Mr. Ryan's statement that football is a violent game is absolutely spot on. It is in fact, a type of mayhem. I love it. And I will continue to watch it as long as it is played (and is televised). Or until I leave the confines of this planet. I suspect my departure will come a lot sooner than a ban on the game. 

I have been a football fan ever since growing up (more or less) in Medfield to the present time where I am growing old in Tampa Bay. I have been and will remain a Red Sox fan, a Celtics fan, and of course, a Patriots fan. I have been a season ticket holder for many years of both the Celtics and the Patriots. I am in anticipation of the beginning of the 2013 Patriots season when they will once again make a valiant (and a successful) effort to get to the Super Bowl.  

Keep the contests going. I am sad Mr Seau saw fit to end his life. And sad that he didn't seek sufficient medical help. But to stop playing football because of his (and others) injuries would be a sad day for the sports fans of New England and America. 

Football safer before helmets?  Bob Ryan is a sports historian, he should know that deaths in football were kind of a regular occurence in the early part of the twenty century before helmets were worn.  Still a compelling article

Bob Ryan is an NBA guy.

Bob was on a TV sports show the other day and was asked how they could improve the NBA product.
Bob couldn't think of anything that needed improvement with the NBA.

Bob, who has the brain damage??? 

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make any noise?

Interesting thoughts, Bob. Given the responses, it is not liable to go over well with most and I suspect that wasn't your intent.  I love watching football too, but it is clear that the injuries people sustain are causing rreal long-term damage.  I sometimes wonder if maybe they should just make it flag football?  Seriously?  It would still be fun to watch and we wouldn't worry when our sons tell their parents "I want to try out for the football team."

Bob has never written an article that doesn't make you think. He is a basketball guy, who cares? But, he's also a humanitarian. He does genuinly care about the people he covers. How could you not feel for anyone that has CTE, especially from playing a game to entertain us. I too love baseball and basketball more, but I do watch, and cheer for the Pats, and the Bruins. I too have wondered why would anyone take that chance? Why do I cringe, and duck when I see someone absorb a violent hit? It's all part of the game. It is violent! Violence stimulates us for some reason. Keep writing Bob, I miss the articles like this one already!

That was a good article.  I love watching football, but it is not the big hits that get me watching.  It is the schemes, playcalling, guessing and second guessing, strategy, athleticism, etc that I enjoy the most.  And of course rooting for the home team.  I would not want football to become flag football.  But if they are trying to make the game safer, then get rid of the helmets and pads a la rugby.  Every sport has their share of concussions and injuries - my unscientific guess is that football has more of them "per player" than the other sports.  Again, my unscientific guess is that rugby may be closer to the norm of other sports (such as basketball) re: injury.  *If this is true*, then get rid of the helmets and pads - it will still be a tough game with solid tackles - but with all of the strategy and athleticism - and reduced injury.

As usual Mr. Ryan, spot on.  As a sports fan, I do enjoy football yet would not miss it if it went away.

Not a lot of people will like this opinion however one day the ‘real’ football may become the national pastime.

Kiley

The sport of football is like having a casino game on television for 3.5 hours.

18 minutes of actual playing time in 3.5 hours.

Remove the pointspread and football would be less popular than soccer.

Much like Ryan, I will still watch. Other than casinos and beer, who would miss it?

There are times when I've wondered how professional football players survive a full season. When you watch the slow motion replays and see the physics of what is happening when they take a full-on hit and afterward when they are bouncing off the turf. We don't even see the sumo wrestling in the line at times...chop blocks, broken fingers, crushed hands, feet and ankles. Actually, we do, given the gazillion cameras focused on games. The fact is, the majority of people don't really care. After the game we get up from our tables and pay the tab and go back to chores, activities or the next bar. We live in a disposable society. The football players (gladiators), were the entertainment of the moment and now the TV is off. With all the hype around the Saints and Bountygate, nothing will happen until someone dies in a game. Only then will we step back and seriously reconsider the implications of the violence of the game on ourselves as a society. 

