OT: Joe Posnanski on Priest Holmes and Andrew Luck

Yes, it is immoral to force anyone into obesity.  But that hasn't been the goal in decades, either, so...

No one said anything about morality. The guy said that it is harder to support the game as a fan, and I can relate. It's called cognitive dissonance. You love something, but you also know that it can cause great pain and suffering. Seeing these two things concurrently causes an internal struggle.

Is it immoral if the players are choosing to play ?

Not necessarily, but it's immoral for those fans that perhaps hide behind this kind of argument to boo a guy off the field when he "chooses" not to play anymore.

that is not even remotely close to what he stated. It is becoming a cognitive dissonance issue when you watch athletes choose to destroy their future physical and neurologic health for enjoyment unless you are sociopath. I agree with the others, I find it harder and harder to ethically to support the sport of football. 

Your statement is sloppy.  Football played at the highest levels is much more dangerous.  

My suspicion is that football played at the youth level is less dangerous than other sports.  With small players and slower foot speeds, there is less energy involved in collisions.  

Are blown out knees and ankles dangerous, yes.  Then cast a long look at soccer and basketball.  Are ruined shoulders and elbows a concern, then baseball is guilty (I deal with pain in my right arm and shoulder everyday and I haven't thrown a live pitch in 20 years).  

The nature of sport (EVERY SPORT) is for players to push themselves and their bodies to their personal limits.  While it involves risks, it also creates an ability to focus and push oneself to places they likely didn't believe that they could achieve.  

I have no issue with Andrew Luck retiring.  Football at the Div 1 and NFL level is a devil one makes bargains with.  And he has a better outcome financially than all but a very few.  People should use sports for their own ends.  I have two boys that are excellent athletes in their sports. My dream outcome for them is that that ability helps them get into a college that is half again better than they would have with just their grades.  And then they hang up their cleats and focus on their academics two weeks after getting on campus.

They are throwing  balls at each other at 100 mph. I’d say that is pretty dangerous.

Your statement lacks depth of thought.

Football is MUCH more dangerous. 

Said no one who ever played competitive hockey ever.

Obviously I'm using a bit of hyperbole, but hockey players hit each other at higher speeds by virtue of being on skates and ice. And while most NHL players aren't built like linebackers, most of them are bigger and stronger than you would think.

The point, as has been made already, is that trying to turn it into a pissing contest about which sport is "more dangerous" is stupid. Each sport has its niche injuries and its own character of violence to the body, either through collision, through joint trauma, or through repeated wear and tear.

Hell, my wife was a competitive swimmer in the late 1990s and her shoulders will never be right again. When our son was young she couldn't lift him over her head.

Having the #1 pick in 2021 would be way more valuable. Trevor Lawrence is on a different level as a prospect. 

The Colts were projected to win their division. Can they drop all the way to the bottom in 2020? There is going to be a lot of competition for that pick.

"and it is implied you play until you can't"

UGH, what a terrible take. I will never begrudge an athlete for placing their self-interest over my interest in them as a fan. That should be an absolute no-brainer, but being entitled seems to be a part of the makeup of many fans. 

Yeah, you’re right, Jethro. He’s obligated to play until he’s crippled and brain-damaged because fans deserve it. 

Maybe they do: https://www.livescience.com/38169-electromagnetism.html

he sloppily used it correctly. though there is literally none if any transmutagenic effects from EM fields from your mobile device/laptop. 

But for a lot of these guys, is it really a choice? And is it ultimately worth the damage the culture of the sport demands? 

Yes, it is a choice.  Might not be a great one but it's still a choice and still 100% up to the player.  Whether it's "worth it" is also entirely up to the individual playing the sport.  Not the fans or folks who want to "regulate" safety into sports

And how exactly does one support their living expenses when they are going to "community college, transfer to a decent school, get a nursing or law degree"? Would it be a service job? Remember, they don't have a degree, so will they be proficient in writing Python or PHP code and making $140K/year, or working a white collar job since there are no blue collar jobs left?

And a law degree? Look at a previous post this weekend on Kareem Walker. He had to go to Fort Scott CC on scholarship just to catch up with basic educational requirements. Do you think a lot of kids go straight from a poor high school education to graduating with a law or nursing degree? How many kids from inner city Chicago, Detroit, and Camden, NJ, or even rural areas with no jobs, do you know that have graduated with a law degree? You don't just walk in to a nursing or law degree? Both are tough and take years and years of study.

I may not have grown up in these areas, but I'm not so clueless as to think this is the norm.

Again, it's easy for you to say "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps", but the reality is many kids don't have role models in their neighborhoods and come from tough situations, like being raised by single parents or their grandparents. They've probably never met a lawyer in their life. Football or maybe the military is the only real way out.

I teach in a title 1 high school. The vast majority of the students at our school are vastly under grade level for reading, writing, and mathematics. The old American dream idea of pulling yourself by your bootstraps is just that an old dream. Most of our graduates enroll eventually at Washtenaw Community College, a trades school, or just take a low level service position. The cards are so stacked against, them they have few choices.  Ever so often we get a student that is incredibly driven. For example one of our graduates became a community activist, eventually a city commissioner in a metro detroit community, and now they are a state representative. You right we are responsible for the billions of choices we make in our lives. However, for a large population in our country, state, and local communities there are systems in government, business, and education closing off choices. It is ignorant, it is reality. 

I teach in a title 1 high school. The vast majority of the students at our school are vastly under grade level for reading, writing, and mathematics. The old American dream idea of pulling yourself by your bootstraps is just that an old dream. Most of our graduates enroll eventually at Washtenaw Community College, a trades school, or just take a low level service position. The cards are so stacked against, them they have few choices.  Ever so often we get a student that is incredibly driven. For example one of our graduates became a community activist, eventually a city commissioner in a metro detroit community, and now they are a state representative. You right we are responsible for the billions of choices we make in our lives. However, for a large population in our country, state, and local communities there are systems in government, business, and education closing off choices. It is ignorant, it is reality.