🏈 Danny Kanell: Liberal media waging war on football

[TerryP]

The source of Kanell’s displeasure appears to be an op-ed piece published by the New York Times on Monday titled “Don’t Let Kids Play Football.”

An excerpt of that piece to give you an idea of what he’s talking about:

As we become more intellectually sophisticated and advanced, with greater and broader access to information and knowledge, we have given up old practices in the name of safety and progress. That is, except when it comes to sports.

Over the past two decades it has become clear that repetitive blows to the head in high-impact contact sports like football, ice hockey, mixed martial arts and boxing place athletes at risk of permanent brain damage. There is even a Hollywood movie, “Concussion,” due out this Christmas Day, that dramatizes the story of my discoveries in this area of research. Why, then, do we continue to intentionally expose our children to this risk?
​

Danny Kanell: Liberal media waging war on football

 

[planomateo]

Of course it's real AND Kanell is an idiot. The guy who wrote the article is what most would consider an expert on head trauma and brain injuries.

I'm of the opinion the NFL has known about the risks and done nothing to help improve things until folks forced the door open. The guy who wrote this article is one of the people who helped open the door.

A friend of ours down the street's son has probably had 5-6 concussions and he's in 11th grade. What do you do as a parent knowing what you know now?

 

[TerryP]

What do you do as a parent knowing what you know now?

Pay attention to who is coaching your kids? More importantly, how?

 

[planomateo]

What is Danny doing to help make things better...blame the liberal media? That always works out. Every time he opens his mouth he has an opportunity to dispel the notion that he's a dumbass, but fails each and every time.

Seattle has been working on something for a few years now, leveraging rugby to assist.

 

[Destiny's Child]

Seattle has been working on something for a few years now, leveraging rugby to assist.

This technique is awful and will cripple more people than a good form tackle any day.

Our youth coaches tried to teach this to our team and I pitched a fit. Basically you are aiming for the back hip and then rolling up on the back of the players knees and ankles. After three season ending leg injuries before our second game we thankfully went away from it.

Proper technique of head up and in front of runner, face mask on the football, wrap up and drive your legs thru the tackle .. Is as safe as you can play. This Seattle style will end more carriers than concussions. The issue with concussions is the cumulative effect of not treating them correctly. In the event of several in the same year or them coming easier and easier should signal for guys to find another sport.

Anyway, no offense but I coached for a while, I have seen the change in person, caused even more injuries, I hate it . I have bad knees and ankles now and this form will end careers and cripple people for life. Just teach proper form to all from beginning and treat concussions properly and the effects will decrease greatly. No need to change the injury from head to legs.

 

[It Takes Eleven]

This technique is awful and will cripple more people than a good form tackle any day.

Our youth coaches tried to teach this to our team and I pitched a fit. Basically you are aiming for the back hip and then rolling up on the back of the players knees and ankles. After three season ending leg injuries before our second game we thankfully went away from it.

Proper technique of head up and in front of runner, face mask on the football, wrap up and drive your legs thru the tackle .. Is as safe as you can play. This Seattle style will end more carriers than concussions. The issue with concussions is the cumulative effect of not treating them correctly. In the event of several in the same year or them coming easier and easier should signal for guys to find another sport.

Anyway, no offense but I coached for a while, I have seen the change in person, caused even more injuries, I hate it . I have bad knees and ankles now and this form will end careers and cripple people for life. Just teach proper form to all from beginning and treat concussions properly and the effects will decrease greatly. No need to change the injury from head to legs.

I think the teaching is sound, if completely taught. I agree that if kids are taught to traditionally form tackle (head up, chest high) and they don't close well they end up around a runner's waist or thighs. Teaching a kid to "eye the thighs" when they don't understand or maintain leverage, means they end up at knees and ankles. Being in a good tackling position instead of lunging for the carrier is difficult to teach, but critical in any tackling instruction. Keep in mind they're teaching the same technique whether the player targets the thighs or near pec.

Key thing here is they're teaching this to safeguard the tackler, not the runner. Using the shoulder to tackle is safer than squaring up and putting your helmet in a player's chest (you can't anticipate the carrier lowering his head/body for contact, resulting in helmet to helmet), and it almost completely eliminates the chance of an inadvertent targeting foul.

The coaches who are championing it are some of the best in the business. I've got to think they know what they're doing. The biggest problem in teaching any type of tackling is effectively closing on the runner before committing to the contact.

RTR,

Tim

 

[UAgrad93]

So many HS coaches still teach it "see what you hit, hit what you see" and using the facemask as crosshairs for hitting. It still means leading with the head. I just sent this video to our HC and DC here at the HS that I feed students to.

