My comment on an article "will pro-football fade away"

The boxing "Palooka" and ban on bare-knuckle boxing goes back a century.  I recently watched the entire 40 hours box set of the 1980's HBO series "1st and Ten" which frequently dealt with debilitating and crippling injuries in pro-football.

The concept of latent brain injuries like these was not discussed in the HBO series but the idea has rapidly caught on.  I've heard it discussed a number of times in commentary during NFL games this year.  The case of
local wrestler Verne Gagne has brought more awareness locally so we are ahead of the curve here.

That said, this seems low on the list of threats to pro football.  Topping the list is the threat of labor unrest and the US Supreme Court ruling against revenue sharing.  http://www.minnpost.com/derekwallbank/2010/05/24/18428/sports_armageddon_supreme_court_issues_landmark_ruling_favoring_vikings_and_individual_teams_over_nfl

I have tried to watch several soccer World Cups including last summers and am convinced that viewing that can cause someone raised on US TV brain damage .  I could write an essay on why soccer won't become mainstream entertainment in the US.  I watched for World Cup entertainment tie ins in the outer ring suburbs where our local "soccer row" started in the 1980's (and the original "soccer kids" are now adults) and couldn't find anything.  Even 1st and Ten" had an episode about pro-soccer and empty stands.  (For starters soccer plays something like 45 minutes without a break which does not allow for commercials or instant replays)

By contrast, during this NFL regular season eighteen of the twenty top rated network (and Fox) TV shows were NFL games.  The ESPN NFL games also did very well.  I heard a figure that the US pro football is an eight billion dollar industry.  That is around $25 per capita in the US.  More than two thirds is from broadcast rights.  Contrast that with gymnastics, which had relatively weak broadcast appeal outside of the Olympics. (the Beijing Olympics were said to be a financial and ratings disaster for NBC.)

Our pro football is also adaptable.  Pro football has already instituted rules and tends to be very adaptable.  Also, our best and brightest tend to be fans and offer suggestions.  People like me also do.  My suggestion for late/hard hits.  Besides the down and yardage penalty have an immediate game time penalty of five or ten minutes clock time for the hitter if refs make the call.  The NFL has a premium "all games" cable/dish option so a "judgement committee" can review the plays and vote on additional team penalties and potential removal of the player from the rest of the game if they deem the charge legitimate.  This can easily be done in five minutes of playtime.  If I can figure that out the NFL can.

The "legislation through litigation" strategy has never been popular in the polls.  The tobacco litigation, is something I consider mostly a "charade" (I quit smoking in the early 1970's)  This involves the withholding of
"informed consent" as a legal claim.  Heck, if an NFL player tapes or Tivos a game and watches it they will hear discussions on the head injury issues.  Union reps and agents should be aware of this and suggest reasonable adaption in the game.

In the early 1970's, before his foray sheltering the Symbionese Liberation Army during the "lost year" Jack Scott" was a very vocal authority on the alleged dangers of college and pro sports.  Most athletes he cited in articles and his book "The Athletic Revolution" were deemed "sour grapes" who didn't make the cut by the public.

The public support of the NFL might, in large term be a "backlash" response to the forces of "political correctness" and the Nanny state.  This won't go away.  Also there is "low hanging fruit" if someone wants to take this on.  One prime example is cable wresting.  Lot's of alleged brain damage there!

For what it's worth I didn't watch much pro-football until the Brett Farve era of the Vikings.  I want our sports gladiators to "live long and prosper".  We need creative adaption, not litigation in pro-football rules.