For those that missed it. the NFL Network morning show had a great time talking about the CFL today. Matt Dunigan, Terry Bradshaw were on. Dunigan suprisingly in a great segment about LA Tech Football that he is the most popular player there and many still follow him on TSN. The other famous LA Tech QB? Bradshaw is 3rd, 2nd is the the duck dynasty Robertson's.
Here is another great clip on Ricky Ray.
Great stuff continuing. Also i did not know this but NFL network showed the Grey Cup Rally for about 15 minutes last week.
It does look that the NFLN are trying to like heck to get on with the CFL.
With the Halifax investors trying to fast-track a CFL franchise and having checked out 4 potential locations for a stadium and David Braley abruptly pulling the Lions off the market (perhaps anticipating a higher offer in a year or two)...along with some surprising coverage from the American media...and the CFL commissioner's recent statement that he wants to double or triple the league revenues (along with a revamped U.S. TV deal). Is there something going on between the NFL and CFL that we don't know about? Has the NFL realized their brand is crashing and they're looking to Canada for salvation?
The NFL has obviously admired our TD celebrations after years of being the NoFunLeague. Then there's player safety concerns with a NFL committee recommending the adoption of a CFL-sized field and one-yard restraining zone at the line of scrimmage (which reportedly lessens the head-to-head contact prevalent in American football)...stay tuned for the breaking news!
Maybe both leagues have realized that MLS is growing very rapidly and for our pro football leagues to flourish in the future, we all had better be on the same page (of promoting pro football positively) at all levels?
I wish the CTE talk would not get as much airtime as it does. Many efforts are underway to reduce concussions and injury, but let’s face it - it’s a heavy contact sport. Players know what they’re signing up for. If we keep vilifying the pro leagues as being responsible for CTE injuries - we soon may not have any football to watch at all.
If you’re a parent of a young child and he or she is asking to go into team field sports - are you going to encourage the sport that’s in the news daily about CTE risk, and everyone now wanting to sue the league(s) - OR are you going to encourage soccer?
No question both leagues do need to synergize in these times of increasing competition in the sports world.
Some nasty stuff in last nights Steelers-Bengals game with a head shot on Brown think it was on a td catch in the end zone (can't believe he held onto the ball). Both leagues are going to have to be tough with this type of hit. Would like to see both leagues get together for mutual discussions on this. And bring into this discussion the Gronkowski cheap shot which garnered a one game suspension.
Yup, not sure I'd be letting my kid play football in all honesty as much as I love watching football compared with soccer and I think Dunigan has even said this at one time.
It’s interesting that pretty much ANY head contact (in the pro sport of football where they intentionally wear helmets because of head contact) is now newsworthy(when it has always happened, all along). No different than MMA fighters get hitting in the head.
But in football, it’s become ‘horrific’ because that’s what lawyers and CTE finger pointing has done. It’s gotta stop or football is doomed.
As you say, the leagues have a responsibility to be consistent and crack down on the illegal stuff, but some head contact will never be avoided.
Agree, some head contact is just inevitable as part of the nature of the game. Is what it is but crashes in car racing are part of the nature of the sport as well and that sport keeps on ticking.
I have to admit, I do watch football for big hits, it's fun to watch and even with some nastiness just like I do like watching crashes in car racing, I always hope no one gets injured but watching a car do flips and crash into the barriers is exciting in a bizarre way. Downhill skiing another very dangerous sport. When they crash, I watch, again hoping no injury but there is a wow factor.
Yes for sure, but the big difference (when compared to car racing) is that those governing bodies aren’t being sued for allowing car crashes. It’s part of the sport and ideally - it would be great if the crashes didn’t occur or cause injury or death ever - but it does happen. In football, I believe the CTE thing has become such a massive juggernaut to now deal with - that it may spell the end for what we know as pro football currently. I’m generalizing here somewhat, but in the NFL and CFL we have idolized so many of our pro football players that when they take a nasty hit, we act like someone kicked in our front door and stormed our home. We take it personally. That’s not a good thing. The players signed up for this and it’s part of the game. Obviously we hope no injuries occur but fans getting pissed off because helmet to helmet occurs - is ridiculous in my opinion, and us fans are hurting the game we love because of our overreactions to so much of what is actually normal for the sport.
Not true at all. Every sngle time you head the ball, ýou sustain a microconcussion. One of the worst cases of CTE ever diagnosed was a 23 year old former NCAA soccer player who was a heading specialist.
Previous poster brings up a good point. Soccer has been targeted for CTE issues for years due to heading the ball over and over again.
We hear about football due to the NFL being the king in the US and lawyers are going to target the biggest buck.
MLS might be growing, but the second , if, it gets to be part of the big leagues in the US, the lawyers and former players will be lining up.
This is why minor football/high school coaches and leagues are not being sued, no money.
