In an editorial in the Los Angeles Times a few days ago the author was discussing the death of Minnesota's Korey Stringer, along with the death and collapse of several college players during practice sessions this year.

He ascribed at least part of the blame for these tragedies on television and its sponsors. Since television has begun broadcasting pre-season games, and because of the extended football season (17 weeks vs. 14 weeks), football, which used to be a Fall sport, is increasingly a Summer sport. And these incidents are all occurring during the oppressively hot Summer months.

What do you think?

 

How many incidents? Just one incident doesn't make it an issue. Also remember that not everything you read in the paper is true. He might have had a drug overdose or something and the team covered it up. Cyclists had this problem, they would take energy drugs and overdose and then cover it up with heatstroke. I'm not saying that it was a cover up, but it could have been.

 

There was Rashidi Wheeler at Northwestern (possibly linked to performance-enhancing drugs), and just this morning I saw two others on Yahoo! Sports: a lineman at Florida Atlantic and a linebacker at Winston-Salem State. I've heard of others over the last couple of weeks, but seeing these three mentioned online today, being a Vikings fan, and seeing that editorial just got me to thinking . . . .

 

Without meaning to disrespect the individuals and the families involved, I really don't think you can blame anyone but the athletes themselves. It's their responsibility to draw the line before they die. If you allow your peers and employer to drive you to death, you can't blame them for it. It would be different if we were talking about child laborers in southeast asia, but we're talking about grown men with plenty of opportunities to exercise common sense. BTW, this is just IMO.

 

In their 1997 season opener against Washington State, UCLA lost on the last play of the game because they had a second-string running back carry the ball. Skip Hicks, who'd gained 190 yards that afternoon was on the sidelines because he told coach Bob Toledo that he was exhausted. I'm sure that if Toledo had told him to run one more play Hicks would have, and I'm sure that Toledo's decision cost UCLA the win. But he gained a lot of respect for what was a class move. Common sense certainly, but I'm (unfortunately) not convinced that very many other head coaches would have made the same wise choice.

He earned my respect and I'm not a UCLA fan.

 

I don't think you can blame football...you have to look at how long it's been done, and how few people have died from it. If you view it from a percentage standpoint, it's very very minute. I used to play high school football (I know, not even close to college, which is not even close to the pros), and we had 6 hour practices in 100 degree heat with 90% humidity. I really believe that it's the player's final judgment if he can or can't go on, but proper hydration is the key, IMO.

 

Like Jay said, it's only a small percentage.

The COWBOYS moved their training camp from (luxurious) Thousand Oaks, California to (hot and humid) Austin, Texas. Nothing happened to their players. They even won three Superbowls during their stay in Austin. Now their camp is in Wichita Falls, Texas, but these two weeks their in Oxnard, Cali.

I used to play soccer (constant running) for 10 years in 100+ degree weather. The only time you could get drinks was during halftime or when the game was over.

 

Well, how long have pre-season games been braodcast. Seems like a pretty long time to me. I don't think it's that much of a contributing factor. I think the stuff on supplements is more likely than TV exposure.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by magician
[B]In an editorial in the Los Angeles Times a few days ago the author was discussing the death of Minnesota's Korey Stringer, along with the death and collapse of several college players during practice sessions this year.

He ascribed at least part of the blame for these tragedies on television and its sponsors.

 

My local paper had it nailed down exactly. The guy's death wasn't just the result of training in the heat of the day, it was because he was grossly overweight, and unfit. He was a heart attack just waiting to happen. Anyone who deliberately sets out to let his weight balloon to over 300 lbs for the sole purpose of joining the big guys on the front row of the football team is dicing with death. The people to blame for his death are the coaches, and those at the top, who actually control the game. Now, if they introduced a rule which said that you could only play football if you weighed less than XXX lbs (say, 295), then there would be a lot more healthier guys who would qualify to play - instead of using the biggest overweight slobs that there are now.