When Mr Boogs is watching football I read my book - but I confess to having become interested in the world cup, mainly because of the political shenanigans.
I didn't enjoy sports as a child. PE teachers were cruel, so maybe that's part of the reason.
I find watching it very boring.
The worst is tennis because of all the grunting and noises. Nothing much seems to happen either . I will never understand how people can sit in the blistering sun and watch it.
The best is cricket. I can even listen to cricket on the radio. Not following the sport - I don't understand a word of it, but there is something gently relaxing about the commentary and the chat about seagulls and cake.
And that's another thing. Why do commentators of other sports have to shout so much?
I'm surprised at people finding tennis boring - I mean, did you see last night's Djokovic/Auger-Aliassime match? I don't think there's the grunting and shrieking there was a few years ago - anyway it's perfectly easy to follow it with the sound off. Every shot is a potential score and therefore exciting.
I also find golf interesting because it's human vs landscape. Obviously I think the landscape should be dunes well found for whins and heather with a stiffish gale and horizontal rain.
Team sports, apart from rugby union, not really. Football is just people ambling about in a field.
I much prefer rugby union to football but a poor game of rugby is very poor indeed.
Football on the other hand has immense potential for excitement and excellence. It doesn’t often work out that way but it’s unmissable when it does.
I was brought up on Test Match Special and televised cricket so that is my go-to sport, although I was never much good at it.
As I've commented on the other thread, I got put off sport when I was at school. There was too much of it and it was taken far too seriously.
Tennis I find particularly boring, just plink, plonk, plink. I can accept it may be enjoyable to play, but not to have to watch others doing so. And that cycling one where teams just ride round in circles. Why? I can't even imagine that being any fun to play.
I'd imagine riding on a bob-sleigh must be quite exciting if you know what you are doing, but I saw a bit of it when the Olympics overran and the programme I was wanting to watch was delayed. That also is unwatchable.
At least I don't think anyone televises Bridge or Coarse Fishing.
To me, it's all about the drama. That can come in individual moments or built up over time.
Understandability is another factor. I've watched the Madison in cycling and as I don't understand it, I don't find it interesting. Individual and team pursuit, on the other hand, are much more readily understandable and therefore interesting.
Two of the most entertaining sports, in my view, are BMX racing and snowboard cross.
Most sports can have poor matches. In football, last night's game between Colombia and Switzerland was pretty turgid.
For all that would decry cricket as boring, I would implore you to watch the final couple of hours of the 2019 Headingley Test between England and Australia; one of the most entertaining finishes of any sport, any time.
I can't work up any interest in a sport that I've never played. Since I can't see, throw, catch, hit or kick any kind of ball, that eliminates most, though rugby is an occasional exception in the right company. I rowed a little when a student, so I would like that more if you could watch it on the screen, which is almost impossible.
I watch almost every sport imaginable. Covid lockdowns even had me watching obscure sports like Cornhole. I grew up playing sports (tennis, racquetball, basketball, soccer) and now the only sport I play is pickleball.
I think I'm sport blind. People will shout "what a great tackle" or "what a shot!" or "that delivery was unplayable" and I can't see how the tackle, shot or bowl was any different to any other. So for me it really is just watching people moving around in particular ways.
I can't work up any interest in a sport that I've never played. Since I can't see, throw, catch, hit or kick any kind of ball, that eliminates most, though rugby is an occasional exception in the right company. I rowed a little when a student, so I would like that more if you could watch it on the screen, which is almost impossible.
I used to like following (not particularly watching) the cricket but I had that interest largely knocked out of me by trying to play and discovering that even local village cricket is played at a level that I cannot hope to reach.
After two seasons of practicing I could still only bowl one legal delivery for every three attempts. On the bat my highest innings was 1 (two balls); my average about 0.1. Best I managed was staying in so we didn't lose by virtue of forward defencing every ball and making no attempt to score. I only survived because the bowler hadn't figured out that if he just went straight for the stumps he'd have me in two balls because I only connect with half of the balls I go for. On a good day.
