BRH

All I know is that when I was a little kid in the '70s I was a closet Raider fan because of Stabler, Biletnikoff, Madden et al. I'm going to be drawing on ALL of that this Saturday. No NFL team has ever deserved to lose a game more than the Chiefs and their fans do this one.

100% agreed. I checked in with my son on that many times, but more importantly I checked in with my wife, my friends, and others. I never ever wanted to mistake my own passion for his. Sometimes it seems all too “convenient” that the kid loves the same sport as his dad, and eventually the truth comes out. Especially when, as in my case, the kid turns out to be way better than the dad ever was (yes, I married up). When we were out on a field somewhere late taking BP or grounders, I knew people driving by would think “look at that crazy dad and his poor kid.” But every time we went, it was his idea. He was the one dragging me to practice, not the other way around. I was the one complaining it was too cold or too hot or too wet to practice, not him. He was the one insisting on getting to practice half an hour early, not me. Before I dropped him off for his very first baseball practice ever, I told him that I had just two rules: one, have fun; and two, listen to the coach. Because if either one isn’t happening, we’re done. That was 15 years ago and those are still my only two rules. And he’s still playing. Like I said, it can be confusing about whose passion it is. Because I would happily sit and watch a baseball practice from dawn to dusk. (By contrast, as much as I love football and the Bills, I can’t sit through more than five minutes of a football practice. Don’t @ me.) So I’d be the dad sitting in the stands during practice, or parked in my car where I could see it. But of course I’d never say a word, and we wouldn’t even look at each other. But I would always ask the coach if it was okay, and more importantly I’d ask my son. As he got older he’d let me know when I could stay and when I couldn’t, and I’d respect that. And of course, after games and practices - I let him start the conversation. He’s not going pro, except maybe in a front office somewhere. He was never going pro. And that’s fine. He’s a starting outfielder at a well-regarded D3 school with great academics and a 3.6 in a tough major, and he earned his spot with his own hard work. Nothing was given to him and he took no shortcuts. He understands his baseball mortality as well as anyone, but long ago he decided to get as much as he can out of the game before it tells him he can’t play anymore. I dread that day, but I also can’t wait to see what he’s going to do when the time comes.

This can’t be Zach Thomas’ first year of eligibility. Maybe his last?

Let me also add… any league that is making kids pitch at age 6 is doing it wrong. Here there’s no kid pitch until at least 8, and even that is pushing it. Not a comment directed at you, just at the league. And you know that is happening because of dads who think somehow their kids are falling behind if they don’t start pitching in first grade. The truth is that when I look back on it, I can’t think of one good 8 or 9 year old pitcher who was still dominating even in high school, let alone beyond. And that includes my son. (Fortunately, he could also hit, which is why he’s still playing.) But looking back, it’s ridiculous how much attention and emphasis was placed by parents and coaches on pitching at such a young age.

I never understood that, the school-hopping. It continues for some kids in college as well, when they get to their first school and find out they're not going to start right away they drop out and transfer somewhere else. I know one kid who's on his fourth college -- D3 to juco to D2 to D3 -- and still has three years of baseball eligibility left. During high school he played one summer with my son -- after hopping around from travel team to travel team growing up. Then they played together on the same college summer team last year... for two weeks, before the kid quit THAT team because he was unhappy with his playing time, which I'm sure went over well with the coach who recommended him. Dad was a piece of work and the apple unfortunately didn't fall far from the tree.

We all have those stories. I raised a son who played 12 years of travel baseball but also played Little League until he aged out. Because that's what HE wanted to do. I saw tons of those over-the-top dads, from t-ball through high school. And tons of burnout.

That's also what Todd Marinovich's dad did. And many others. We've all seen them.

Holy *****, yes. I could give a flying ***** what people think of our Super Bowl victory. But what happened to all the people who were saying that the league would never shift the playoffs and give Arizona only one week of Super Bowl festivities?

