By Ryan Hellmich
Alright so in light of the tragic death of Junior Seau, I would like take this opportunity to talk about the issue of head injuries in football, well all sports for that matter. I kind of touched on this issue in my (fighting) article, but I wanted to go into more detail about this subject.
Please keep in mind I am not trying to take anything away from or downplay any athlete that suffers from head injuries like post concussion syndrome. The whole idea is a sad piece of reality. But my main point here is this: you are grown men and you knew what you signed up for. Concussions are a part of contact sports and guess what? Football is a contact sport. If you do not want to get hit, then don't sign up. You know that a heavy dose of contact is involved in your line of work.
It's like signing up for the army or navy or whatever and being shocked that you are being shot at. Um bro, there is no fine print saying "Hey there is a possibility you may get hit out on the field." You know that. So stop turning your back on the game that you loved so much while you were getting paid millions and millions of dollars over a short period of time and going out and suing the NFL.
You don't see Muhammad Ali suing the IBF (International Boxing Federation) for suffering from Parkinson's disease (at least I haven't heard about him suing, so don't exactly quote me on that).
The fact that players from the NFL and NHL are turning around and suing their once beloved sports is the reason for all the unnecessary changes to the games we all love to watch. I mean at the rate that the NFL is going, hitting will probably be nonexistent in about 10 years. Just slowly taking hitting out of the game. How about taking out kickoffs all together? What the s*** is that? It's one of the most exciting plays in sports, and the NFL wants to get rid of it to help prevent big hits.
I don't know why you watch the sport, but I watch it for huge hits and big plays and guess what? Kickoffs are a combination of both. Yeah it's awful when people get seriously injured like Eric LeGrand from Rutgers. I don't want to see that ever. But because it happened maybe twice or three times out of the millions of kickoffs that have happened over the years, doesn't mean we need to start making drastic changes to the game.
In the end, football is not a game for little girls. It's a man's game. There are occupational hazards when you agree to sign that contract that is going to send you a box of $3 million cash every month for your services. Stop turning this league into Tom "The **** Boy" Brady powderpuff league where people complain about getting hit or injured. If you don't want to assume the risk of head injuries, then don't play the game. It's pretty simple.
R.I.P. #55
PS - I am crazy for wanting the XFL to come back? I loved that s***! But this time they should allow steroid use and just get the biggest and most blood thirsty mongoloids money can buy and have them just go to town on each other. Like the real life NFL Blitz.
