re: Hall of Fame QB Brett Favre wants youth football outlawed

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Preach on! I once pulled a hammy during "Two Bits" from the stands. And a guy I know lost an eye during "Bang Bang Choo Choo Train". Deadly sport indeed!!!

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almost spilled my drink once after a third down stop by the Tigers!

You can actually look at the facts or continue being a dumb arse. It might not be a choice in your case.

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High school cheerleading accounted for 65.1 percent of all catastrophic sports injuries among high school females over the past 25 years, according to an annual report released Monday by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research.

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The new report released Monday found that between 1982 and 2007, there were 103 fatal, disabling or serious injuries recorded among female high school athletes, with the vast majority (67) occurring in cheerleading. The next most dangerous sports: gymnastics (nine such injuries) and track (seven).

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LINK

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Cheerleading is the No. 1 female sport and No. 2 in catastrophic injuries when compared to all sports – only American football ranks higher.
The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina reports that 65.2 percent of all catastrophic injuries in youth sports occur in cheerleading.
Cheerleader falls from gymnastic-type stunts have been reported to have a greater impact than being tackled by a professional football player.

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LINK

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told the London Daily Mail that he wants his grandchildren to pursue golf and music rather than football.

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That's great, then let the kids that want to play tackle football play tackle football and let the kids that don't want to play not play. I don't see why he can't just allow kids to have fun with whatever outlet they choose?

I love football as much as anyone. Always have. As for as I can remember, I was always a football fan. When I was 5 years old, I could name every starting QB in the NFL.. It's just something that I have always been passionate about. With that said, I don't think that kids should participate in tackle football until their freshman year in HS.

I am sure I will get "kids are pussies these days, there is no reason they shouldn't play tackle football", but a person's brain doesn't fully develop until 24-25 years of age. The more blows to the head that people take at an early age, it is more likely to have an impact on the development of the brain.

The fundamentals can be taught without having to tackle. There is no way a 5th, 6th grader should be smashing into each other...

And for those who say "it's not like they are being hit hard like because they are still small". If a 5th grader hits a senior in HS it isn't going to be a big deal, because the senior in HS can easily handle the impact, but if a 5th grader tackles another 5th grader, although it might not look that bad to adults, its relative. A 5th grader getting hit by another 5th grader is going to be equivalent to an 8th grader hitting another 8th grader and so on.

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I think there's some research that it's actually more dangerous for young kids. I have no idea myself just regurgitating...

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This is correct. I guess you can sort of compare it to baseball pitchers. There are a lot of kids who end up fricking up their shoulders because they are pitching way too much when they are young. The way pitchers in baseball pitch, isn't a natural motion. Pitching in softball is actually a natural motion and you don't hear about a lot of softball pitchers having injuries that prevents them from pitching again.

I don't think k we will need a law. The youth league I volunteer with, our numbers have fallen from
185 and 12 teams to 57 and 4 teams... over last three years.

Our entire 5/6 yr old team last year (youngest age) consisted of families with kids who also played in an older league

Yes, football is doomed, unfortunately, unless something is done.

I personally know a lot of kids that are excellent athletes that gave up football by middle school for other sports.

Right or wrong, football is becoming taboo with a lot of moms and they steer their boys elsewhere.

All of our younger families, and families with only one child who is under sat the age of 8... none of them are playing tackle football.

Now, flag football has exploded in growth

I think the OSHA TRIR for cheerleading is something like a 20 if I remember correctly.