Youth football cancelled in Highland Park(Chicago) due to Head injury concerns.
Number of football players in OH have been on the decline since 2009 for various reasons: kids specializing in a HS sport, concussions, opportunities to play other sports.
Interesting to see if the is indication of a broader problem facing youth programs.
August 24th, 2017 at 3:43 PM ^
Nanny state strikes again.
Wrap those children in bubble wrap and force them to run cross country.
August 24th, 2017 at 3:45 PM ^
What's wrong with cross country?
August 24th, 2017 at 4:55 PM ^
Are smoking hot. Those tall, lean, bodies, covered in glistening sweat.
And I'll be in my bunk.
August 24th, 2017 at 4:57 PM ^
too skinny
August 24th, 2017 at 5:17 PM ^
Always preferred volleyball girls myself. All that jumping promotes thigh and glute development.
August 24th, 2017 at 5:44 PM ^
volleyball > cross country
August 24th, 2017 at 8:44 PM ^
as a father of a volleyball player, I find your comment both accurate and unnerving
August 24th, 2017 at 5:10 PM ^
But great endurance.
August 24th, 2017 at 5:01 PM ^
If you want to play football.
August 24th, 2017 at 3:51 PM ^
Did you read the article, though? The title says it was cancelled over concussions, but really it was cancelled because only 11 people signed up. You aren't going to field a football squad if every single player plays both ways for 100% of the snaps.
August 24th, 2017 at 3:52 PM ^
Did you even have to ask? The "nanny state" dog whistle kinda gave it away, no?
August 24th, 2017 at 5:02 PM ^
We all march to the beat of a different dog whistle.
August 24th, 2017 at 4:19 PM ^
I played on a team in junior high that had 11 to 13 guys depending on who was healthy on a given day. It was great as far as all of us being able to play a ton of football. But we were not exactly a juggernaut.
August 24th, 2017 at 3:51 PM ^
they cancelled it because not enough people wanted to play. You can't have a league without players.
August 24th, 2017 at 3:53 PM ^
Because people just fire off their hot take without even reading the article
August 24th, 2017 at 3:57 PM ^
If those damn nannys were dedicated, they'd sign themselves up. Our country is so soft these days.
August 24th, 2017 at 4:14 PM ^
You can't have a league without players.
you won't be saying that shit in October when the "Draftageddon rounds 103-105" post goes up:
Brian: I'm taking Michigan's 14th string LBer.
Ace: Solid pick, tho I think Rutgers has a starting LB still on the board
Brian: thanks, Jim Delany!
BSB: Does M have a 14th string LBer? Also, When can I leave? I haven't see the outside of this room is 3 months and I'm running out of Ramen. I'm tired of making picks.
Brian & Ace in unison looking at each other: I think it's time BSB makes his *final* draft pick.
BSB: oh thank go- wait. waait... gasp.... NOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo...... [garbled]
August 24th, 2017 at 4:38 PM ^
Keep going until BSB makes the final pick!!!
August 24th, 2017 at 5:18 PM ^
lulz hilarious. I dig Draftaggedon but this was good. Keep up the content!
August 24th, 2017 at 3:56 PM ^
This response is SO indicative of what is wrong with politics in this country. This guy so desperately wants to blame everything wrong on the "nanny state" that he fails to really even understand what that means. This football program ended because of INDIVIDUAL CHOICES ON BEHALF OF PARENTS CONCERNED ABOUT THEIR KIDS' SAFETY. The government literally had nothing to do with it.
And FYI, you didn't lose your job because of Mexicans or Chinese or liberal regulations or globalists or anyone else. It's because a robot does it cheaper and faster than you, doesn't need a pension or benefits, and doesn't take sick days...
August 24th, 2017 at 3:59 PM ^
at least he didn't say only 11 showed up because the rest were shot over the summer
August 24th, 2017 at 4:07 PM ^
Sorry, but this is too funny...
August 24th, 2017 at 4:18 PM ^
for those of us who live here
August 24th, 2017 at 4:53 PM ^
No kidding. To FauxMo's original point on political jumpiness, agreed. People are really anxious to take blue/red sides on almost any imaginable issue.
August 24th, 2017 at 7:07 PM ^
I will take my bullet now.
August 24th, 2017 at 5:29 PM ^
username checks out
August 24th, 2017 at 8:31 PM ^
This is what is so wrong with debate in society today. This guy wants so desperately to be led around by the nose by the government and so called intellectual elites that he cannot think for himself and yet arrogantly claims to know what others are thinking.
