Antwaan Randle El's had a lot of very interesting things to say—both emotion-filled and intelligent—about the effects his football career has had on him physically and mentally. If you haven't seen any of it, start here:

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2016/01/19/If...

Remember when Randle El verbaled us? He was going to play basketball here, too. (We didn't come out of that totally empty-handed; Dontrell Jackson gave us some great football, and he's now the head coach at his (and Randle El's) alma mater.)

you should just stop watching football... you're just promoting it by watching.

There are lots of things your son could already have been exposed to and involved in that would not leave time for football. So many kids never think to ask about football because their lives are already full of activities just as fulfilling. Most are activities that can be continued as an adult.

When I was in elementary school I was already a good soccer player but I had always dreamed of playing football. My parents never let me. I was mad about that for a very long time. I will always wonder what kind of football player I could have been but I think they made the wise choice. I'm glad I wasn't exposed to the brain trauma I would've had from football.

The silver lining I see is that a good deal (not all) of the injuries might be eliminated through better helmet technology. That said, wouldn't surprise me at all if football wasn't around in 30 years. And I freaking love football

If you can, go see the movie. It's not about the helmet because the brain floats freely inside the skull. No helmet will prevent the brain from "shaking around" in there.

If you've ever watched rugby, you know that the tackling isn't nearly as hard-hitting as in football. It's almost always wrap and wrestle the ball carrier to ground.

That's my point. Less helmet protection = more personal vigilance. In other words, if there's a chance you could injure yourself, you'll be less likely to make yourself into a human spear.

I'll have to watch that. I've got a unique perspective on the brain's free floating nature. It does just float around in there although it is pretty incredible how well the brain can cushion itself from blows. I don't think you can solve all the issues with better helmet technology, but I think significant improvements are close.

A friend's son developed from a state cross country runner into a national team member in the Biathlon. Young man went to West Point was Captain of the Academy's Black Knight Rifle Team, Member US Army Marksmanship Unit. Standing tall at a listed height of 5'8." There are lots of things other than football.

The NFL and college football don't want to be the MMA — a counterculture movement where the violence, danger and fact that 60 percent of the population gets squeamish just watching the product are the selling points.

There's money in that, but pocket change compared to what the NFL and college football produce right now.

I'm convinced football is where tobacco found itself 50 years ago. There's still money to be made (hey, Marlboro has consolidated marketshare and is worth $80 billion even today) and time to drag its feet while profits are still lush, but eventually the medical facts will get in the way of football being the cultural behemoth it is today.

Football will, for many, become a sort of cultural middle finger against regulation and a perceived backlash towards an increasingly bubble-wrapped, risk-averse existence. Perhaps fandom will become a sort of rebellion. But I don't think that's where the NFL and college football want to be in the culture. There's a reason they are marketing themselves as "family" right now in the same way tobacco conflated breathing in smoke and oil companies conflated filling up at the gas station with freedom.

They don't want to be edgy. They want to make billions of dollars. Who could blame them?

(I also have this strange theory banging around in my head that we're in the end days of a century-long sports bubble. It will pop at any time and our cultural currency will be spent on something else. I don't know what it is, but I cannot see the expansion of sports talk, devotion and obsession to keep growing at this fantastic pace. The world won't be able to function if it does. We've gotten to the point that some of our best minds are spending all their time trying to figure out how to keep team's payroll under a salary cap or the best way to use analytics to judge players' performance instead of doing something truly life-saving. I feel like we're going to some day wake up and the lunacy of that will become apparent. This is probably a dumb theory, but it is mine so let me have it.)

Soccer certainly isn't free of these issues. In addition to concerns with heading the ball, I don't think many realize how physical the game gets at higher levels of play. It is one thing to watch your 5-year-old play soccer. It is another game entirely to watch some of the more elite teenage club or high school teams play. Let alone the college ranks.

My team in high school played at a high level. Our back-line on defense was 6-foot++ across and they could move. They looked like a line-backer core. I remember one game two of our big defenders had a full-speed collision that freed up an opposing forward to run down the field and score. That forward was a young Nick Kellogg... I think that can give many an idea how athletic the game can get at higher levels.
The biggest guy on our team was actually one of our forwards. He was 6-something and north of 200 pounds. And again he could move... He had countless concussions. 10+. He was already dealing with the effects of those in high school. He will face the same issues many of these football players face.

So yes, I agree. Soccer is FAR from risk-free.

Wow, Jeff. Is that political fanning from the our own chief moderator? Hisself?

I went to HS at a very successful football crazy school at the lower levels of Ohio High School sports and was one of a very few who didn't play football (golf!). One good friend of mine had repeated concussion issues starting around his freshman year. He had multiple concussions every year in HS and he missed a couple games but not many. At one point his Senior year he was even wearing an additional protective cover on his helmet (I've never seen that anywhere before or since). We lost touch over the years but several years ago my Mom let me know he had committed suicide. With more and more data linking CTE with football and suicide there is no doubt in my mind this is what happened to my old friend. He had a wife and young child. Did the pressure to play through these issues cost him his life just 10 years later? Just very, very sad.

That was enough to push me over the edge on my future children and playing football. My brand new baby boy will not be playing football.

I love watching football but something has to change. I'm starting to think significantly less protective pads and helmets may be the way to go