America’s Favorite Sport
“Football is too dangerous of a sport,” says Sean Gregory, in the February 8, 2010 issue of Time Magazine. Gregory states, “Although football hasn’t quite reached the bloodlust status achieved at the ancient Coliseum, the path to the super bowls are strewn with broken bodies and damaged brains that result when highly motivated, superbly conditioned athletes collide violently in pursuit of glory”(Gregory 1). While football can be dangerous, altering certain rules, changing practices, equipment, and educating coaches and players can help to make football a safer sport, without changing the heart of the game. Ever since American football evolved from Rugby, rule changes have occurred every few years. Officials and…show more content… Adding the two-point conversions made the game more interesting. If every team could score a touchdown for six points and then had to kick the field goal to get their seven points, each team would know that the other team was going to kick a field goal. The two-point conversion keeps the defense on their toes and wondering if the offense is going to actually kick a field goal or go for the two-point conversion to put pressure on the opposing team. The change in helmet-to-helmet contact was not to make the game of football less action-packed, but to decrease the number or severity of concussions. The ruling that only allowed one teammate to celebrate on the field is not a bad rule this keeps each team respectful. If a player scores a touchdown in a close game, he should be allowed along with his teammates to celebrate, but also remain respectful to the other team. The rule banning stocking caps and bandanas in 2001 one can find to be unreasonable. A player wearing all the required gear should be allowed to add in any extra item as long as it is not hurting any other players. This rule now goes along with the rule change for 2010. The football league took away the privilege of players having printed messages or symbols on their eye black. The worst part about this rule…show more content… Rules like this take away from the heart of the football game. The wedge formation is where three to five men make a V-shape to block the opponents. Andrea Adelson a reporter for ESPN wrote in her article, “The wedge formation has been changed to two men on the formation and if there is not a decrease in injuries, the NFL will eliminate the wedge altogether” (Adelson 2). Reducing the number of men on the wedge will cut down on a few injuries because there would be fewer players to collide with each other, but the rule change does not take into account the main reason players get hurt during the wedge. An opposing player runs some fifty yards and goes straight into the players; one can imagine this to be like hitting a brick wall. When one looks at the wedge formation from this point of view, it sounds brutal and they should take it out, but the injuries and concussions do not occur when a player simply goes in for a block on the formation. Injuries occur when a player lowers their head to go in to the formation. This is where the NFL needs to intervene, start throwing flags and teach their players proper defensive strategies. For many players who have played football from a young age were taught to lower their heads and go in for the tackle. This is where the