Generally speaking sports are one of those things where I have neither aptitude nor interest. There may be some connection between these two things but I suspect to a large extent it’s a fortunate coincidence…
I have watched sports from time to time, generally for social or family reasons, and I can see why people find it interesting but it doesn’t grab me at any visceral level and at some point my attention starts to wander.
When I was a teenager my father used to listen to baseball faithfully throughout the summer at the cottage, which I used to find akin to torture. Now there’s a TV which means at least one gets to see what’s happening and the volume doesn’t have to be as high.
Although I have never been very good at playing any sport and did not always have good experiences at school I very much enjoy watching many sports. However there are exceptions:
* cycling, which I have always found intensely boring
* F1, which was fun when I was three years old but palled thereafter.
* rugby football
* association football
* boxing
I do however genuinely enjoy watching Amercian football. I would hate to play it.
I like to watch tennis but no other racket sports, although I enjoy playing racket sports.
On the other hand I hate playing golf but enjoy watching golf. I find watching snooker very absorbing and I like watching darts and bowls too even though I rarely if ever play any of these games.
However my top sport is cricket, which I love playing, watching, umpiring and talking about.
I find it hard to watch activities that would appear to lead directly, in many cases, to lifelong degenerative illnesses. I do not think we can justify physically damaging people's bodies and brains for other people's entertainment. I guess that just shows how wet and liberal I am.
I have less problem with activities that cause little or no harm to participants, but am quite an old fart about whether it is necessary. It all seems so silly to fly around the world to run in circles.
All of that said and to show how much of a hypocrite I am, later in the year I am thinking I might go for a day for the Test Match in Edgbaston.
However my top sport is cricket, which I love playing, watching, umpiring and talking about.
I'd change umpiring to taking photos of, but otherwise...
I've only ever played two sports that I've been any good at - pool and cricket. And I don't watch that many more. Rugby (Union, being a southerner), and a bit of Wimbledon but that's about it.
However, like @Boogie, I love my Test Match Special. I started listening in the days of Johnners, Blowers, Bearders, the Alderman and the Boil, and I'm still there today. It is genuinely like being at a match with a bunch of knowledgeable cricket loving friends. Except I don't get to share their cake.
Baseball, yes. I love watching the Mets play. They even win occasionally.
When some of my younger cousins played college (American) football, sometimes they had a game in this area and we would go as a family to support them. That was fun.
Baseball, yes. I love watching the Mets play. They even win occasionally.
When some of my younger cousins played college (American) football, sometimes they had a game in this area and we would go as a family to support them. That was fun.
But American football is so dangerous. Were you not worried about your cousins' safety? Maybe people didn't know as much about TBIs back then though.
Although I have never been very good at playing any sport and did not always have good experiences at school I very much enjoy watching many sports.
Yes. I’ve never been athletic and am a klutz at any sport that requires good hand-eye coordination, but that’s unrelated in my mind to enjoying watching a sport.
I love going to a baseball game—particularly a minor league game—but I find watching a baseball game on tv pretty boring. The atmosphere in the park is part of the enjoyment for me.
When it comes to basketball and (American gridiron) football, I’d much rather watch a college game than a pro game. Many joke that college basketball is the official state religion in these parts. That said, I do find the current mess that is college sports, particularly college football and basketball, very problematic. But I watch anyway, which probably makes me part of the problem.
I enjoyed playing rounders (a kind of baseball-derived sport played in British schools - not sure if anywhere else plays it) and dodgeball and gymnastics at school, especially rhythmic gymnastics. But I'm very un-competitive so I really don't care about having a team to follow or care about who wins. I enjoy watching the Olympics and Paralympics as I like seeing people who are at the top of their game and you get to see sports you otherwise wouldn't see, but I don't care who wins beyond the best performing person. Simone Biles is basically super-human! I don't understand wanting to watch a sport like cricket over something like gymnastics. Team sports always seem much less interesting to me than individual sports where it's one very talented person.
