OTish: Bipartisan bill filed in MA House to ban pre-8th grade tackle football

[Triumph]

I guess as long as the law doesn’t age-creep and morph into banning tackle football through high school

I guarantee that they will.

Its all about control.

 

[Triumph]

The writing has been on the wall for a while.

NE pro football star -> convicted of murder -> proven to have extreme CTE -> legislation introduced to reduce CTE during childhood development

Bob Kraft played Pop Warner.

 

[Triumph]

This state drives me insane.

I got out and will never go back.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I got out and will never go back.

Can't wait to leave. Once the kids are out I'm gone.

 

[Triumph]

Can't wait to leave. Once the kids are out I'm gone.

Kudos to you for not relocating and forcing the kids to make new friends and have to go through all that.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Kudos to you for not relocating and forcing the kids to make new friends and have to go through all that.

God I hate this state. It's like growing up a Browns or Lions fan.

 

[Triumph]

God I hate this state. It's like growing up a Browns or Lions fan.

Its a shame too. I lived basically 1 hour away to the ocean, city and mountains. NH was better, but exiles from Mass move to NH and bring along their ideas how to improve the state like they did in Mass. Howie Carr wrote an hilarious piece about Mass that is so spot on and accurate.

 

[Simpelton]

Cool, so then what's with your offhand anti-weed legalization comment? Are you okay with Big Brother telling adults what they can or can't grow and ingest for themselves?

I think there has to be a distinction between banning sports for the effect they MIGHT have, and banning intoxicating substances for the effect they DO have.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Its a shame too. I lived basically 1 hour away to the ocean, city and mountains. NH was better, but exiles from Mass move to NH and bring along their ideas how to improve the state like they did in Mass. Howie Carr wrote an hilarious piece about Mass that is so spot on and accurate.

I grew up in NH on the border with MA and even back then my hometown was very red. Not any more.

 

[Kontradiction]

The moment misinformed (or uninformed) idiots can cause unnecessary measles outbreaks is the moment you can say without much doubt that "parents" should definitely not have absolute say when it comes to health related decisions for their children.

I agree with you that anti-vax parents are idiots but this is completely different. This is just a sport that people have known since its inception to be dangerous. This is merely a sweeping overreaction to the CTE news. Meanwhile, kids can literally break their necks on every play. Life is dangerous. You’re literally risking death and dismemberment every single day by getting behind the wheel of a car, for example. Taking steps to outlaw something just because it is dangerous does not make much sense and there are plenty of other sports to go after as well if you’re going to go down that route. Shall we just take steps to outlaw them as well?

 

[Drewski]

I grew up in NH on the border with MA and even back then my hometown was very red. Not any more.

OT: I left MA for a "Redish Purplish" state. While left leaning myself, not many in Cambridge would consider me an "ally".

That being said, trading the "Nanny State' of MA for the "Why would we ever pay teachers a living wage? Edu-ma-cation is overrated and really just Liberal indoctrination" South.

In short, red isn't some utopia, just like Blue doesn’t make it so either.

Then again politics wasn't on the list of reasons I left MA. CoL, Weather and the general populace were.

 

[FCB02062]

Its a shame too. I lived basically 1 hour away to the ocean, city and mountains. NH was better, but exiles from Mass move to NH and bring along their ideas how to improve the state like they did in Mass. Howie Carr wrote an hilarious piece about Mass that is so spot on and accurate.

Southern NH is becoming Cambridge North

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Some concussion data:
Which Youth Sports Cause the Most Concussions?

 

[luuked]

I agree with you that anti-vax parents are idiots but this is completely different. This is just a sport that people have known since its inception to be dangerous. This is merely a sweeping overreaction to the CTE news. Meanwhile, kids can literally break their necks on every play. Life is dangerous. You’re literally risking death and dismemberment every single day by getting behind the wheel of a car, for example. Taking steps to outlaw something just because it is dangerous does not make much sense and there are plenty of other sports to go after as well if you’re going to go down that route. Shall we just take steps to outlaw them as well?

I just disagree on the basis that if parents can't make the only right decision about getting vaccinated then how should I believe that they will weigh all the pros and cons about their children playing a violent sport correctly ?

