Should we ban football?

[Nakura Chambers]

There have been a lot of calls by liberals to ban American football lately. Some advocate a complete and total ban on the sport, whereas others are only advocating for banning it in high schools and colleges (for now). The reason for these proposed liberal bans is supposedly because the sport is "too dangerous" and that people are incapable of making decisions for themselves, so the government has to make decisions for them. What makes football dangerous, you ask?

What makes this sport so "dangerous" (at least from a liberal perspective), you ask? The primary injury in football is concussions, however there are other injuries as it is a full-contact sport. There is also some controversy with some of the painkillers that doctors prescribe to football players, at least one of which can cause permanent damage if abused.

Needless to say, many are opposed to these proposed bans and government regulations. I do not believe we should sacrifice American culture just to satisfy the whims of statist liberals. There is nothing we can change about the sport that will make it safer, not without fundamentally changing the sport in it's entirety anyway. In addition, even in the most far-left European countries, they still allow rugby, which is far-more "dangerous" than American football. The leftists always talk about wanting to transform America into a Europe 2.0, yet not even the Europeans have gone so far as to enact such laws.

Here are a few reasons I believe we shouldn't ban football in high school; many of the same points can be levied towards bans on professional and college football:
1. The players choose to play the game of their own free will and their parents also have to approve allowing them to play.

2. It teaches the players valuable lessons in responsibility and team-work. It also teaches them strategic planning (how to formulate strategies).

3. It encourages students to do well in school, seeing how they will be no longer allowed to play sports if they are in trouble.

4. It provides students with an outlet to receive scholarships to colleges that they may not otherwise be able to attend.

5. At school sports are regulated in a safe environment, with players given safety equipment and required to follow rules. If we banned football, the children would just play it outside of school, without safety equipment, rules and medical staff standing by.

6. It teaches students about American culture and instills a sense of patriotism.


Do you believe that football should be banned and/or heavily regulated (by the government)? If you do support such a ban, why do you support it? And do you believe that people should not be allowed to make "dangerous" decisions?

[Blastit]

Lets try and ban it so my liberal best friend who literally jerks off to victor cruz and the patriots can see what it's like to have something you like demonized and attempted to be banned.

[Darthcullen]

In this case, a lot of calls by liberals means less than .001% of liberals. Football will not be banned so this topic is fairly pointless.

[slime]

I never understood how American football can be even close to as dangerous as rugby. But, I guess I would say the helmets are nasty. They are of course great when they protect, but when used to make the tackle or hit - I can see why they are very dangerous. I don't have a solution, wish i did because I really enjoy American football.

[FusedMass]

I read Huff Post pretty regularly and I NEVER heard them screaming to ban football. At all. Both Republicans and Liberals enjoy football. This is sorta painting a bad image on one group with not a single link to back it up.

[Deleted]

It always amuses me to see people confuse liberalism with authoritarianism.

[anveena]

Yeah lets ban football because a few people get hurt. Now lets expand on this line of thought and apply it to everything that isn't a necessity for society to survive.

[FusedMass]

I kindly request that the OP at least provide a link. As a liberal. I have NOTHING against football. That's like myself creating a thread that says Republicans Hate Red Meat. Its a sport both mutually party's enjoy there are no politics in this. In fact Obama once attended the superbowl last year in person. Not a single article on this has been posted by CNN or Huffpost.

So where is this information coming from?

[Durandro]

I never understood how American football can be even close to as dangerous as rugby. But, I guess I would say the helmets are nasty. They are of course great when they protect, but when used to make the tackle or hit - I can see why they are very dangerous. I don't have a solution, wish i did because I really enjoy American football.

Its simple. When you're wearing armour, you have the sense of being invincible and will throw yourself at your opponant much more violently. Its like when they introduced boxing gloves - it actually increased fatalities!

But yeah, don't pin this on 'liberals' as if we all want to ban stuff. Far from it. Pin it on the small number of people who are utter killjoys and are utterly terrified of anything remotely dangerous. Being liberal means we want people to have MORE rights, not fewer!

[Deleted]

We need to ban cars and water as well.

[Puck]

Well honestly, full contact sports can be really damaging and dangerous. We hear quite a few stories of athletes getting injured and then taking their lives or others because of said injury.

But on the other hand it is so entrenched in our culture I doubt anybody is willing to touch it. Least of all me.

At the very least can we ban fist fights in Hockey?

[Biggayshammy]

ban football? what?

i dont give a shit about football and im a liberal

lets ban UFC though. why? so people will stop wearing tap out shirts

[Coote]

Funny thing is, if you attempt to ban it, more people will do it just because they can. You'll find small leagues popping up, and likely not even using any padding potentially causing even more injuries.

[araine]

Another poor attempt in anti liberalism trolling.

So many forget that liberalism is the ultimate defender of your FREEDOM that you take for granted.

[Deleted]

No, they know the risks when they choose to play, same as any dangerous sport such as Rugby, Boxing, nude mud wrestling etc.

[Deleted]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcastaball

[Deleted]

this is by far (not directed at OP) the most stupid and idiotic thing i have ever heard

sport has been shown multiple time to improve your intelligence, social skills, health, illness prevention, brings people all over the world with different religions/skin colour etc.... among many many others aspects which create a better life. Not to mention the amount sport has done and also the fact many of the main NGO charity's (UNICEF for example) have claimed that sport is one of the best tools to saving the world.

i cant link but if you need prove go to google scholar and search sport "insert topic" and you will find 100's of journals full of research and experiments to back this up.

yes there are bad points of sport (racism, injury etc) but thats part of life and can be found in almost anything. the benefits of sport massively out weigh any negative sides.

so yeah....anyone who truly believe american football, and sport in general, should be banned has a very narrow minded view and needs to take a look at what sport has done for the world.
/
tl:dr sport has done more good in the world than you can imagine. kids get hurt, its gonna happened no matter what so putting them in a bubble will ruin thier childhood....in the words of batmans father...why do we fall down? so we can learn to pick yourself back up

[Wythel]

In addition, even in the most far-left European countries, they still allow rugby, which is far-more "dangerous" than American football.

Rugby :

Foul play includes

- obstructing opponents
- punching, trampling, kicking or tripping players
- tackling too early, too late, above the shoulders
- tackling a player when they are in the air
- doing anything which is unfair or dangerous.

How many of them are legit in your "Football" ? There is no way rugby is more dangerous...

Anyway, banning a sport enjoyed by so many of you is plain stupid.

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

We need to ban cars and water as well.

Christ people who compare cars and/or water to just about anything else that has dangers are being stupid as fuck. Let me know when cars or water are even remotely similar to football or guns or whatever the fuck people want banned.

I could maybe see banning schools from having teams or something like that, but banning a sport altogether is absurdly impossible and not to mention silly. Even banning teams from schools would be sketchy because there are plenty of other sports that have similar dangers.

[Deleted]

Replace American Football with British Army Murderball, then we shall have some fun.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...erm=murderball


A game invented by the British Army in which is a lot like soccer. The differences are:

1. The goal is a post or a spot on the ground where the ball must be placed (not thrown), rather than an open goal

2. There are no rules. Anything goes except for the use of weapons and punching to the face or groin.

3. The winner is the team that accumulates the most points before the end of the game.

There are some variations such as 'last man standing murderball' and 'one point per hospitalisation'
'Fancy another game of murderball?'
'Not til they take my stitches out'