And FYI, not all research is presented accurately, reporters make up news, and coastal elites do not know everything, particularly how the rest of us should live.
August 24th, 2017 at 8:31 PM ^
This is what is so wrong with debate in society today. This guy wants so desperately to be led around by the nose by the government and so called intellectual elites that he cannot think for himself and yet arrogantly claims to know what others are thinking.
And FYI, not all research is presented accurately, reporters make up news, and coastal elites do not know everything, particularly how the rest of us should live.
August 24th, 2017 at 8:42 PM ^
Dog whistle much?
"Coastal elites." "Nanny state." "Intellectual elites.'
Come on now.
August 25th, 2017 at 2:21 AM ^
Come on now. You can do better than that.
August 24th, 2017 at 3:59 PM ^
Pretty convinced this is a troll account at this point.
August 24th, 2017 at 4:09 PM ^
You'll want to stay in front of him though.
August 24th, 2017 at 4:15 PM ^
Man, kids today have everything!
August 24th, 2017 at 4:27 PM ^
we had to cover ourselves in glass shards rather than bubble wrap.
August 24th, 2017 at 4:35 PM ^
FIFY
August 24th, 2017 at 4:37 PM ^
Harbaugh himself said kids shouldn't play football until 8th grade.
August 24th, 2017 at 3:47 PM ^
I heard an NPR program a couple weeks ago where a Dr. in CA is calling it child abuse if parents allow under 18 year olds to play football. Not agreeing necessarily just reporting.
August 24th, 2017 at 4:09 PM ^
THIS would be approaching "nanny state" intervention. No, the state should not tell parents their kids cannot play certain sports with (arguably) higher risks of danger because it would constitute "child abuse." If they did, football might be gone, but so would:
-Boxing
-Soccer (heading the ball has a high risk of concussion)
-Rock Climbing
-Skiing (lots of head injuries there)
Etc...
August 24th, 2017 at 4:36 PM ^
I am not sure that the high concussion rate in soccer is because of heading the ball. In my experience, it is more likely collisions and elbows.
August 24th, 2017 at 4:42 PM ^
Those collisions happen when players go to head the ball.
Soccer ref here.
August 24th, 2017 at 4:38 PM ^
FWIW, the US soccer federation now bans heading the ball for all age groups below either u12 or U14. Heading results in an indirect free kick.
August 24th, 2017 at 4:41 PM ^
The Doctor is the man who discovered CTE in Pittsburg Center Mike Webster.
August 24th, 2017 at 4:00 PM ^
My son is entering high school this fall. I fully anticipate that there will be no football at all at his high school by the time he graduates.
it makes me sad.
But at the same time, there is no way my wife would ever let him play football. And that's happening all over.
Perception matters, and the perception right now is that football is downright dangerous.
They need to do something and they need to do it fast.
Or else, can you say Homecoming Cross Country meet?
August 24th, 2017 at 4:03 PM ^
Mandatory Cross Country has a nice ring to it!
August 24th, 2017 at 4:05 PM ^
A perception now. It is proving to be factual.
It has to be fixed.
August 24th, 2017 at 4:10 PM ^
This. When 110/111 NFL players showed evidence of CTE, the isssue is well beyond mere perception. The problem will either get fixed, with much less contact involved, or the sport will go away through attrition. I think it will be the former.
August 24th, 2017 at 4:32 PM ^
I never played in the NFL--although I did play football into high school. I also played a lot on the jungle gym, sledding, 4-wheeling, running/rolling down hills, climbing verticles (and falling), the occasional scrap, jumping racing bikes with the occasional hard fall and broken bones--all as a kid. In the ED more than once for head trauma--never due to football. Im just saying the general population of males may be much higher than you think also.
August 24th, 2017 at 4:45 PM ^
To be fair, those players' bodies were donated because their families thought they might have CTE or other issues. It's still alarming, though.
August 24th, 2017 at 5:11 PM ^
1. Absolutely right, it is a real problem
2. The study was a little biased, because the players (or their families) who thought they may have had CTE in the 1st place are more likely to volunteer for this. Would be interesting to get a study like ths done on all football players. Results would probably still be concerning, but less extreme.
August 24th, 2017 at 5:19 PM ^
More than a little biased. Very dubious extrapolations are being made from that data (by outside parties, not the original researchers).