Strikes & Outs (err make that Down & Distance)

[jchamp]

Originally Posted by Steven Tyler

I thought celebrating over "big hits" would be taunting. Nowadays they make a simple open field tackle, they get up, and run about forty yards in a big circle. Save your energy for the rest of the game.

Strangely, it is likely that "saving your energy" is what allows the game to have such a greater long-term hazard than other contact sports. The heavy armor we apply to football players has also had a positive-feedback effect on the danger inherent to the game.

Consider Rugby, or Australian Rules. In those games, there are a few natural breaks in the action, and for the most part play is continuous. Players are constantly struggling. Despite being encouraged to make contact with their bodies, and little armor, they have little opportunity to rest. This means that their collisions are at a lower speed. In American football, players may have 30 seconds or more between every play in which to rest, allowing them to launch their bodies at each other at full-speed. This is even further compounded by platoon substitution, and truly "special" special teams, who are fully rested when their opportunity to crash occurs.

Since players in other football games aren't carrying much, if any, armor, each player has less inertia. The mass their neck is carrying is less without a helmet, meaning their brains aren't being "pulled" along with the extra helmet mass when a collision stops their torso. The lack of armor means that players will naturally assume a more protective posture when attempting higher-risk plays. This psychological phenomenon has been demonstrated to be valid in traffic-control situations. I find it hard to believe that it would be less valid at most levels of football competition, as well. Unfortunately, I doubt that NFL players would protect themselves as well as amatuer athletes.

The NFL tends to lead change throughout the football landscape where safety is concerned, so any steps they take, including removal of kickoffs, will eventually propagate to the lower levels. This would be true even if the hazardous condition in the NFL was not present in lower levels, if for no other reason than the irrational fears of parents who would litigate for the change.