 

[Destiny's Child]

We have had two knee injuries, One ACL, one that was more serious.. and a badly dislocated ankle with torn ligaments because of the aim for the back hip and roll technique. These are 6th graders and a super competitive team. My kid plays offense and defense, when your son is the one that guys are rolling up on the back of their legs you may feel differently. You can protect yourself from a guy hitting you head up.. spin, stiff arm or even brace for shock. A guy pulling you backwards rolling over the back of your legs and over your ankles you cant protect yourself.

I am not a fan. We just did a better job of teaching about head up and placement and had zero concussions or other related injuries. The majority of these concussion injuries come from bad technique, from kids using their helmet as a weapon. And the issue of multiple concussions comes from lack of diagnosis or coming back to contact before being ready. There is also a burden of responsibility with the parent, family and/or player.. if you have multiple concussions and they are happening with less contact you need to walk away from the sport. Your body isn't able to deal with it.

I love to run and stay in shape.. my knees are shot and I can't run without crazy swelling and severe pain. I have to find another way to stay in shape. Sometimes you just have to listen to what your body is telling you.

PS.. The method with the Roll is the part I hate. The rest is reasonable but when they grab the waist and roll something has to give and their legs are stuck under the tackler..

 

[musso]

Ironic that Kanell blames the "war on football" on liberal media when the sport itself, college and pro, is replete with socialist economic arrangements.

 

[psychojoe]

I can't help but believe that there is a better helmet available for football players. The rigid exterior suspension helmet serves to transmit the energy from contact directly to the head/neck area of the wearer. Surely there is some material out there that will absorb this energy rather than just passing it on. No way to substantiate this, but I would bet that there are more frequent head injuries now than in the old leather helmet days. At least those guys knew that their headgear did not really protect them if they used the head to strike with.

 

[musso]

I can't help but believe that there is a better helmet available for football players. The rigid exterior suspension helmet serves to transmit the energy from contact directly to the head/neck area of the wearer. Surely there is some material out there that will absorb this energy rather than just passing it on. No way to substantiate this, but I would bet that there are more frequent head injuries now than in the old leather helmet days. At least those guys knew that their headgear did not really protect them if they used the head to strike with.

Indeed. Face masks and "safer" helmets are to football what moral hazards are to finance. The reason why both persist in both worlds is the same: government protection. I imagine so much of the health hazards would be reduced or more fairly compensated if the sport was properly privatized.

 

[It Takes Eleven]

I can't help but believe that there is a better helmet available for football players. The rigid exterior suspension helmet serves to transmit the energy from contact directly to the head/neck area of the wearer. Surely there is some material out there that will absorb this energy rather than just passing it on. No way to substantiate this, but I would bet that there are more frequent head injuries now than in the old leather helmet days. At least those guys knew that their headgear did not really protect them if they used the head to strike with.

We have had two knee injuries, One ACL, one that was more serious.. and a badly dislocated ankle with torn ligaments because of the aim for the back hip and roll technique. These are 6th graders and a super competitive team. My kid plays offense and defense, when your son is the one that guys are rolling up on the back of their legs you may feel differently. You can protect yourself from a guy hitting you head up.. spin, stiff arm or even brace for shock. A guy pulling you backwards rolling over the back of your legs and over your ankles you cant protect yourself.

I am not a fan. We just did a better job of teaching about head up and placement and had zero concussions or other related injuries. The majority of these concussion injuries come from bad technique, from kids using their helmet as a weapon. And the issue of multiple concussions comes from lack of diagnosis or coming back to contact before being ready. There is also a burden of responsibility with the parent, family and/or player.. if you have multiple concussions and they are happening with less contact you need to walk away from the sport. Your body isn't able to deal with it.

I love to run and stay in shape.. my knees are shot and I can't run without crazy swelling and severe pain. I have to find another way to stay in shape. Sometimes you just have to listen to what your body is telling you.

PS.. The method with the Roll is the part I hate. The rest is reasonable but when they grab the waist and roll something has to give and their legs are stuck under the tackler..

The tackling techniques used are similar to both rugby and the soft helmet days. I wonder what the incidence of knee injuries are with rugby? Scrum looks vicious, not just the tackles. Regarding the roll, roll or twisting actions in tackle have always been a part of bringing a man down. The sport rarely allows for textbook tackles, particularly in the youth/HS arena. Athletes aren't as well trained, and there's just a hodgepodge of aggressive physical contact to bring a man down.

RTR,

Tim