Happy Father's Day. VillagesPl.

It's only a suggestion. Far be it from me to be able to control your compulsions.

A kinder, gentler planet
 

Actually, to your point, wouldn't it be nice if human nature evolved to a point where there was a lot less violence overall. I sometimes think (not too weird, but OK) about what impression a person from another planet would get when visiting here. A peek at the evaluation sheet for humans - a rating scale from 1 to 10. Still engages in tribal warfare. Ends lives in many domestic, international and legal situations. Entertainment seeks fights (hockey/boxing), crashes (racing)....you get the idea. But hopefully we have come a long way
and will continue to evolve. And your suggestions are one way to do that.

I supposed any school district sanctioned sport, or activity for that matter, has it's dangers. Maybe the difference is that people choose to participate in football, but hazing is imposed upon them? Danger is all around us, in everything we do, no matter our age. We choose to take our risks in life every day when we drive, walk, swim, etc. Hazing is a crime of violence. I get your point, but I think there is a big difference.

Why don't we all just sit at home and wait to die? What fun!!!!!

It's all or nothing? We should either have football or sit home and wait to die?

Reading these posts makes my head hurt......................

Thank you!

It might be time for your annual eye exam.

In 2007, in the U.S., there were 14,556 school districts and 15,974 high schools. Real compulsion is when someone is not satisfied unless all school districts and all high schools have football. They can't stand the thought that somewhere in the U.S. there might not be football. If someone even suggests that perhaps football shouldn't be allowed somewhere, they get extremely upset and frustrated. And they will attack whomever made such a horrible suggestion. That's real compulsive behavior.

Who are these compulsive people of whom you speak? I have not heard of anyone who has said they are "not satisfied unless all school districts and all high schools have football". I coached for fourteen years in a rural area of northwest Missouri and we were surrounded by small towns with high schools which had no football. The schools were too small to support football, having too few able bodied young men to field a team. The young men in these schools had other sports outlets available and seemed to be unharmed. There were also several schools in the area which were too small for eleven man football, but fielded an eight-man version of the sport. Methinks you are really overreaching on this and many posters have answered your original question adequately. In my years of playing, coaching, following the sport including my own two boys, and helping as a booster, I have never observed or known of, a fatality or life threatening injury. I look forward to your reply, pulling out of context some of my points and countering them. Knock yourself out.

Sorry, but I can't agree with your view of football programs or your over dramatization to emphasize that view. What you describe as people getting "extremely upset and fustrated" is more about people being upset when so-called do-gooders actively try to impose their negative views on the future of sports or when school funds get cut and the first programs to go are music and/or sports.

There may be some truth in what you say in a few cases, but it's really more about the kids and the threat of something important for their overall development being taken away from them. And what you call "real compulsive behavior" is more a reaction to what's potentially being taken away from the kids and the proactive efforts to find a resolution to the problems created through attempts to get funds re-instated or find alternate solutions to mitigate the problem.

Anyway, as I already said it's "about the kids" out there and not about us or our opinions. Many minds greater than ours have been discussing and dealing with this issue for many years, and truthfully, our talk about it is just that... talk!

Rush and some of his followers. (See whose post I was answering.)

I was speaking of those who get super defensive, frustrated, insulting and act as though that is the case, as if they must have football everywhere or else they are not satisfied.

It seems that small towns or small schools have valid excuses for not being able to have football. So no one will fault them for not participating. But this story started with a Penn. school board member/teacher, Patty Saxton, who spoke up against high school football for various reasons. 1) injuries, especially concussions 2) football being funded by taxpayers and 3) potential law suits. For those reasons she expressed her opinion that Penn. should not have high school football.

As a result, she was called a "busybody woman" by Rush and some of his followers (or at least one in particular that I know of). Even though she said herself that there's no way football would ever be banned.

So here's how it gets complicated: I started this thread to find out what people think about football injuries compared to hazing injuries. Then I decided to bring up the incident with Patty Saxton to clarify what gave rise to my interest in this subject. And because I defend her opinion, well, you can see for yourself what happens.

Overreaching in what way? I simply posed a few questions and tried to bring out a few facts about the numbers of deaths. Some posts tend to get nasty and make me the issue instead of sticking to the topic that was presented. You don't see that as overreaching? Well, I do.

Well, when people start trying to make me the subject/topic of this thread by name calling (i.e., do-gooder, buttinsky etc.) I tend to put it back on them. They don't have anything substantive to add to the discussion so instead they try to make it about me.

Well, first of all, nothing is being taken away from anyone, at least as far as I know. It's just a discussion. And, anyway, someone in the know just said that kids do just fine without football. It doesn't hurt their development if they don't have it.

I'm not concerned about the many minds that are greater than ours. This board is for us Villagers to ask questions and give our opinions. It is just talk, that's why they call it a discussion board.

Thank you for you're response!