Very random topic for me...Football and weight

[Stonecold54]

would you guys rather see 300+ guys tagging each other or would you like to see a new rule that players have to be under 300 pounds and watch quality winner over brute strength? I was just watching a news story about the brain damage in the sport for these guys later in their years. the sport to me has just turned into who can be the biggest person and the crowd wants to see big hits.. I would rather see quick and skilled and hits that don't cripple people. and for the players I would think they would want to be lighter...less injuries would happen...careers would be longer (IMO)...I would rather see them stay healthy for years. I don't know why I was thinking of this so much but it sucks for these guys into there 40's with their brains all mushed up. DICUSS :D

[hlcn8]

I dunno... in theory, YES! In practice though... I've always like that football is a battle between different types of people/positions. No NAVY in the world would go into war without aircraft carriers and heavy destroyers because it would make the battle one-dimensional and thus the strategies would become one-dimensional as well. (which wouldn't be entertaining) On the other hand, I DO think it's a shame that players are having to retire early and live the remainder of their lives in pain. This isn't to say the NFL wouldn't be able to adapt and wide-receivers & cornerbacks wouldn't be smaller as their physical ability to withstand punishment wouldn't be required to be so high.
loaded question! :rofl: anyways, that's my half-thought-out response. i'm sure there'll be many good points to come from others.

[coffee-guy]

Bigger, Faster, Stronger...

It's always been their mantra and probably always will be....

[Stonecold54]

Bigger, Faster, Stronger...

It's always been their mantra and probably always will be....

they can just add in there...DUMBER... :D

[Gods Son]

Sizes doesnt reALLY play part in the injuries.The condition they have is common in boxers and has been seen in Lightweight fighters.The big guys your reffering to are linemen OL or DL weight wise their job is to stop or beat a guy of the same or similar size.All contact sports have risks.Believe me their pay scale reflects the risks.

[Shibby]

I'm for the players being healthier and smaller. I'm more about them being athletes and not just huge standing lumps. It's similar of why I hate seeing Shaq play basketball. He may be the most dominant center, but it's not because of his skill. I feel he is maybe an average basketball player that just over powers people. Sports is suppose to be a battle of athletic skill.

[Turbo3000]

They know exactly what they are signing up for. Read Romanowski's book, he knew what he was doing to his body, but he realized it was his job and the means by which he put food on the table. Also, being smaller doesn't mean there won't be hard hits, if there was a size limit then the players would soon adapt, training would adapt and they would be making powerful quick hits. Plus most of the "big" hits that I see are dealt from guys that are around 250-275 and athletic as hell. Weight and power do not always correlate.

[Scrumhalf]

I think the situation is a direct result of the rules. Football is in a lot ways a rather static sport with sequences between whistles rarely going more than 10 or 20 seconds unless there is a long run.

Moreover, as long as the only role the offensive lineman plays is to push the defensive lineman in a narrow region around the line of scrimmage, you are going to have the situation we have now where linemen get bigger and bigger to either be harder to push out of the way or harder to go around. Simply put, there is no incentive for linemen to get smaller.

Compare the situation to rugby for example, where it is a game with much more movement, where sequences between whistles could go for several minutes. You rarely see the biggest guys in rugby more than the mid-200s. Anyone bigger than that can do well in set pieces like the scrums but will quickly get exposed due to his lack of speed and stamina.

One option may be to change the rules in football to make mobility a more desirable skill in linemen. That in itself would take care of the weight problem. I can't think of how to do that however without changing the game significantly.

[bonebreaker]

Some of the biggest hitters in pro and college football aren't the biggest physically. There are many players at the cornerback and safety positions that can put a huge lick on anybody and most of them are rarely over 200lbs. I'd rather be hit by a defensive lineman who weighs 300lbs. traveling 5-7mph than I would a 200lb. cornerback going 15-20mph. BB

[babyblues]

I'm for the players being healthier and smaller. I'm more about them being athletes and not just huge standing lumps. It's similar of why I hate seeing Shaq play basketball. He may be the most dominant center, but it's not because of his skill. I feel he is maybe an average basketball player that just over powers people. Sports is suppose to be a battle of athletic skill.

But isn't that the mark of a good athlete? Using what they have the best way they can? I mean, for a guy who's 7ft tall and weighs over 300 pounds, he's pretty light on his feet. I used to think that he was just a big dumb guy, but then I realized that if the refs are going to let him run over people, than why not use that to his advantage.

Saying that sports is a battle of athletic skill is the same thing. The most successful players in professional sports aren't always the most physically gifted. Jordan was both smart and physically gifted which is why he was unbelievable. But take Tom Brady; he's not the most athletic QB, but he is pretty smart and he has 3 superbowl rings. Michael Vick is one of the most atheltic QBs I've seen and he's done nothing. It's all about how you use what you have.

The game of football has changed and will continue to change. It's the same with all professional sports. You didn't see big men in basketball much at first, as strange as that sounds, but that was because people didn't think they could keep up with the smaller faster players. Now look at the NBA, championship teams are anchored by a dominant big man. Football players used to play both sides of the ball, both offense and defense. But the game has changed and the players are changing with it. It's just like bodybuilding. The mass monsters are the ones winning. Frank Zane never would have even qualified for the big O if he competed today. But then again, would he have concentrated on more mass. I think that professional athletes are changing with their sports. And the sports are changing with their fans.