And lets be honest here.. football is a violent sport. There are not many games where you purposefully hit each other at full speed. Do I like where this is going as a football fan ? Nope. But at the same time it was really just a matter of time until this happened.

And the difference to your examples is that hitting someone or being hit in a car is not part of a normal car driving experience. Whereas in football this is reality pn every snap. This is also the reason why I don't really agree with your comparisons to futbol as concussions there are a byproduct of headers and not the game itself.

I don't want to get into one of our good old offseason arguments so whatever.. ultimately I just lost the believe that "parents know best when it comes to their children" based on the last few years.

 

[ALP]

you may not need it, but there are def parents out there that do...so how do you propose to protect those kids?

Lol at anyone who disagrees w the notion there are parents out there that don’t parent

 

[maust]

SMDH at anyone that infers disagreement with some uncommunicated and at best unclear 'notion' rather than disagreement with the slippery slope of taking the decision out of the hands of parents that do parent.

 

[Kontradiction]

I just disagree on the basis that if parents can't make the only right decision about getting vaccinated then how should I believe that they will weigh all the pros and cons about their children playing a violent sport correctly ?

And lets be honest here.. football is a violent sport. There are not many games where you purposefully hit each other at full speed. Do I like where this is going as a football fan ? Nope. But at the same time it was really just a matter of time until this happened.

And the difference to your examples is that hitting someone or being hit in a car is not part of a normal car driving experience. Whereas in football this is reality pn every snap. This is also the reason why I don't really agree with your comparisons to futbol as concussions there are a byproduct of headers and not the game itself.

I don't want to get into one of our good old offseason arguments so whatever.. ultimately I just lost the believe that "parents know best when it comes to their children" based on the last few years.

So... end football? Because that’s what this legislation is aimed at doing. And all in the name of the danger that it represents and it’s always represented. If we’re ending that on the basis that it’s dangerous, then my example is fine. I’ll point you to the number of people that lose their lives every year in automobile accidents vs. the amount of guys that lose their lives every year over playing football. While we’re at it, hockey needs to be banned as well. It’s dangerous. Same with all forms of martial arts. Close down the UFC. Let’s not consider the sheer revenue ramifications that such sports bring to American cities either. Nor should we consider the fact that this is literally the only option of some to bring themselves out of poverty. It’s dangerous. Can’t have it.

You’re looking at this through a microscope and failing to see the bigger picture. Never mind government further stepping in to take choice out of the picture. Why should the overwhelming majority be punished because of a few idiots? The government allows people the choice to smoke cigs and drink alcohol, both of which have also proven to be more deadly than playing football. But it’s football that needs to go. GTFOH.

 

[tom444]

"Under a bipartisan bill supported by 17 House members, schools and leagues would be fined $2,000 for allowing children in grade seven and below to play organized tackle football, which research suggests is more harmful to young players than previously thought."

Beacon Hill Weighs Banning Youth Tackle Football

The point right now is to encourage debate, not ban football.

"The data was just so compelling ... I think people need to continue to have this conversation and become more aware of it," Jones told WGBH News this week.

That data came from Concussion Legacy Foundation Co-Founder Chris Nowinski, a former college player and professional wrestler who has made it his mission to make sports safer. Nowinski says research shows that brain development in kids between ages 8 and 13 is vulnerable to the kinds of impacts that go along with tackle football.

"There's evidence out of the Boston University CTE Center that football players who started before age 12 were worse off long-term, with higher rates of depression, higher rates of anxiety, higher rates of memory issues than those who started at 12 or later," Nowinski said.

New York, California, Maryland, Illinois and New Jersey are considering similar bills, but no state has yet passed a ban into law. The sponsors of the Massachusetts bill agree that this is only the beginning of a debate on whether to ban tackling and at what age.

Concussion Legacy Foundation

CTE Center

 

[luuked]

The government allows people the choice to smoke cigs and drink alcohol, both of which have also proven to be more deadly than playing football.

At what age ?

 

[Ivan]

Looking more and more like this thread needs to go to the political forum.