OT - Pear Article

Submitted by Lordfoul on

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/jeff_pearlman/12/18/pear/…

Just got finished reading this very depressing article. I have a 3 year old boy and I am on the fence about letting him play football. I suppose if he demanded it I would allow it but I guess I am saying that I would do everything I could to keep the thought out of his head in the first place.

My cousin was a walk on for Michigan and a member of the 2007 NC team. He got his ring and then blew out his knee soon after and ended up dropping out of the U. He has never been right physically since. I can't imagine shutting down the dreams of my son if it came to that, but I hope I can lead his ambitions down a different path.

How about you, fellow MGOBloggers? Would you want your sons playing football?

4godkingandwol…

December 22nd, 2009 at 7:18 PM ^

... there are thousands of kids every year that play and do not get severely injured. But, when you hear stories like this, it's tough.

If I ever have a boy, I'd like to get him into other sports first... then again, if he has my genes, he'll spend most his time riding the pines, and I don't have to worry about it.

WolverineEagle

December 22nd, 2009 at 7:44 PM ^

He could die by getting hit in the head with a ball. He could get seriously hurt playing any sport. If your kid loves the game, let him play.

The fact is that one can get hurt doing almost anything. Driving is a far more dangerous activiity than football. One split second decision and you're dead. Will you not allow your kid to drive?

How about joining the military,working in law enforcement or becoming a fireman? How about working in construction?

If everyone lived in fear of the dangers of a specific profession, how would our society ever function? Taking risks to do something that you love is something many Americans choose to do everyday.

If I ever have a son, I'll encourage to do whatever he feels a passion for no matter what it is. Whether it is ballet or football, I will support him 100 percent. Speaking from personal experience, the regret from NOT trying sticks with with you.

It is better to regret having tried something and failed, than having not tried at all.

BBGoBlue

December 22nd, 2009 at 7:33 PM ^

http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/dave-pear-article

No worries though. I am on break now so I check the blog constantly looking for any news or occasional freak-outs. I didn't respond to that one, but wanted to.

The article was alarming. Regarding your conundrum, I was in a similar situation when I was a kid. For about 2 weeks, I wanted to play football because some of my friends were playing. My parents would not allow it and I took up soccer and baseball instead. It turns out I played soccer competitively at the state level for 15 for years and it was one of the best decisions I/my parents made.

I love watching football and went to every game while I was at UM. However, in my opinion, there are other sports available for kids that provide the same team work, exercise, and life lessons that football provides. If it were me, I would encourage my kids to participate in other sports.

WolverineEagle

December 22nd, 2009 at 7:43 PM ^

You have a ball being thrown at you at 60-80 mph at the HS level.

How about hockey? You could very easily suffer concussions, broken bones,etc.

EVERY sport offers the risk of serious injury. Girls for example suffer alot of knee injuries playing basketball and volleyball.Should a girl be discouraged from playing that sport?

Besides, Pear played at the NFL level. The vast majority of people who have and will play football will not make it past high school. Many guys now make millions of dollars playing in the NFL. Others make as much as the President.With risk, come great reward.

You cannot lety fears keep you from living a dream. If you love football, play it.Just do so with the understanding of what the game entails.

AKWolverine

December 22nd, 2009 at 7:55 PM ^

...of course "EVERY sport offers the risk of serious injury." But those risks are nowhere near equal. Some sports (for an extreme example, think bear-taunting) come with far larger risks than others (think golf). And any sane parent would prevent their kid from playing something that had a high *probabibility* of serious injury (like bear-taunting or drunk NASCAR). Most parents, on the other hand, are fine with their kids playing golf (despite the small risks). The whole point of this article, and the discussion that started to ensue, is to determine where along the golf-bear-taunting spectrum football is. Certainly if convincing studies came out that demonstrated a 90% likelihood your kid would die if he played sport X (this is purely hypothetical), you wouldn't let him play sport X, regardless of his desires or passions, right?

WolverineEagle

December 22nd, 2009 at 8:15 PM ^

It isn't even comparable.

For every Pear, how many ex0-players are doing just fine? We get an incomplete picture from that article. We also are talking about guys who played decades go with work out regimes that are inferior to the ones guys go trhough now.

Football a tough game and it does take a toll on your body. But play ANY sport for a long time and it will take a toll on your body. Football is a tough sport and your kid should know that. But if they want to play, let them play.

Frankly, I'd prefer my kid to be a NFL player than a cop, soldier, or firemen.

BBGoBlue

December 22nd, 2009 at 8:08 PM ^

I think baseball is a bit different because you wear a helmet that protects you against a baseball to the head. I have been hit by baseball in high school ball before and the worst I got was a bruise. I don't have any statistics to back it up, but I don't believe that head injuries in baseball is a common occurrence. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

I agree with you, there is risk associated with any sport, some more than others.

I think the issue comes down to playing a sport for a long period of time. As the article points out, the professional football players have been having issues with disability for a quite some time. Playing sports up through college and then some, football is probably much harder on one's body compared to other sports, especially when you have a S&C coach encouraging his players to eat pizzas to gain weight.

Barwis does not seem to be interested in this approach, which is probably much better for the longevity and health of the players.

Blue2000

December 22nd, 2009 at 9:06 PM ^

EVERY sport offers the risk of serious injury. Girls for example suffer alot of knee injuries playing basketball and volleyball.Should a girl be discouraged from playing that sport?

Every sport offers the risk of injury, but not the same injury. Are you seriously comparing knee injuries in volleyball to head and spinal trauma to which football players are exposed? If you are, you shouldn't be.

joeyb

December 22nd, 2009 at 8:18 PM ^

I don't remember the exact details, but the point my uncle made to my mom when he was convincing her to let me play football was that there are more serious injuries roller blading every year than playing football.

Noahdb

December 22nd, 2009 at 8:46 PM ^

I would no more encourage my kid to play football than I would encourage them to box.

A large part of football involves banging your head against something very solid. Turns out...that's not very good for you. I love football, but I'm very grateful that I don't have to earn my paycheck playing it.

And yes, I feel very sorry for those who have and who are crippled by it. You can never expect a 22 year old kid to make wise choices that will have consequences 20 years down the road.

Wendyk5

December 22nd, 2009 at 11:04 PM ^

My son is 9 and has been playing flag for the past two years. Next year, he can start tackle. He's a natural quarterback - we saw it when he was 7 and could throw a perfect spiral and hit his target every time. So we started encouraging him. Now, I have regrets because I really don't want him to play tackle. He's not very tough, and I'm hoping one hit, and he'll walk away. I'm hoping he gets it out of his system early. He plays baseball, basketball and golf, but he dreams of playing football for Michigan one day. Does anyone have any kids who play in the 9 - 10 - 11 yr. old leagues? If so, do they hit hard?

Big E

December 22nd, 2009 at 11:21 PM ^

I would hope that we've all gotten a little wiser since the days of football in the Seventies. The equipment, medical science, and training have improved such that I would HOPE the game is safer these days. At its elite levels though, the athletes are stronger and faster than ever before, and that might offset some of the advances in player safety. But I think that at the youth and high school level, the game is as safe as it has ever been. Would it still have risks? Of course.

And by the way, I think the way permanently injured and disabled former football players have been treated by the NFL and the NFLPA is disgraceful. One can only hope that with the new leadership in both camps, they can step up and share some of the enormous wealth generated by today's game with those players of yesterday who helped make it all possible.