I would like to take up rhythmic gymnastics as an adult but it's basically impossible to find non-competitive adult classes. I'm not remotely interested in competing, I just want to twirl a ribbon or hoop around!
Baseball, yes. I love watching the Mets play. They even win occasionally.
When some of my younger cousins played college (American) football, sometimes they had a game in this area and we would go as a family to support them. That was fun.
But American football is so dangerous. Were you not worried about your cousins' safety? Maybe people didn't know as much about TBIs back then though.
A while back, probably over 10 years ago, a couple of renowned football players committed suicide by shooting themselves in the chest so their brains could be examined and evaluated for chronic traumatic encephalopathy. There's a program at Boston University devoted to studying CTE that reliably tied CTE to playing football. As a result the NFL has paid out something like a billion dollars in settlements to former players who suffered concussions and other brain injuries. Americans know plenty about TBIs now, and football is still the most popular professional sport.
One thing I enjoyed as a child was getting all my toy cars and putting them into a knockout tournament. I would then smash each pair of cars together until one turned over, thus losing the match. I often ran multiple plate competitions too so as to be able to put the cars in a complete rank order after the tournament. There were certain cars I definitely supported more than others, especially if they were "underdogs" in a particular battle.
I also enjoyed taking all the countries in my wooden jigsaw of Europe and entering them in a competition where I balanced them on a table and gently shook the table until they fell over. The first one to fall over would score one point, the second two points and so on. Again, there were certain countries I supported more than others - patriotism played a moderate role here. Sicily and European Turkey were particularly good at not falling over and scored lots of points. Italy fared poorly. Sometimes I would run other point-scoring rounds based on how wide or long countries were, so obviously that gave Norway a better shot at scoring an overall win.
@Pomona, yes I was a little concerned, but it was only college football, four years rather than a career, and I assume fewer games than professional play. And it was their and their parents place to worry, not mine.
Baseball, yes. I love watching the Mets play. They even win occasionally.
When some of my younger cousins played college (American) football, sometimes they had a game in this area and we would go as a family to support them. That was fun.
But American football is so dangerous. Were you not worried about your cousins' safety? Maybe people didn't know as much about TBIs back then though.
A while back, probably over 10 years ago, a couple of renowned football players committed suicide by shooting themselves in the chest so their brains could be examined and evaluated for chronic traumatic encephalopathy. There's a program at Boston University devoted to studying CTE that reliably tied CTE to playing football. As a result the NFL has paid out something like a billion dollars in settlements to former players who suffered concussions and other brain injuries. Americans know plenty about TBIs now, and football is still the most popular professional sport.
You misunderstood me sorry, I'm very well aware that Americans know what TBIs are! I read @NicoleMR 's recollections as being many years ago and thought that it wasn't always so well-known about. Although you are of course correct that now the risks are well-known but it's still the most popular sport.
I'm with @Basketactortale I'm afraid, when it comes to sports with a high risk of inflicting life-changing injuries on the player or onto others I do not understand how they can be justified as entertainment. If I had my way, American football and rugby would be banned pending serious reforms that removed the high TBI risk. This also applies various equestrian sports such as horse racing - horse racing is an incredibly cruel sport and it makes me sick to see it dressed up as a fun day out, as well as the close relationship between horse racing and the gambling industry. Gambling is a huge social evil and I do think that Christians should avoid sports and events that are sponsored by or held at locations heavily tied to gambling, eg racecourses.
A college player in the US starting every year for four years would play up to 50 games over their collegiate career.
How many college players can maintain fitness to play that many games over four seasons? They would have to be very durable. I know NFL players have an average career duration of about four seasons, and that would follow college football. College football must weed out a lot of those prone to injury.
Without going too far into this, it is not about the number of games one plays, as far as I can tell. It is about the number of head-on concussive collisions.
