Ed Cunningham on ESPN

[VectorVictor]

Do you mean ED Cunningham?

After reading the complaint, I thought the OP meant Marion or Joanie Cunningham...

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

It's unavoidably clear that years of playing football is shaving years off the lives of former players, and a lot of those final years are marked with dementia and depression.

The problem was blown UNDER proportion for years. It's at a more accurate proportion now. Some of the most badass football players the game has ever seen are among the most concerned.

20 years ago, long before the concussion issues or much publicity at all, I saw a small newspaper article that mentioned the average lifespan of an NFL lineman was 15 years below the national average.

But I agree: you can't have UFC and MMA on the rise while you try to tear football down.

You make a great point. The problem was not only blown under proportion, it was actively covered up. The effects of concussions are recently coming to light and the results are scary.

I don't think the general public really understands the impact concussions have on players. Hopefully they find a way so football can still be 'football' while making it as safe as possible to play.

 

[dvdcrr]

The way the rules are now is hard for a lot of us to swallow. It was just not right to throw out our safety for that hit. That kid worked hard for a week and he is being disqualified for a bang bang play with no malicious intent. I believe that real studies on the issue will show no significant brain damage to the vast majority of players and this all a bunch of hogwash. We have 100 years od empirical data on the issue. Its called you and me, your dad and mine. Your grandpa and mine. All played football. No abnormal suicide rate. Successfull careers. If you want to be 100% safe dont play. But dont ruin it for everybody. This is a rough game. Deal with it. America is a free country. If you dont like it go somewhere else. Dont be a closet communist secretly wishing everybody lived in a padded room. This type of safety first mentality is killing America. By this logic, I guess we should criminalize every cowboy who puts his kid in the saddle with hat on instead of a helmet, right? After all if they wont protect their children, why they must be unAmerican! Also many more kids are hurt swimming than by football. The water is DEADLY. It shoild be banned right? Or no kid should be allowed to swim without a life jacket EVER right?

Freedom is about fun, personal responsibility, and the ABILITY to make those choices. If Dr.s and Lawyers and big money make those decisions for us, then American freedom will be DEAD.

 

[HuskerNBigD]

As many mentioned above, it is the players choice to play. If so, don't bite the hand that feeds you. Another guy I can't stand, related to this subject, is Dan Marino. The guy is set for life due to this sport and a couple years back, he signed up as a defendant on the NFLPA lawsuit. Seriously? You know that you might risk injury, yet you play / commentate for decades and then decide to grab that check. Slap in the face if you ask me.

I'm aware that some studies were more than likely covered up, but a 3rd grade education is all you need to know the risks associated with the sport. At the end of the day, it's the players choice to play or not. Whether or not most of these guys have are capable of comprehending at the 3rd grade level is still up for debate.

 

[Joe_5700]

Men and boys have had to deal with concussions since before homo was sapiens. Wrestling with your brother, getting knocked off the equipment at recess. Falling off horses. It happens. Men are still well adjusted and productive. Youth football is not as dangerous as the new docs would have you believe. Most kids go clear through the programs without ever having a concussion.

These are not a bunch of Jr. Seau's; God bless him.

Change the game without ruining it. From my perspective, its nearly ruined already with the current changes. Too much replay and plays are still getting called wrong. No real tough safety play. No hitting the quarterback. Lately someone here posted a game of the 92 Huskers. Go watch that game and then tell me that is not a better version of the game. Players playing more naturally, flying to the ball. Safeties going hard to the play.

You know back before so much agonizing replay, you got some calls, and some went against you, it evens out. The quality of officiating was just better when big brother was not watching over the shoulder. And this catch is not a catch business... Bizarro world. Welcome to 2015 McFly!

This is exactly the problem. That style of play is incredibly unsafe.

It's no use arguing about the impact of concussions, I'm not going to change any minds. Football is by far the most exciting sport in the world, and if you want it to continue you'd better get on board with keeping the players safe. That includes calling a penalty for a hit above the shoulders even if unintentional, calling a foul for hitting a defenseless player, etc.

