WGR Interview: Joe DeLamielleure diagnosed with CTE

[OvrOfficiousJerk]

What goes unreported is the huge number of concussions suffered by soccer players. I don't remember the figures but compared to Pop Warner, it was much higher. I don't know of studies on hockey, lacrosse, rugby, field hockey, etc., but they must up there too. You can add boxing, MMA, et al. Fact is, head injuries are wide spread throughout sports and many other activities. For some reason I don't understand, football has been singled out.

 

Ehhh soccer does have a concussion problem, but it's not as major as football by any stretch. Women's soccer, maybe, but there are significant differences (both physiology and psychology) between male and female concussions. Here's some numbers to back it up:

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/22287642

Not sure how generalizable the data are, and if the journal is reputable, but saying that football is responsible for the majority of concussions in HS sports is a good reason why it should be singled out.

 

RE soccer

It was the early 90's that soccer fields popped up everywhere. Kids 4-17 were all playing. It was the social thing to do. It still is. Its a low risk and very social game that is easy for children to feel succesful. My niece and nephew play. Its fun for them. The big expensive travel teams exist because parents pay a crap ton for it. I knew 4 girls on the junior Olympic team in the late 90's. The soccer foundation whatever it was knows it was vital to get a youth program started to develop youth and draw interest. And now its been 20+ years since those fields were made. The acres and acres of fields are still there. And yet the fan base did not grow equally with respect to everyone who played. And many of those fields are now being converted to LAX. Because that is the next soccer. So spare me soccer fans. Its a great fun sport but it does draw what football does attention wise.

 

 

Fan base is growing bit by bit. NBC paid Corleone money to get the English Premier League on its networks and it seems to be paying off decently enough. And in certain markets the MLS teams are doing quite well. Heck in Seattle the Sounders arguably outdraw the Mariners.

Edited November 9, 2013 by OvrOfficiousJerk

[kentonexile]

I used to hate Soccer as well ( futebol ) but now living in Brasil I have found a liking to it. I now see the other side of American sports ( what people here in Brasil tell me ). Baseball is slow and boring as hell. Football is a game that has more commercials than the actual game. The puck cant even be seen in Hockey. And the last 2 minutes of an NBA game takes 20 minutes. In Soccer, there are no commercials, there are no replays, there is no annoying music to entertain in between commercials, there are 0 commercials. If the game starts at 6:00, You know it will end at 7:45. give or take 5 minutes. I now watch the Bills games a few hours after its over cuz I get to watch the condensed version and it only kills 1 hour of my life! Soccer is good. Don't let the American Media tell you different.

 

I agree. I know it's "un-american" to like soccer but after 10-15 yrs of following it more carefully, I love it! Love the NFL too, there's room for more than one sport in the world. But it takes a whole different level of attention. You can't get up and fix a sandwich or grab a beer every 5 minutes. I'll add this with the hope that a 2 football solution can eventually be acceptable .