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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/sport ... ml?hp&_r=0

An article on the online frontpage of the NY Times today discusses the town of Marshall TX, which recently eliminated 7th grade tackle football (tackle now will start in 8th grade). The article focuses on the reactions of parents in Marshall to the problem of concussions, head trauma, and football injuries in general. The parents are supportive of putting off tackle football, and many have decided to keep their kids out of football altogether. The comments section is pretty interesting too.

"Amid widespread and growing concerns about the physical dangers of the sport, the [Marshall, Texas] school board here approved plans in February to shut down the district’s entry-level, tackle-football program for seventh graders in favor of flag football. There was little objection."

"However subtle, the change in thinking reflected in Marshall’s decision about football may signal trouble for the N.F.L. — and the sport more broadly. ESPN reported in November that participation in Pop Warner football declined nearly 10 percent from 2010 to 2012. Every young athlete steered away from football contributes to a gradual erosion of the sport that is, by far, the most popular in the United States. This happened to boxing during the past several decades after it became associated with brain damage."

I never see comments as being a real representative sample. Go to Yahoo and read any political article. You would think Obama had a 5% approval rating.

DudeAnon wrote:I never see comments as being a real representative sample. Go to Yahoo and read any political article. You would think Obama had a 5% approval rating.

Yeah, that's true... in this case, the people who disagree with the article will tend to avoid commenting either in fear of being criticized or seeming to be insensitive to injuries to kids. Even still, interesting that a town deep in football country is starting to take concussions, etc, seriously.

Seems just like the reports of MLB dying and the quality of college basketball getting worse. Just silly narrative.
I'll believe it when I see it, and right now I see high school football, college football, and the NFL more popular than ever and rapidly growing.

collge basketball has gotten worse definitely since the 90's. All these 1 and done's or before that guys going straight to the NBA has had a huge impact. 1990 draft for instance- of the 27 1st round picks- only 2 of those picks were not seniors(one was a jr and one was a so). Compare to last year- 6 freshmen were taken last year in the 1st round of the NBA draft. Only 3 seniors in the 1st round and 18 overall. Of those 18, 7 didn't play in the NBA this year. Of course that's going to make an impact. That's no narrative. Teams from the 80's/early 90's would murder the teams of today- and it wouldn't be close.

Now the concussions- I think it's having a big impact. when participation numbers are down 10%- that's huge. That's like 130k fewer kids I think it was playing football. For one- that's going to impact other sports. Maybe instead of football, they'll go baseball or basketball. Or even Soccer or Lacrosse.