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Aaron_Kennelly

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Everything posted by Aaron_Kennelly

  1. Seal Boy has a higher wRC+ than Paul Goldschmidt.
  2. Kyle is our best pitcher. And he's the only player that I am unable to kill.
  3. Kyle's been really good outside of that stupid homer.
  4. Get rid of helmets. Seriously. Or at least practice without them to get used to playing like that and use a soft, flexible helmet in games to offer some protection. I'm not sure if that would be better or worse than just no helmets.
  5. It's a grey area, but the biggest things that stick out is the huge gulf in popularity between football and fight sports in terms of how many kids participate in each sport, and the NFL's lying, feet-dragging, covering-up, not taking good care of retired players-way of approaching this issue. Like, nobody's ever pretended like boxing wasn't horsefeathering you up. The NFL, however, kept pretending that even as guys just get bigger and faster and all they're wearing are these dinky helmets (nevermind concussions don't just occur due to head impact) that things like concussions and CTE and brain trauma weren't a major problem. I mean, call it hypocrisy if you want, but boxing has worn its scumbaggery in how its run and promoted and what it does to the fighters almost as an odd badge of pride for its entire existence. The NFL, however, for at least the last 25 years, has tried its hardest to present itself as THE all-American sport, embracing jingo-istic pro-military/pro-'Murrica garbage, all the while trying to tap dance away from things like concussions and CTE and what players are doing off the field. This is not the kind of sport and not the kind of organization that should be inspiring who knows how many kids each year to be colliding into each other with all the safety precautions of duct-taping someone to a car seat if the seat belt is broken. Like, don't think this means other sports don't have to deal with concussions; they all do. As the understanding of how the brain works has evolved, it's become clear that just sudden stops and falls can cause brain injury even if the head doesn't seem to have been struck, or hasn't been struck hard. But it's the height of absurdity that football, where they've been intentionally working to make these guys as strong and as fast as possible, ran around as long as they did with their fingers in their ears (and still are, to a degree) about the issue. Nobody's thinking you can completely prevent brain injuries in sports, but football is barreling towards a brick wall. Something has to change. For sure. I agree with all of that. The NFL is horsefeathering horrible. And the worst part about it is, as you said, the NFL spending decades lying about it and covering it up, when they could have been working on finding a way to change. I'm not sure how much it will even help, but new technology could help some, particularly as it pertains to the football helmet. And they wasted decades of research. They are the Big Tobacco of sports.
  6. Yeah, kids definitely shouldn't be playing tackle football. It's frightening that they do. And the coaches at those levels are often terrible and think they are Jon Gruden. I absolutely wouldn't trust sending a pre-high school child to play for some random guy. Even high school football is pretty bad. There are some psycho coaches with antiquated views, who are in complete denial of the effects of head injuries. The whole sport is really scary. I do think football probably gets a bit of a bad of a rap, mainly because of how fucked up the NFL is. If the NFL hadn't lied for so long and covered up the issue, there probably wouldn't be as much of an exodus from football. Football is a terribly violent sport. And the risk of head injury is higher in it than other sports. But, hockey and soccer are bad, too. And there are lots of head injuries in basically every sport. Volleyball, wrestling, basketball, baseball, cycling, horseback riding... the list goes on and on. Football is the worst offender, but it's not just a football problem. I'm not sure how brain trauma research has effected participation levels in, say, soccer. But I do find it a little odd that everyone hates football now, while Americans are going to spend, like, a billion dollars to watch two grown men repeatedly punch each other in the face tonight. That doesn't make football any better. It's definitely a problem -- the biggest. But, I'm not sure it deserves a scarlet letter, where other sports do not. I don't know, maybe it should be abolished. We're never going to stop people from suffering head injuries in such a violent sport. I think we can alleviate the issue, some, with more research and better technology. New and improved helmets could really help the sport. Plus, better awareness in general -- stricter adherence to rules, proper teaching, etc. -- would help. The school I coach at takes the issue seriously. Our players have sensors in their helmets that are linked to hand-held devices that we have on the sidelines during games and in practices. It's not something that is taken lightly. And our head coach isn't some ranting, raving maniac that has the players pummeling each other in the head for shits and giggles. His philosophy is more laid back and fun. Our school's football program has historically been horrible. And he's mellow and easy going. And the kids at the school have responded. Our numbers are way up. And we've been very successful, without him going Bear Bryant on them. It's not perfect. But I feel a lot less dirty knowing that we aren't completely ignoring the issue.
  7. Interesting that CincyCubsFan showed up after not posting since August 9, considering that was the last time we lost 2 consecutive games.
  8. This might be the worst thread on this forum.
  9. Tommy just posted what shoes he's wearing, too: http://www.monsterslippers.co.uk/images/products/seal-slippers438_newcopy.jpg
  10. http://i.imgur.com/Iha8h3T.gif
  11. Whatever. If the Cards lose, it's still a good day in my book.
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