If you think this sport is too violent to be played than you should stop being a hypocrite and supporting it. Either you are OK with the sport being played or you are not.

Also if this is your ticket to finical security you better get a different plan. Making it to the NFL and further yet playing long enough to make you financially secure the is even less, most guys in the NFL play 3 years at the league minimum, I have made more in my life time than they do as Software Engineer. To make a notion that only poor people who might need this skill to make money is absurd as you can get.

I am talking about where 99% of the kids will play football and that is H.S. Sorry you child most likely isn’t going beyond that and the stats show that H.S. football isn’t as dangerous as College or the NFL. Sure you can learn teamwork and healthy habits through other sports but what if your kid doesn’t like Soccer or Baseball? What football is what he likes and is will be the medium he uses to learn these life skills? You will deny him that just because you are afraid. Life is far more dangerous than H.S. football trust me.

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YEP! Let’s just make kids play football. It will solve the obesity problem. They’d be better off playing “futbol” if the concern was obesity. The problem with “health problems” is they are like drug use. The damage isn’t apparent immediately. I’ve seen too many friends end up with life long injuries. Too many kids who decided to play through injuries that now become life long disabilities. Football won’t prevent obesity and it’s absurd for you to even mention obesity in the article.

Your parents didn’t want you curse. Alas, you do (at least 99.5% of you).

” there are a lot more kids struggling with health problems related to obesity than there are kids struggling with health problems related to football”

This is ridiculous. There is so much middle ground between playing football and being obese. I agree that youth sports can be a great way to give kids a chance to get some physically activity, but the football doesn’t have a monopoly on that.

People who see this as an “attack on the sport” need to get lives. I love football. I’m on this website multiple times a day, I get NFL redzone every season, and I try to go to as many games as economically feasible a year. But I’m not so attached to football that I see any sort of critcism (Especially when it’s geared toward improving safety) as an “attack.” People like that are worse than those who think using the word holiday is an attack on Christmas.

Buckybooger, get a life.

Now of course football has a high injury rate but if you look at days lost or serious injuries it isn’t all that high at all. The injury rate is all injuries where the days lost IMO is more important as it shows how serious they are.

Getting injured while playing football isn’t news.I think things are being blown out of proportion and people aren’t do the research. Don’t forget these players like to act like they are the only ones that can do what they do, gives them a sense of importance.

Does Football cause injuries? Yes but so does a ton of other activities. Kids get concussions doing everything. Hit with a baseball, falling on the hard floors, wrecking their bike and one of the worse is cheer-leading. As I stated if your child isn’t physically ready or built to do the sport yes hold him out. If he wants to play and is willing to keep himself in the kind of physical condition to play his risk of serious injury in High School isn’t that great.

So which is it anyways? I took to many hits or didn’t play? Just for you information I did play, High School and two years at UW-Whitewater. I also boxed for 5 years as well [this one I don't recommend]. If you don’t think football should be played why are you here? This is just so hypocritical of everyone. If you think this game is too violent and shouldn’t be played than you shouldn’t support the #1 entity that will encourage kids to play.

As I stated we should be doing research and take the proper precautions but if you hold out all the kids from playing football will go the way of boxing. If that is what you want you should probably get off this site and start watching something else.

This is stupid. Stop with the weekly McDonald’s meals and using the TV as a babysitter and we don’t have this “giant” obesity problem. Yes, pun intended.

It isn’t like his kid is likely to play anything past H.S. If you look up the stats of H.S. sports football isn’t as bad as some think [http://www.sportssafety.org/sports-injury-facts/]. Kids get hurt doing things. You can’t protect them from anything. H.S. football is pretty safe and it will only get safer.

If you don’t think football should be played than maybe Scott should stop playing. Tired of that attacks on this sport. I have been reading up on it and basketball will tear up your body just as much. I am not saying we don’t need to do the research but don’t be killing this sport just yet. Discretion by the coaches and parents is paramount. If your kid loves the sport and will keep himself in good enough shape to play, have at it.

I hope this year on Sunday Night Football when they introduce the players, they have them say whether or not they want their kids playing football instead of what college they went to.