Why Isn't American Football More Popular Outside of America?

[cramx3]

Problem is health benefits are meaningless when it comes to brain damage.

True, but thats part of the deal they would be signing when they join the league.  I think its fair if the NFL wrote out the risks to your health and were honest about them, as long as players agree to those risks then they should be allowed to play.  I do understand my thought process is not the most humane way, but I think it works for everyone.  No one should be playing football if they expect to live their live after football pain free. 

[KevShmev]

Regarding soccer, I like watching the World Cup, but that's about it.

Anyone else remember the MISL, the indoor soccer league that was pretty popular in the early to mid 80s?  When I was a kid, we'd got to St. Louis Steamers games all the time, and the place was always packed.  I don't know what happened, but it's like all of a sudden the country stopped caring about indoor soccer. 

[rumborak]

Regarding soccer, I like watching the World Cup, but that's about it.

Add the Eurocup, and that's about it for me

[ReaPsTA]

True, but thats part of the deal they would be signing when they join the league.  I think its fair if the NFL wrote out the risks to your health and were honest about them, as long as players agree to those risks then they should be allowed to play.  I do understand my thought process is not the most humane way, but I think it works for everyone.  No one should be playing football if they expect to live their live after football pain free.

I used to feel the same way, but over time the depths of how badly the game affects your brain have become more and more impossible to ignore.  Right now, I feel like my Football viewing is on a clock.  Every year, it gets more and more uncomfortable to watch, which means I enjoy it less and less.  At some point, even the most hardcore football fan is going to watch the game and not think "wow, that was badass," but "Omg, what if years down the road that player's going to commit suicide because of that hit."

Some aspects of the game are going to be what they are.  If the players want to play and the viewers want to watch, then so be it.  Nagging body injuries especially.  But the brain damage is too gruesome, and at some point it becomes a moral issue to have a sport that is basically a brain damage factory.

What's worse is how the NFL's approaching this.  They hid this information.  We all know it.  It just hasn't been proven in court.  It's the same problem cigarette companies had.  Once you get past all the bullshit, the NFL is moving on this very slowly because it would be a tacit admission they made a mistake in the first place.

The thing is, in the outside world that doesn't matter.  Inevitably, some Football fans would complain that the game is getting soft.  Shit, I did.  But reality wins every argument.  Football was almost banned once, and it can be banned again far enough into the future if it isn't fixed.  Right now, the league's strategy is working.  But it can't work forever.  Better to work proactively (more reasonable PED rules, weight standards for players, better tackling rules), than to wait until it's too late.  I hated the kick-off rule change, but it was actually one of the smartest things the league did.

I have an Uncle who's letting his two sons play Football.  I asked about the safety implications.  He said that you have to teach kids how to tackle right by wrapping their arms around the other player instead of banging them.  If you do that, then the game is being played right.  My uncle is not the kind of person who you would say is "socially conscious," but even he wants the game to be safer if only because his sons are playing it.

This needs to happen and it can happen.  Will it?

[cramx3]

I cant argue with anything said. 

The better tackling is something the NFL is trying and I recall hearing that they were pushing this to the youth with the idea if the kids can learn to tackle the right way, over time, itll eventually lead to NFLers tackling the right way.  The problem is the speed of the NFL game seems to make this difficult.  I never played so I am not going to say if that is true or not, just my opinion.  I hope they can find a way to make this all work because the sport is amazing to watch, but watering it down is not really a solution IMO.  What about redesigning the helmets?  I dont have any ideas of my own, but something that gives a better landing when hitting the ground, but still safe enough to take a hit?

[Nekov]

I think the biggest problem is no the speed but actually the equipment, it limits the arm movement which might make it harder to do better tackling. Also they need to start pushing for people not to jump on guys that are already on the ground, that's totally unnecessary.

[hefdaddy42]

I think the biggest problem is no the speed but actually the equipment, it limits the arm movement

Not that I've ever seen.

[ReaPsTA]

What about redesigning the helmets?  I dont have any ideas of my own, but something that gives a better landing when hitting the ground, but still safe enough to take a hit?

What what I understand, they're trying desperately to do this.  The NFL signed a deal in the late 80's to make Riddell the official helmet of the league, and then renegotiated the contract to that exclusivity would end.  Considering what it probably took to make Riddell to agree to this, it's obviously important to the league that the different manufacturers compete to make a better product.

The problem is that they haven't found it yet.  And from what I hear, there's no meaningful progress.

Also they need to start pushing for people not to jump on guys that are already on the ground, that's totally unnecessary.

This is really tough, because what happens is that a defender will already be in his tackling motion against the QB, but not make the hit until it's out of the QB's hands.  And now it's a flag for the defender.  It's not really fair.

I'm sure there's a solution out there, but it's probably really tough to figure out.

[rumborak]

In the end, it's a simple question of acceleration/deceleration. The head is essentially a sphere on a pivot (your neck), and given enough impact it will accelerate enough (which is what causes the concussions). A helmet has as its main function the distribution of an impact over your whole head (so that a pointy object doesn't break through your skull). The secondary function is to even out the acceleration, but that can only be done over that tiny gap between the inside of the helmet and your skull. You can do some evening out, but in the end there's a physical limit, unless you increase that gap. Which means, the only way to improve the helmets would be to make them significantly bigger. Think Lord Helmet.

And now I want to see Football being played with Lord Helmet style outfits.

[El Barto]

Change will have to start at the youth level, and either football will self-correct, or it won't and it'll go away. I read a while back that one of the primary reasons that the FB position had disappeared was because it disappeared at the highschool level. Nowadays you have to convert a TE rather than draft somebody who's been doing it for 10 years. The rest of the positions could face a similar fate. As more and more parents start to forbid their kids from playing, the talent that the NFL can draw from will diminish. My guess is that as a result of this some new "Safety-oriented" youth leagues will pop up and those will create different types of players down the road.

Of course the other possibility is that the only people who grow up playing football are monsters, encouraged by their hypermasculine fathers to be as sadistic as possible, leading to a future where only the crazed and suicidal can make a career out of it. Not sure which would be more entertaining.

[Nekov]

I think the biggest problem is no the speed but actually the equipment, it limits the arm movement

Not that I've ever seen.

Not for the game as it's played nowadays but what I was trying to say is that it looks to me that it's hard to go for a softer and more technical tackle with the armor. The way I see it a clean tackle requires for you to bump the other guy using your shoulder to get him off balance while at the same time being able to surround the guys legs to prevent him from re-gaining it. Not sure how easy that is with the shoulder pads, maybe it's just my impression.

[King Postwhore]

I think that most sports evolve and as much as I don't like the tone of new rules and how it bogs down the game, it is what it is and I need to adapt to the changes.


I like Soccer and been to many Revolution games and even the 0-0 game were exciting.