The Fight Over the Future of Football Has Become a Battle for California’s Soul

[Double Barrel]

The Fight Over the Future of Football Has Become a Battle for California’s Soul

California has long been known as a hotbed of football talent. Yet as research into the game’s dangers has spread, politicians, advocates, and parents have clashed over how to protect youth, high school, and college athletes. What happens to a state intractably divided by sport?

Over the past decade, high school football participation has dropped 6.6 percent nationwide, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). Much of that decline can be attributed to the violent nature of the sport, and the attention being paid to the repercussions of that violence.


The headlines made by Boston University CTE studies, Will Smith movies, and the 2012 suicide of Hall of Famer Junior Seau have intensified arguments and sowed political division about the future of football. On one side are those who say that the sport—particularly at the youth and high school levels—is inherently dangerous and deserves careful regulation, if not an outright ban. On the other are those who say this is yet another example of government overreach that represents the softening (and imminent downfall) of America.

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[Thorn]

Football is a violent sport, yeah we all know that. We also like to watch. It isn't going away, it may change some (and it will), but it isn't going away.

 

[steelbtexan]

Football is a violent sport, yeah we all know that. We also like to watch. It isn't going away, it may change some (and it will), but it isn't going away.

Change for the worse as long as God'ell is the commish.