I was that kid - too small (and slow) to be successful in high school at virtually any sport, including even baseball which I loved the most. But I did play hockey for a time - no cuts on our HS team back in the early 80s (it’s different now of course) and although I absolutely got my ass kicked in practice and never played, it did a lot for my self-confidence, earned me respect from teammates, and changed the trajectory of my high school career. I don’t regret it for a second. I saw football do the same for others. Bottom line, it’s important to learn how to be a part of a team and to contribute in whatever way you can.

And what in the league’s history tells you they would actually do it?

Would this be like how Tennessee “didn’t practice” during the week before the COVID game when they whomped us? or like how every high school or college team “doesn’t practice” during the off-season? No way to enforce this, unfortunately.

I don’t think it will cause more players to retire, but I think it will help fans to understand better why some of them walk away.

They started requiring those in bull riding after what happened to Lane Frost. Not providing the video but you can look it up. Obviously a bull is not a professional football player, but the question really is, what impact is necessary to cause something like that and can something help prevent it?

Another thing to consider: Every single team was affected by what happened last night, not just the Bills and Bengals. That was the only game on and I guarantee you almost every single player saw it happen in real time. Of course it's not as impactful if you're watching on television, but I think every player now has something in the back of their minds that wasn't there before last night. There are 17 former Pitt players currently on an NFL active roster and another half-dozen on practice squads. Several of them were Hamlin's teammates in college, including Kenny Pickett. This impacted a lot more than just the two teams on the field last night. Of course the NFL will do everything in its power to avoid canceling an entire weekend of games. But if the news out of UC Medical Center doesn't improve as the week goes on, and especially if it gets worse... I have to think we're not going to see very good football across the league this weekend.

Good point.

He was not. He was allowed to return to practice and the Bills have three weeks to put him on the active roster.

That's true - I was at that game and Washington played terribly - but when the player actually dies on the field in front of them, or comes close to it, I think this is worse by at least an order of magnitude.

I think we end up playing but not on Sunday. Maybe Monday or Tuesday. And because we're unlikely to get the bye, that will affect our preparation and rest for the wildcard round. As well as the Patriots' -- and there's a chance we could end up playing them if we lose and Cincinnati loses to Baltimore. No easy solution.

Is there a rule that says a team must play a minimum number of games in order to qualify for the postseason? I'm just curious. For example, what (besides their share of the gate) would prevent a team that locks up the #1 seed early from simply forfeiting their last two games (if they don't affect other teams' seedings) and focusing on practicing and getting healthy for the playoffs? I would expect there's something in the rulebook about competitive balance that prohibits this, or allows the Commissioner to order the team to play its games.

I haven't seen the rest of the rulebook, but I believe "the following procedures" refer to something we are not seeing, not to the clause that is quoted.

I think we all can agree on that. But the title of the post is "How do you feel as a parent about your child playing football?" Not, "Given what happened last night, are you less likely to let your child play football?" The OP's comment leaned more in the latter direction, but I am responding to the title.

Rule 17.1.4. The game can only be terminated (or canceled) if to do so would not change its ultimate result or adversely affect any other team.

Well, thankfully, we never had to have that conversation. Even though he had a great arm, he was stocky and slow as a child so he knew that if he played football he'd end up on the offensive line, and he had no desire to do that, so it was never an issue. He never once asked to be signed up to play football. Truthfully, though, I was more thankful that he never wanted to play soccer either

I don't judge people who let their kids play football. And I completely understand that you have to let your kids choose their own path. I got lucky because my son played the sport I love the most. If I'm being honest, though, that was partly because of me. Young kids do what they think will make their parents happy, and then they make their own decisions around middle school. Fortunately he was always really good at baseball and loved it enough to make it his own thing. If I had grown up in a football-playing family, maybe I would have steered him differently. But maybe not. My wife *did* come from a football family and what she saw -- multiple concussions, steroid use among her cousins back in the day, etc -- turned her off enough from it to insist that he never play.