Clearly in boxing you get head-on punches. Similarly strikes in other fighting sports. In full contact sports like rugby, Aussie rules and gridiron some positions get more collisions than others. In addition one has to consider the strikes you get in practice and so on.
Cricket can also be dangerous, of course. Hard balls can cause damage if it strikes you in the face.
Cycling can be dangerous if you fall off. As can downhill skiing and climbing.
Objectively these are all daft things to be risking your life to do. The fact that someone else is watching and egging the participants on, I think, probably makes it worse.
To me there's a wafer-thin difference between sports where the head is essentially used as a target or a weapon for/against the opposition and those where the brain injuries are less common and more accidental.
It's a shame, I think, that less dangerous versions of these sports have not caught on. I have seen videos of big crowds at tape-cricket matches in Pakistan, tag and flag and touch versions of rugby and American football exist.
I have never been interested in motor racing or cycling but one would think that computerised versions could retain the elements of skill and reflexes without the dangers to participants.
Appreciated, @Caissa. The rugby unions, pretty much all over the world, are running away from any responsibility despite legal action. A number of professional footballers (soccer) have also suffered brain injuries from repeatedly heading the ball, sometimes very powerfully.
I hate watching sports, with the exception of certain kinds of gymnastics (the pretty ones!) and diving (same reason). I can't get interested in the exciting endings, or the great plays, or whatever, because 1) you have to sit through all the boring stuff (what you would call the build-up) and understand it, usually, to even GET why the ending or play was so great; and 2) similarly, you have to understand the rules of the sport to understand what the hell is going on, and why it's so riveting, etc.
Basically there's a huge investment of time, effort, and watching involved before you can understand enough of it to get a pay-off (ooh, ooh, look at that!).
If you ever played, maybe not so much. But I am and always have been disabled, and that means I don't have any of that. Phys. Ed. was always torture for me.
Well I do agree about brain injuries and although I find American football a fascinating and thrilling game I cannot therefore really defend it wholeheartedly. I suspect that rugby is even worse in this regard and I'm very dubious about the promotion of women's rugby and school rugby for this reason.
Well I do agree about brain injuries and although I find American football a fascinating and thrilling game I cannot therefore really defend it wholeheartedly. I suspect that rugby is even worse in this regard and I'm very dubious about the promotion of women's rugby and school rugby for this reason.
School rugby sure, but women aren't some separate species and are not more prone to injury than men.
I think that contact sports in schools and colleges are a bad idea in general. Most sports can be dangerous in some way but contact sports are on a different level.
I believe women are in fact on average more prone to concussion than men - for example this article - besides, introducing this dangerous sport to a demographic which previously didn't play it much must increase the number of potential victims.
You misunderstood me sorry, I'm very well aware that Americans know what TBIs are! I read @NicoleMR 's recollections as being many years ago and thought that it wasn't always so well-known about. Although you are of course correct that now the risks are well-known but it's still the most popular sport.
And it does make some difference re youth wanting to play. My 11 year old declines to play football because "tackling is the fun part but high tackles aren't safe." He played rugby* for years and has lectured manyadults on why rugby is safer (low tackles are less likely to cause TBIs.) I don't think J is utterly standard, but if he thinks that is something against football I imagine some kids are moving on to other sports because of it.
*At his club/level the ban on high tackles was absolutely ruthlessly enforced, so the odds of concussions and TBIs was comparatively low. His coach was draconian about that stuff or I wouldn't have encouraged him to play. Only serious concussion that happened J's last season was the coach's son.... when his dog tackled him!
And the risk still spooked me if he had wanted to continue.
It’s not my thing. But I think people can enjoy what they like. As for sports injuries, I think that making clear the dangers to the athletes before they embark on that as a career would be the best approach, rather than banning various sports.
