Thursday, July 26, 2012

Jordan Kohout and the future of football

I wonder if the situation with Jordan Kohout is one of many cases like it that will lead to the eventual death of football as we know it. The major toll on players bodies sure seems like a lot. When you consider NFL players make millions of dollars it may not seem that bad of a trade off. Sure seems like a bad deal for guys like Jordan who will maybe get some free tuition, and may suffer from lifelong neurological problems. Probably also a bad deal for the kids in high school who get these issues without ever cashing in on a dollar. At least they hopefully get some good tail for being football players, but even that's no guarantee.
I don't really have a problem with it if football goes sissy. Most of what I like about football is bullshitting with my friends about my local team. It doesn't really matter if the rules change, as long as we all still hang out at the bar and talk about it. The DH hasn't ruined baseball, but a more apt analogy may be the NBA.
The NBA is not the same game as it was 30 years ago. There are still jumpshots, layups, and taking charges, but the NBA has changed like other sports as athletes have changed. 30 years ago a 6'10" guy who weighed 240 pounds was a dominating low post center. Now that same size guy jumps over cars to win the dunk competition. Charles Barkley was an all time great power forward at 6'4". The Brooklyn Nets list Deron Williams at 6'3" and 209lbs and he's a point guard. I love the NBA, but I don't love it any more or less now because the game is played at 12' instead of 10'.
My guess is the NFL finds a way to make the game less violent and more like Arena league ball, and no one cares. This will be just a short term solution before the inevitable 2 games of the future emerge.
Football will return to it's violent past as robot football, and for those that want to see blood, MMA will undoubtedly blossom into a real world version of the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Running Man.

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