All sports leagues have been working toward safer play and better equipment.
Something does seem odd. There seems to be a sudden interest in the CFL (between the Maritimes and the U.S.) we have not seen before.
All I care about is the financial stability of the League. If these steps ensure the League will be around F-O-R-E-V-E-R and I NEVER have to hear about teams losing money, I am willing to hold my nose and make some changes - like an early start to the season.
Time will tell.
I just hope it does not involve the NFL in Toronto - I doubt it but I worry that is the next shoe to drop.
CTE concussions is one thing that football is dealing with, as best as they can. Don't sit there and tell me soccer players don't get concussions also!.
The point I’m trying to make is that head injuries will occur in any contact sport.
Lawyers and their never ending thirst for revenue has gotten society to the point that many think that any injuries sustained (when one is well aware of injury risk) are the responsibility of someone else. A league worth billions then becomes a great target for blame/revenue. It’s an actual business model. If this doesn’t stop, leagues won’t be able to function.
When we compare MLS to NFL or CFL, the football leagues are getting MUCH more heat on the CTE issue than MLS is. Ergo, perception becomes that soccer is safer. Mom’s aren’t worrying much about soccer risk CTE, but they surely are worried about football CTE risk. We have 8 neighbours with kids under 10 around us on our street. Not one of them is entering their kid into RMF (Regina Minor Football). Not one. Only 2 are in hockey. They’re all in soccer or baseball instead. A generation ago (my kids generation) it was the opposite. All because they don’t want their kid to sustain head injury. I think it’s important to add that the majority of these same families - are season ticket holders to the Riders. They love football, but now are just avoiding it for their kid and it’s solely for safety reasons. That’s what all this CTE coverage has done.
Football will always be the #1 popular sport in America with Baseball right behind. In Canada Football will always be #2 after #1 Hockey.
Concussions have zero impact.
This nonsense about parents letting their kids play is just stupid. I have never heard of a parent that has said 'no' to their kid in playing football. And its irrelevant anyways as most football players start playing in HS and they don't need parent permission.
When was the last time you spoke with a parent who has the choice of which sports to enter their kid into? I interact with this demographic almost daily. Smart, college educated parents from varying ethnicities and backgrounds (no different than when I grew up here) except they hear CTE = football blah blah blah daily. And it’s affecting their decisions.
Soccer isn't immune from this without a doubt. And the fact there are so many people playing the sport as well:
BRAIN TRAUMA SCIENTISTS TURN THEIR ATTENTION TO SOCCER
One US pro soccer team, DC United, lost six players to retirement over the past decade due to concussions, while another two players missed playing time this season with head injuries. In a recent lawsuit against the team and its coach, former DC United goalkeeper Charlie Horton said one of his teammates elbowed his head on purpose in 2016, giving him a concussion and ending his professional career. And in 2015, the US Soccer Federation, the sport’s governing body, settled a proposed class action lawsuit by limiting heading by youth soccer players....
Soccer isn’t usually considered a contact sport, although gameplay hits can result in concussions. “Soccer has repetitive impacts, from player to player and players heading the ball,? says Boston University’s Ann McKee, an author of this week’s study of NFL players. “It doesn’t matter how you do it, just that you do it and do it repetitively.? And with 265 million players worldwide, soccer represents a potentially huge pool of head injury patients.
Thanks for posting this. It’s getting ridiculous. We act like we don’t know head impacts can cause concussions, and we think the world is coming to an end when a pro athlete making tons of $ gets one.
Why isn’t anyone worried about the millions of people who work in unsafe conditions around the world who don’t have a financial safety net or healthcare coverage?
Why? Because there’s no money in chasing those cases. As a society we should be ashamed of ourselves.
Agree Iconic. And then there is the issue of food shortages in countries while here we throw out food that is just past the marked due date, one grocery store chain employee said that's what they do. And no access to safe clean drinking water etc.
As a society, world society, we should be ashamed. Anyways, getting off topic.
no it's not. I have never even heard of a kid wanting to play and not being able to play. And that would have made national news.
Its all BS..... I would make an issue more of kids not wanting to play football because they are afraid of getting hit and not enjoying practice cause they are lazy.
probably why kids choose soccer over hockey/football cause they are weak. And that's not being mean. Its probably a fact. Kids are wimps these days and very lazy. Soccer you just run around and its hardly work. Football and Hockey is a total commitment and takes a special person to be a great athlete. And lets not forget about the kids who are afraid to get hit :)and be embarrassed cause hockey/football are a lot tougher to play.
you don't hear a saying ''you gotta be tough to play soccer'' - ''be a man and play soccer''
I guess we're all victims of what the media is peddling to varying degrees. Not for a second am I saying prevention of concussions isn't important, but rather I think we can expend a lot more energy righting some real wrongs in the world vs complaining so loudly about our first world issues.