I'm not suggesting banning contact sports totally, just pending reforms that would make them less dangerous. I think it's also worth examining the morality of people involved in sports promotion, televising, gambling etc effectively making huge sums of money from other people's head injury rodeo. It's one thing for an adult to choose to play a dangerous sport, it's imo quite another for lots of people to be making money from that while also opposing safety reforms.
It's also, of course, a very different thing to encourage children and young people to play a sport that may seriously damage their brain before their brain is even done growing - to say nothing of the enormous sums of money funnelled into school and college sports in the US, often to the detriment of non-sports programmes.
I believe women are in fact on average more prone to concussion than men - for example this article - besides, introducing this dangerous sport to a demographic which previously didn't play it much must increase the number of potential victims.
You can play rugby without tackling. Women have also been playing rugby for years and years, it's not new - I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that women didn't play it before.
It’s not my thing. But I think people can enjoy what they like. As for sports injuries, I think that making clear the dangers to the athletes before they embark on that as a career would be the best approach, rather than banning various sports.
I don't think any young person starting playing a sport at 12 will fully understand the implications of brain injuries when they are 50.
You misunderstood me sorry, I'm very well aware that Americans know what TBIs are! I read @NicoleMR 's recollections as being many years ago and thought that it wasn't always so well-known about. Although you are of course correct that now the risks are well-known but it's still the most popular sport.
And it does make some difference re youth wanting to play. My 11 year old declines to play football because "tackling is the fun part but high tackles aren't safe." He played rugby* for years and has lectured manyadults on why rugby is safer (low tackles are less likely to cause TBIs.) I don't think J is utterly standard, but if he thinks that is something against football I imagine some kids are moving on to other sports because of it.
*At his club/level the ban on high tackles was absolutely ruthlessly enforced, so the odds of concussions and TBIs was comparatively low. His coach was draconian about that stuff or I wouldn't have encouraged him to play. Only serious concussion that happened J's last season was the coach's son.... when his dog tackled him!
And the risk still spooked me if he had wanted to continue.
I'm not sure which sport you are talking about with respect to high tackles, but the concussions in rugby are not directly or exclusively connected to the position of the tackle.
I played rugby regularly from 12-18 at school in England where the attitude was that a wet sponge could cure most injuries and feeling a bit dizzy after a passage of play was absolutely normal.
I think I have read that concussive incidents are often related to the person doing the tackle (head against leg), hitting the ground (head against ground) and as well as in a high tackle (head against head) because concussion happens when the brain rings inside the head like a bell.
I have never seen anyone knocked unconscious at a school rugby game but I saw plenty of people staggering around. Many hospital injuries have happened in front of me and deaths are not unknown even today when supposedly school rugby is much safer.
I would not encourage my child to run full speed into a brick wall and would not encourage them to take up these sports.
Another point: there's a phenomena in the UK and I'm sure it is similar in other countries where some young people at around 16 are encouraged to abandon all other options in their life and completely stake their future on sport. Most often football, but also other sports.
The problem is that this is a lottery in more than one direction; there's a high chance of injury from playing or even over exerting at practice. But there's also a vanishingly small chance of becoming a professional athlete. Most are being sold a dream they will never achieve.
Another problem with “hard” contact sports is that there are millions of former players and supporters who claim fiercely that namby-pamby rule changes are ruining the Great Game and “it never did me any harm”, which may tragically indicate that it indeed has.
I was certainly knocked cold a couple of times, but the Magic Sponge ™️ put everything right.
Another problem with “hard” contact sports is that there are millions of former players and supporters who claim fiercely that namby-pamby rule changes are ruining the Great Game and “it never did me any harm”, which may tragically indicate that it indeed has.
I was certainly knocked cold a couple of times, but the Magic Sponge ™️ put everything right.
The only person I saw knocked out was during a (field) hockey knock-about when someone inexpertly missed the ball and struck someone hard in the face. Hockey was not even played at my school, it must have been one of those rare occasions when the Games Master thought we should take a break from rugby.
