OT: Joe Posnanski on Priest Holmes and Andrew Luck

I wonder if this is going to spur the NFL to create more rules trying to protect QBs.  Seems like they've already instructed the refs to always err on the side of caution and throw a flag when a QB takes a hit now.

Radical idea: NFL switches two hand touch

Human beings are fundamentally violent creatures. The history of that violence is well documented. In this day and age, social constructs provide guardrails to it's extremes. Sports, as that term can euphemistically be applied to those that involve contact, are essentially, a pursuit of or outlet for violence, a natural element of human character. Football, in particular, simulates combat and the violence inherent in war. Sports were then a preparation for combat and are now, also viewed as entertainment.

Players step on to the field of combat in a game of football by choice both in pursuit of their own interests and to entertain. Fortunately, today, players are free to leave it on their terms and when they choose. That wasn't always the case as exemplified by gladiatorial sport at the height of the Roman Empire and you can argue that player contracts often are written to dissuade players from doing what Luck has done. 

In that context, then, we should view Andrew Luck's decision to leave the game of football with empathy for and understanding of that decision. Nothing more, nothing less. Attempts to explain it like Ponanski's article does are not usually useful.

Apparently, Luck was no longer willing to participate in the cycle of pain, rehab, pain, as he described it, as a form of entertainment. While he was paid handsomely to perform, he very likely decided it wasn't worth it. Other's, like Priest Holmes, decided it was or never came to see things like Andrew Luck apparently did.

As well, fans, who booed Luck, perhaps from their disappointment having paid a lot of money to be entertained for a season of football while having their natural human instinct for violence satisfied might be viewed with similar understanding.

Human nature and the behaviors it produces is a powerful force that often eludes reasonable explanation. Joe Ponanski's article represents a decent attempt to do so. On balance, it neither criticizes Luck or the fans that booed him. It's a reasonable explanation for both's behavior.   

I hope he is talking to someone.  Physical health is one thing, mental health and depression is another all together.

Who is this guy, and why do we care/ why is this on a Michigan blog (I know that Luck was coached by Harbaugh).

I struggle with this. These men choose the sport. They SHOULD be given ALL possible data on any possible consequences. Maybe they wouldn’t choose it. But who are we to deny well informed adults their right to do something they love ?

Where the sport falls short is denying CTE and injuries after football; they should be recognized and attacked so that people who do play get as much support as possible when they’re done playing.

Arian Foster was on the Joe Rogan podcast a few years ago and explained why he retired from the NFL at such a young age. It’s a pretty interesting listen, he also went in depth of how he was treated by his coaches in college. It’s eye opening how these men are treated for pure entertainment purposes. Fans fail to see how they are normal humans underneath the pads and uniforms. The colts fans booing Andrew Luck on Saturday was ignorant to say the least. No amount of money is going worth destroying your body for. Once you lose the passion it’s time to hang it up. I’m glad Andrew hung it up when he felt like the time was right. 

I’m not a crotchety old fart that thinks these guys are soft, I just don’t get the narrative that these players are forced to play. It’s like I watch the jackass movie where those guys get seriously hurt, but they know the risks and do it anyways. I will support the players, I think the fans or outsiders that act like it’s some atrocity that football players get hurt doing something inheirently violent is weird. 

I’ll also add that I don’t see the outrage about hockey being dangerous when guys get their throats sliced, Achilles’ tendon sliced, get paralyzed, get the same concussions, break bones blocking shots, destroy their jaws by getting hit with pucks or crashing into the boards. Those players know the risks and play the game they love to make a living. 

Games are arbitrary things we make up, and some of us THEN decide to invest time, money, and emotions in them. But they're STILL only games. That suggests we let people decide for themselves whether to watch or not, whether to care or not, whether to play or not.

Complaints about players — including blaming Luck because someone else leaked his news — seem to be less about what they want for their lives, than about what we want for ours.

Football is dying, Harbaugh will never be fired even if he loses games because he gets kids paid either by actually getting to the nfl or getting a meaningful degree. 

You can read the first few posts in this thread, it's becoming glaringly obvious that people are just now finally waking up to the ravages this sport puts on the human body. I empathize with the athletes I have to work with knowing they have to deal with that kind of pain (i've had c5-c7 fused) i am amazed they get anny of their work done at all, and how much willpower it does take to get through the degree while being in that much pain. You can't give these kids anything that will fix nerve pain.... try working on your degree with nerve pain in your upper back. 

This "problem" isn't going away. I love the game.... For me, this whole "going soft" thing started when watching Gardner go downhill, and finding out how much nerve damage Denard had that he had to try playing around in the NFL after sitting out for years. 

I won't even get into the situation with the other QB at the time.  That would be gaslighting.