That play Gerry got ejected for against Iowa? Properly called. Need to discourage players from doing that. What else could he have done on that play? Absolutely nothing. Give up the play and move on. Football has moved towards that and it SHOULD continue to move towards that. Keep the game as safe as possible even if you perceive it to be 'watered' down.

What Gerry did was not even remotely Chuck Cecil like... So how do you discourage people from doing something that could not have been prevented? You go to make plays and get a penalty as well as kicked out of the game...for what? A play where you could do absolutely nothing differently? I suppose he could not tackle ball carriers or just hesitate enough to let ball carriers go down by themselves? The play was not malicious and trying to cause injury. That in my book should not be flagged or cause an ejection.

 

[NUinID]

It's unavoidably clear that years of playing football is shaving years off the lives of former players, and a lot of those final years are marked with dementia and depression.

The problem was blown UNDER proportion for years. It's at a more accurate proportion now. Some of the most badass football players the game has ever seen are among the most concerned.

20 years ago, long before the concussion issues or much publicity at all, I saw a small newspaper article that mentioned the average lifespan of an NFL lineman was 15 years below the national average.

But I agree: you can't have UFC and MMA on the rise while you try to tear football down.

This is most likely true but has more to do with type 2 diabetes and heart attacks due to the size of the bodies than being concussed.

Some people are just prone to gettting concussions. I played football from 4th grade through my freshman year of college. Never had anything close to a concussion. Guys in the NFL know the risks, guys in college know the risks. I coached HS football for 20 years probably had 10-15 concussions occure over that time. Not too bad. But it can always get better.

I agree that Ed Cunningham is a hypocrit though. If he wants to crusade about football being to violent, than he needs to stop calling games. Oh, and he is wrong Christian McCaffery should have won the Heisman.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Men and boys have had to deal with concussions since before homo was sapiens. Wrestling with your brother, getting knocked off the equipment at recess. Falling off horses. It happens. Men are still well adjusted and productive. Youth football is not as dangerous as the new docs would have you believe. Most kids go clear through the programs without ever having a concussion.

These are not a bunch of Jr. Seau's; God bless him.

Change the game without ruining it. From my perspective, its nearly ruined already with the current changes. Too much replay and plays are still getting called wrong. No real tough safety play. No hitting the quarterback. Lately someone here posted a game of the 92 Huskers. Go watch that game and then tell me that is not a better version of the game. Players playing more naturally, flying to the ball. Safeties going hard to the play.

You know back before so much agonizing replay, you got some calls, and some went against you, it evens out. The quality of officiating was just better when big brother was not watching over the shoulder. And this catch is not a catch business... Bizarro world. Welcome to 2015 McFly!

This is exactly the problem. That style of play is incredibly unsafe.

It's no use arguing about the impact of concussions, I'm not going to change any minds. Football is by far the most exciting sport in the world, and if you want it to continue you'd better get on board with keeping the players safe. That includes calling a penalty for a hit above the shoulders even if unintentional, calling a foul for hitting a defenseless player, etc.

That play Gerry got ejected for against Iowa? Properly called. Need to discourage players from doing that. What else could he have done on that play? Absolutely nothing. Give up the play and move on. Football has moved towards that and it SHOULD continue to move towards that. Keep the game as safe as possible even if you perceive it to be 'watered' down.

What Gerry did was not even remotely Chuck Cecil like... So how do you discourage people from doing something that could not have been prevented? You go to make plays and get a penalty as well as kicked out of the game...for what? A play where you could do absolutely nothing differently? I suppose he could not tackle ball carriers or just hesitate enough to let ball carriers go down by themselves? The play was not malicious and trying to cause injury. That in my book should not be flagged or cause an ejection.

What Gerry should've done differently is simply not hit the player, let him catch it.

That's my opinion anyway. I'm well aware of the football purists saying that rules like this ruin the sport, and I completely understand. Football shouldn't be watered down, it's inherently dangerous. But my counter argument is rules like that will save the sport in the long run.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

It's unavoidably clear that years of playing football is shaving years off the lives of former players, and a lot of those final years are marked with dementia and depression.