I don't think it was deliberate but who knows from decades later. Aggression was certainly something encouraged when playing rugby, which was particularly stupid given we only played local schools in my area.
That said we did have some international rugby players from my school so maybe that encouraged it.
@Basketactortale I have seen malicious aggression on the school rugby field, and sometimes I’m sure the teachers cordoned it. Usually the victim was not part of the “in group” which is typical in schools. No wonder people hate sport.
There’s a saying in South Wales, regarding bright working class boys going on to university and beyond.
Those who can, do.
Those who can’t, teach
and
Those who can’t teach, teach Gym.
@Basketactortale I have seen malicious aggression on the school rugby field, and sometimes I’m sure the teachers cordoned it. Usually the victim was not part of the “in group” which is typical in schools. No wonder people hate sport.
There’s a saying in South Wales, regarding bright working class boys going on to university and beyond.
Those who can, do.
Those who can’t, teach
and
Those who can’t teach, teach Gym.
The version I heard added: 'and those who can't teach, inspect'.
Comments
When Mr Boogs is watching football I read my book - but I confess to having become interested in the world cup, mainly because of the political shenanigans.
I didn't enjoy sports as a child. PE teachers were cruel, so maybe that's part of the reason.
I find watching it very boring.
The worst is tennis because of all the grunting and noises. Nothing much seems to happen either . I will never understand how people can sit in the blistering sun and watch it.
The best is cricket. I can even listen to cricket on the radio. Not following the sport - I don't understand a word of it, but there is something gently relaxing about the commentary and the chat about seagulls and cake.
And that's another thing. Why do commentators of other sports have to shout so much?
I also find golf interesting because it's human vs landscape. Obviously I think the landscape should be dunes well found for whins and heather with a stiffish gale and horizontal rain.
Team sports, apart from rugby union, not really. Football is just people ambling about in a field.
Football on the other hand has immense potential for excitement and excellence. It doesn’t often work out that way but it’s unmissable when it does.
I was brought up on Test Match Special and televised cricket so that is my go-to sport, although I was never much good at it.
Tennis I find particularly boring, just plink, plonk, plink. I can accept it may be enjoyable to play, but not to have to watch others doing so. And that cycling one where teams just ride round in circles. Why? I can't even imagine that being any fun to play.
I'd imagine riding on a bob-sleigh must be quite exciting if you know what you are doing, but I saw a bit of it when the Olympics overran and the programme I was wanting to watch was delayed. That also is unwatchable.
At least I don't think anyone televises Bridge or Coarse Fishing.
Understandability is another factor. I've watched the Madison in cycling and as I don't understand it, I don't find it interesting. Individual and team pursuit, on the other hand, are much more readily understandable and therefore interesting.
Two of the most entertaining sports, in my view, are BMX racing and snowboard cross.
Most sports can have poor matches. In football, last night's game between Colombia and Switzerland was pretty turgid.
For all that would decry cricket as boring, I would implore you to watch the final couple of hours of the 2019 Headingley Test between England and Australia; one of the most entertaining finishes of any sport, any time.
I used to like following (not particularly watching) the cricket but I had that interest largely knocked out of me by trying to play and discovering that even local village cricket is played at a level that I cannot hope to reach.
After two seasons of practicing I could still only bowl one legal delivery for every three attempts. On the bat my highest innings was 1 (two balls); my average about 0.1. Best I managed was staying in so we didn't lose by virtue of forward defencing every ball and making no attempt to score. I only survived because the bowler hadn't figured out that if he just went straight for the stumps he'd have me in two balls because I only connect with half of the balls I go for. On a good day.
NO.
I have watched sports from time to time, generally for social or family reasons, and I can see why people find it interesting but it doesn’t grab me at any visceral level and at some point my attention starts to wander.
When I was a teenager my father used to listen to baseball faithfully throughout the summer at the cottage, which I used to find akin to torture. Now there’s a TV which means at least one gets to see what’s happening and the volume doesn’t have to be as high.
