Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Smack me in the head, PLEASE !

I am intrigued by the new direction in football. All of a sudden you have to be very careful how you hit someone. Otherwise you can be assessed a targetting penalty and be ejected from the game. That is just peculiar on the merits of the awareness.

I remember being knocked unconscious on a football field when I was about 15. That is the only time that I have ever been unconscious outside of balanced anesthesia. No one expressed any concerns for that episode in my life. I am not sure that my parents even knew that I was unconscious. The coaching staff wanted me off the field so they could continue the game. The referees wanted the same thing. I do not think that there was even a penalty assessed for someone knocking me out. As I recall I was doing the tackling and I hit someone incorrectly and the lights went out. Shortly afterwards I gave up football in favor of baseball and basketball.

Now, call me old fashioned, but is it not a part of playing football that you are going to get hit on occassion? Furthermore, you are coached to hit quickly and efficiently to stop the offensive player from gaining yardage at your expense. So nowadays you have to process the hit a little more deliberately. As you process that decision your opponent may run over you, possibly knocking you out, and scoring a TD on you. However, there is no penalty assessed for that occassion.

I am mystified. No, I am kidding. I am not mystified in the least little bit. You have to back up this sequence of events to incorporate the tort system. All of this concern for the safety of the players is tied to the series of successful law suits being brought against the NFL and the NCAA for player injuries. You see, football is a business first and a game second. You get a couple of multi-million dollar awards to consider and you have to react. A hefty judgement can eat into the revenue produced by your football team pretty quickly. Therefore, the leagues have sanctimoniously reacted in grave concern for the safety of players. Bull feathers ! Where were they 52 years ago when I was knocked out? Simply stated my getting knocked out in a JV game being played in Union, West Virginia was not relevent. However, had I been knocked out on a playing field in Death Valley in Clemson, SC before a national audience now that is a potentially crippling tort action.
That could negatively impact revenue flow into the ACC.

It is almost like the tobacco tort actions of twenty years ago. It is not about if I have the lack of judgement to chain smoke unfiltered Camels for twenty years. It is all about my capability in having done so, to hire an immensely talented and slimy law firm. All that has to be done is to make the case in front of a jury as to whether my poor judgement is at issue or not. The makers of the product put me at risk due to their negligent manufacturing process.

It would seem to me that if I did not want to get knocked out then perhaps I should spend my time in the stands eating hot dogs and ogling the cheerleaders. If I don't strap on pads and a helmet and go out and line up against Jadavean Clowney then I am most likely going to be in safe harbor.

The same goes for getting in the ring with Mike Tyson. How come we can continue to condone men, women beating each other up in a boxing arena and not unnecessarily change those rules? Answer is simple. That is certainly an assumed risk. The lawyers down at Velociraptors, PA, have not worked out the legal approaches on that one.......................yet.