Originally Posted by anticipation (Post 946107)

That's easy; they haven't. American football is far from the most barbaric sport on earth, and the game has only been getting more and more benign as time has passed. It's funny that a game that is only played by a few select countries is regarded as one of the world's most influential and important sports. For example, rugby features harder hits, faster plays, and no padding and receives no scrutiny from the mainstream media. Hockey has had players die, paralyzed, and put into a vegetative state for over 100 years, and they're just now making incredibly feeble attempts at retributive punishments for those who head hunt.

Saying football is the most barbaric sport in the world is a little far-fetched, and in my opinion any movement away from physicality in sports is a bastardization of competitive play.

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA (Post 945928)

Dear Richard, you are a very nice gentleman, truly (when you want to be ;)), but sometimes I feel you don't investigate issues very thoroughly and you are quick to discount much of what I say as rubbish when almost everything I write has some validity to it (if not everything :p:).

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali (Post 945952)

Vegangelica's Rules For The Future World:

• Competitive sports with more violence than golf or table tennis are not allowed. This means Football (US), Football, Hockey, Basketball, Baseball, and any other sport that involves people running at high speeds. Modifications to these sports are allowed, as such:

1. US Football must be flag football. No running is allowed, as to avoid potentially running into someone, or stepping on someone's toe.
2. Football can remain mostly the same, except no running is allowed, nor any type of tackle.
3. Hockey must be done in a sand-pit. If the logistics of this cannot be worked out, then you don't want to play Hockey bad enough.
4. Basketball will not allow running, and the goals will be shortened to the height of the smallest man on the team. Not only does this promote equality, but prevents someone who may be dunking from falling a great distance to the floor. If you have seen a black man jump, you will know this is necessary.
5. Baseball will swap to a Nerf ball and bat, made of foam. And no running.
6. All other sports will strictly observe the above rules that apply. Also, in addition to these rules, there will be a general rule that, through the use of a special referee, will ensure that each team wins equal amounts of points and that everyone goes home a winner.

• Meat will absolutely not be eaten, at any time, by any one. Government will replace meat-worker jobs and meat farming positions with the governmental position known as Animal Police Task Force. These people will be financially aided by the government, and their sole function will be to interfere with any animal that attempts to eat another animal. Since animals cannot use morality for their choice of diet, humans will provide that service by proxy. If, in time, the animal kingdom overpopulates, humans shall be rocketed off to an unknown direction in space to make room for the animals here on earth.
• All members of society in every culture will be made to look identical where possible, as to discourage societal influencing factors based on attraction, preference and bias. A natural state will be de jure, which means, by law, all bodily hair or otherwise will be unobstructed from natural growth, and body shape must be genetically determined and not manipulated by the lifting of weights or dieting.
• Movies will not be allowed to make anything they depict appear different than they actually are. All filming techniques other than point-and-shoot, with home video cameras, are illegal.
• Free expression will be limited to only the expression that does not influence someone else.

Finally, all men and women are to be equal in every regard. Men shall be ordered by law to pee sitting down, like women. Technology will be focused on enabling men to have all the biological parts necessary for carrying, and giving birth. By law, every other household will enforce this technology on the male, while the female will be required to get a job at a factory that has no air conditioning.

The above are a small portion of the changes that will be made to your lives. No longer will there be a society that charts its own course. The course of society will be charted for you, and static in all regards. There will be no future apart from maintaining the present. Deviation from this will result in strict, harsh punishment.

May we all live unhappily equal lives.

Originally Posted by crash_override (Post 946084)

I don't support taking the hits out of football, but everytime I hear Troy Aiman or Steve Young talk, it's pretty pathetic. They're both semi-retarded from from multiple concussions they've had from the game, and that's sad.

Bottom line, it's American Football, one of the most dangerous sports in the world. If we take the hard hitting tough guys out, it will just be soccer except you can carry and throw the ball.

How is it that the NFL has made it nearly 100 years playing the most barbaric sport on the planet and head injuries are being addressed only now? I say, players aren't as tough as they once were. How about instead of changing the rules, you recruit and sign tougher players? There would be no such thing as a defenseless receiver if the receiver was equally as big and strong as the person hitting them.

If these players can't take a hit, maybe they should switch to Baseball, or Soccer.

Originally Posted by anticipation (Post 946107)

That's easy; they haven't. American football is far from the most barbaric sport on earth, and the game has only been getting more and more benign as time has passed. It's funny that a game that is only played by a few select countries is regarded as one of the world's most influential and important sports. For example, rugby features harder hits, faster plays, and no padding and receives no scrutiny from the mainstream media. Hockey has had players die, paralyzed, and put into a vegetative state for over 100 years, and they're just now making incredibly feeble attempts at retributive punishments for those who head hunt.

Saying football is the most barbaric sport in the world is a little far-fetched, and in my opinion any movement away from physicality in sports is a bastardization of competitive play.

Originally Posted by Dirty (Post 946179)

One of the dumber things I've ever heard. Instead of the rules...get tougher players? Lol, I can't tell if you are serious or just being sarcastic. Where exactly do you get these tougher players?

The game today is different in a million ways than it was back in the day. Players are bigger and faster. It doesnt matter how tough you are, if you don't see it coming and get crushed by a 250 pound linebacker running at full speed, its like the equivalent of a car wreck. It has nothing to do with being tough, nobody can take hits like that and be expected to just walk it off.

"There would be no such thing as a defenseless receiver if the receiver was equally as big and strong as the person hitting them."

Again, are you trolling? For one it wouldn't matter how big the WR is, they'd still be defenseless. If you are running a route and looking for the ball and somebody maims you, there's really nothing you can do. Even if you weighed the same and everything, the momentum and force are way different. Not to mention it is ridiculous to think receivers could be as big as the people hitting them. Hahaha, I don't know what world you are living in where it is realistic for all receivers to be like 250 pounds.

Originally Posted by Violent & Funky (Post 946198)

I also don't find Aikman or Young to be "semi-retarded". They are both well-spoken and get paid to talk about the sport in front of millions of viewers on TV...

Originally Posted by crash_override (Post 946207)

I agree that Rugby and Hockey are both equally if not more barbaric sports, perhaps my statement there was a bit over the top. But alas, you missed the entire point of my post. Allow me to rephrase and say "one of the most barbaric sports". You can even limit that to the US if you'd like.




As my football coach always said, "Be the hammer, not the nail". A lesson to live by.

There are ways to train yourself to take hits, this is football we are talking about. I'm just saying why change the rules of a game thats steeped in tradition? If anything, make helmets better. Look at guys like Hines Ward or Donald Driver, small receivers who are giving big hits more often than taking them. It's about toughness and alertness most of the time. Yeah, there are dirty players out there who will intentionally try to hurt you, and they should be punished accordingly. But 2 of the three hits in question over the last week were legal hits. Outside of Merriwether (who's a dirty ****ing Patriot anyway), those guys weren't doing anything but playing good old fashioned football. If you want to see glorified track stars running up and down the field all day without getting hit, try soccer. But don't ruin football for everyone else.

If these guys don't have the toughness to take the hits, or the alertness to feel them coming and give up on the play, then don't play. Period. I don't see why we have to cater to these 175 pound speedsters who think they can come crossing over the middle for the big play without getting hit.