* cycling, which I have always found intensely boring
* F1, which was fun when I was three years old but palled thereafter.
* rugby football
* association football
* boxing
I do however genuinely enjoy watching Amercian football. I would hate to play it.
I like to watch tennis but no other racket sports, although I enjoy playing racket sports.
On the other hand I hate playing golf but enjoy watching golf. I find watching snooker very absorbing and I like watching darts and bowls too even though I rarely if ever play any of these games.
However my top sport is cricket, which I love playing, watching, umpiring and talking about.
Sport is a strange thing.
I have less problem with activities that cause little or no harm to participants, but am quite an old fart about whether it is necessary. It all seems so silly to fly around the world to run in circles.
All of that said and to show how much of a hypocrite I am, later in the year I am thinking I might go for a day for the Test Match in Edgbaston.
I'd change umpiring to taking photos of, but otherwise...
I've only ever played two sports that I've been any good at - pool and cricket. And I don't watch that many more. Rugby (Union, being a southerner), and a bit of Wimbledon but that's about it.
However, like @Boogie, I love my Test Match Special. I started listening in the days of Johnners, Blowers, Bearders, the Alderman and the Boil, and I'm still there today. It is genuinely like being at a match with a bunch of knowledgeable cricket loving friends. Except I don't get to share their cake.
When some of my younger cousins played college (American) football, sometimes they had a game in this area and we would go as a family to support them. That was fun.
But American football is so dangerous. Were you not worried about your cousins' safety? Maybe people didn't know as much about TBIs back then though.
I love going to a baseball game—particularly a minor league game—but I find watching a baseball game on tv pretty boring. The atmosphere in the park is part of the enjoyment for me.
When it comes to basketball and (American gridiron) football, I’d much rather watch a college game than a pro game. Many joke that college basketball is the official state religion in these parts. That said, I do find the current mess that is college sports, particularly college football and basketball, very problematic. But I watch anyway, which probably makes me part of the problem.
I would like to take up rhythmic gymnastics as an adult but it's basically impossible to find non-competitive adult classes. I'm not remotely interested in competing, I just want to twirl a ribbon or hoop around!
A while back, probably over 10 years ago, a couple of renowned football players committed suicide by shooting themselves in the chest so their brains could be examined and evaluated for chronic traumatic encephalopathy. There's a program at Boston University devoted to studying CTE that reliably tied CTE to playing football. As a result the NFL has paid out something like a billion dollars in settlements to former players who suffered concussions and other brain injuries. Americans know plenty about TBIs now, and football is still the most popular professional sport.
I also enjoyed taking all the countries in my wooden jigsaw of Europe and entering them in a competition where I balanced them on a table and gently shook the table until they fell over. The first one to fall over would score one point, the second two points and so on. Again, there were certain countries I supported more than others - patriotism played a moderate role here. Sicily and European Turkey were particularly good at not falling over and scored lots of points. Italy fared poorly. Sometimes I would run other point-scoring rounds based on how wide or long countries were, so obviously that gave Norway a better shot at scoring an overall win.
Sport is weird.
You misunderstood me sorry, I'm very well aware that Americans know what TBIs are! I read @NicoleMR 's recollections as being many years ago and thought that it wasn't always so well-known about. Although you are of course correct that now the risks are well-known but it's still the most popular sport.
I'm with @Basketactortale I'm afraid, when it comes to sports with a high risk of inflicting life-changing injuries on the player or onto others I do not understand how they can be justified as entertainment. If I had my way, American football and rugby would be banned pending serious reforms that removed the high TBI risk. This also applies various equestrian sports such as horse racing - horse racing is an incredibly cruel sport and it makes me sick to see it dressed up as a fun day out, as well as the close relationship between horse racing and the gambling industry. Gambling is a huge social evil and I do think that Christians should avoid sports and events that are sponsored by or held at locations heavily tied to gambling, eg racecourses.