The problem was blown UNDER proportion for years. It's at a more accurate proportion now. Some of the most badass football players the game has ever seen are among the most concerned.

20 years ago, long before the concussion issues or much publicity at all, I saw a small newspaper article that mentioned the average lifespan of an NFL lineman was 15 years below the national average.

But I agree: you can't have UFC and MMA on the rise while you try to tear football down.

This is most likely true but has more to do with type 2 diabetes and heart attacks due to the size of the bodies than being concussed.

No doubt. But it's also part of the commitment to football. Teenage bodies are bulked up by diet -- and worse -- for the purpose of playing high-level football. Once you retire, that body doesn't make much sense and it's hard to maintain.

I think today's athletes are generally smarter about their health than the NFL vets who retired to a life of golf, drinking and selling insurance.

 

[hskrpwr13]

Late to the party. For right or wrong, I think there will always be a market for football (assuming a shared vision of what is football), and people willing to accept the risks for the fortune and fame.

As far as outlawing it, would have to do the same with other earlier mentioned sports that may have similar results (fighting, soccer, hockey, etc).

 

[junior4949]

Men and boys have had to deal with concussions since before homo was sapiens. Wrestling with your brother, getting knocked off the equipment at recess. Falling off horses. It happens. Men are still well adjusted and productive. Youth football is not as dangerous as the new docs would have you believe. Most kids go clear through the programs without ever having a concussion.

These are not a bunch of Jr. Seau's; God bless him.

Change the game without ruining it. From my perspective, its nearly ruined already with the current changes. Too much replay and plays are still getting called wrong. No real tough safety play. No hitting the quarterback. Lately someone here posted a game of the 92 Huskers. Go watch that game and then tell me that is not a better version of the game. Players playing more naturally, flying to the ball. Safeties going hard to the play.

You know back before so much agonizing replay, you got some calls, and some went against you, it evens out. The quality of officiating was just better when big brother was not watching over the shoulder. And this catch is not a catch business... Bizarro world. Welcome to 2015 McFly!

This is exactly the problem. That style of play is incredibly unsafe.

It's no use arguing about the impact of concussions, I'm not going to change any minds. Football is by far the most exciting sport in the world, and if you want it to continue you'd better get on board with keeping the players safe. That includes calling a penalty for a hit above the shoulders even if unintentional, calling a foul for hitting a defenseless player, etc.

That play Gerry got ejected for against Iowa? Properly called. Need to discourage players from doing that. What else could he have done on that play? Absolutely nothing. Give up the play and move on. Football has moved towards that and it SHOULD continue to move towards that. Keep the game as safe as possible even if you perceive it to be 'watered' down.

What Gerry did was not even remotely Chuck Cecil like... So how do you discourage people from doing something that could not have been prevented? You go to make plays and get a penalty as well as kicked out of the game...for what? A play where you could do absolutely nothing differently? I suppose he could not tackle ball carriers or just hesitate enough to let ball carriers go down by themselves? The play was not malicious and trying to cause injury. That in my book should not be flagged or cause an ejection.

What Gerry should've done differently is simply not hit the player, let him catch it.

That's my opinion anyway. I'm well aware of the football purists saying that rules like this ruin the sport, and I completely understand. Football shouldn't be watered down, it's inherently dangerous. But my counter argument is rules like that will save the sport in the long run.

I get what you're saying, but by letting the player catch the pass why even defend against the pass? I also don't understand how or why a RB never ever gets called for sphering or leading with the head when they almost always put their head down when making contact. Some of the rules just don't make sense when taking the position played into consideration. How is a WR going up for a catch in traffic a defenseless player while a QB getting blown up from his blindside not? Now, we have Tom Brady out there campaigning for new rules with regards to hitting low. If hitting high is now a penalty and hitting low becomes a penalty, where in the heck is the defender supposed to take down a big TE like Gronk?

Every time it seems new rules are implemented for player safety, it ends up causing more problems than it solved.