All the sports my parents did support me playing (coaching/travelling to countless baseball, basketball, soccer games across the country) far outweigh not allowing me to play youth football.