How many college players can maintain fitness to play that many games over four seasons? They would have to be very durable. I know NFL players have an average career duration of about four seasons, and that would follow college football. College football must weed out a lot of those prone to injury.
Clearly in boxing you get head-on punches. Similarly strikes in other fighting sports. In full contact sports like rugby, Aussie rules and gridiron some positions get more collisions than others. In addition one has to consider the strikes you get in practice and so on.
Cricket can also be dangerous, of course. Hard balls can cause damage if it strikes you in the face.
Cycling can be dangerous if you fall off. As can downhill skiing and climbing.
Objectively these are all daft things to be risking your life to do. The fact that someone else is watching and egging the participants on, I think, probably makes it worse.
To me there's a wafer-thin difference between sports where the head is essentially used as a target or a weapon for/against the opposition and those where the brain injuries are less common and more accidental.
I have never been interested in motor racing or cycling but one would think that computerised versions could retain the elements of skill and reflexes without the dangers to participants.
Basically there's a huge investment of time, effort, and watching involved before you can understand enough of it to get a pay-off (ooh, ooh, look at that!).
If you ever played, maybe not so much. But I am and always have been disabled, and that means I don't have any of that. Phys. Ed. was always torture for me.
School rugby sure, but women aren't some separate species and are not more prone to injury than men.
I think that contact sports in schools and colleges are a bad idea in general. Most sports can be dangerous in some way but contact sports are on a different level.
*At his club/level the ban on high tackles was absolutely ruthlessly enforced, so the odds of concussions and TBIs was comparatively low. His coach was draconian about that stuff or I wouldn't have encouraged him to play. Only serious concussion that happened J's last season was the coach's son.... when his dog tackled him!
And the risk still spooked me if he had wanted to continue.
It's also, of course, a very different thing to encourage children and young people to play a sport that may seriously damage their brain before their brain is even done growing - to say nothing of the enormous sums of money funnelled into school and college sports in the US, often to the detriment of non-sports programmes.
You can play rugby without tackling. Women have also been playing rugby for years and years, it's not new - I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that women didn't play it before.
I don't think any young person starting playing a sport at 12 will fully understand the implications of brain injuries when they are 50.
I'm not sure which sport you are talking about with respect to high tackles, but the concussions in rugby are not directly or exclusively connected to the position of the tackle.
I played rugby regularly from 12-18 at school in England where the attitude was that a wet sponge could cure most injuries and feeling a bit dizzy after a passage of play was absolutely normal.
I think I have read that concussive incidents are often related to the person doing the tackle (head against leg), hitting the ground (head against ground) and as well as in a high tackle (head against head) because concussion happens when the brain rings inside the head like a bell.
I have never seen anyone knocked unconscious at a school rugby game but I saw plenty of people staggering around. Many hospital injuries have happened in front of me and deaths are not unknown even today when supposedly school rugby is much safer.
I would not encourage my child to run full speed into a brick wall and would not encourage them to take up these sports.
The problem is that this is a lottery in more than one direction; there's a high chance of injury from playing or even over exerting at practice. But there's also a vanishingly small chance of becoming a professional athlete. Most are being sold a dream they will never achieve.
I was certainly knocked cold a couple of times, but the Magic Sponge ™️ put everything right.
The only person I saw knocked out was during a (field) hockey knock-about when someone inexpertly missed the ball and struck someone hard in the face. Hockey was not even played at my school, it must have been one of those rare occasions when the Games Master thought we should take a break from rugby.
I don't think it was deliberate but who knows from decades later. Aggression was certainly something encouraged when playing rugby, which was particularly stupid given we only played local schools in my area.
That said we did have some international rugby players from my school so maybe that encouraged it.
There’s a saying in South Wales, regarding bright working class boys going on to university and beyond.
Those who can, do.
Those who can’t, teach
and
Those who can’t teach, teach Gym.
The version I heard added: 'and those who can't teach, inspect'.