I'm glad the NFL is looking at safety issues, but until players are Coached to act as human beings instead of human missles will the game change. Rodney Harrison may be having reservations now, but when he was playing he was encouraged and bought into the mindset that unleashing maximum violence on an opponent was justified for the sixty minutes during which the game was played. The players do this gladly, because if they don't the coaches will find someone who will....it all comes down to the paycheck.  

Some people may complain about Brandon Lloyd not getting enough yards after the catch, but I happen to think he's one of the smart ones. He wants to have a life after football to spend some of the money he's made.

I remember around the end of the 1960's, the Kansas City Chiefs had a pair of defensive linemen who were considered freaks of nature at the time.  Buck Buchanan and Ernie Ladd actually weighed over 300 pounds!.  Nobyd'd ever before had a PAIR of linemen who weighed that much.  Most teams probably never'd had even ONE 300+ player.  Question for Bob Ryan: What is your basis for saying that helmets ADD to the level of head injuries?

Does anyone remember a time when the NFL marketed a tape called "NFL's Greatest Hits"?  The NFL wasn't selling wins or losses with THAT tape.  And not long ago, ESPN ran a weekly segment called "He Got Jacked!" which was a collage of the most vicious hits from the previous week.

You mention the players up until the 80's and how small those guys would be compared to todays players..clearly training methods today are superior but its the "drugs" that have had such a negative effect on all sports really-supersized players having supersized collisions. I try to never miss watching a Pats game...love the strategy of the game...and yet I cringed when I saw Ridley take that hit from Pollard in the AFC championship game. Was i looking for a flag....hell no....I was looking (and praying) that Mr. Ridley would just get up. That was way more important.

Right on. I gave up on reading Ryan when he moved on after being the Celtics beat man, and to my mind became an insufferable loudmouth, but he's hit the nail on the head this time. Football has become the modern-day equivalent of gladiatorial games. People watch less to see who wins than to see the collisions, and who will be maimed and carried off the field. Even the terminology — "hit," the slang for a gangland murder, also covers a violent tackle — is telling. The players have become too big, too fast, and too strong. Since the toothpaste cannot be put back into the tube, the only sane alternative is to get rid of the game.

Bob, as long as there are young guys willing to mortgage their future for millions of dollars now, there will always be football.  There are no guns to their heads and now more than ever there is data for them to consider and examples of what will happen to them if they play in the NFL. 

Greedy atheletes don't need our help or compasion, they just want our money.

Is the rush to display a level of moral tolerance against football simply because it has been such a foundation of American culture for decades and those either left behind, or passive/aggresive naysayers now finally have their window to attempt to bring down the sport as we know it? First, we have known for over a hundred years the brutal nature and risks of football. My goodness look to the 1905...a highly publicised Teddy Roosevelt, whitehouse meeting with the orginal big football three-Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, was held, discussing the brutality of the game after a season when 18 men had died and 140 young men seriously injured playing the game (including his son Teddy Jr., who was seriously injured)The president, despite his concerns, supported the game, and the rules changed. Times are certainly different now, but the threats and risks of the game have been apparent and inherent for decades, part of the reason why football players at the highest level have had the highest salaries and the strong unions. Im sorry but a sudden realizartion that football needs to be eradicated from society could be percieved as hypocritical, depsite any moral concern. Its a voluntary sport, so like other contact sports-and there are others-the risk/reward aspect is a part of the competitive climate. Changing the sport to make it safer is fine-totally get it; but eliminating it sets a strong precedent to elimniate all sports that involve a high level of contact or injuries and not just to the head (and there are more than a few) In addition, broad brushing football coaches as people purposely ignoring the risks, rather than maybe in some instances, those who may teach proper ways to avoid such risks involved.....it simply implies thAT some people feel that ho, lets say, writing, an article is somehow more inspiring and caring, than a lifetime of maybe someone giving back and helping others through the sport. Making a case to make the game safer doesn't mean dismissing it, and slighting all those involved

Bob Ryan admits that this is not his favorite sport - then says condescendingly "have you all got your fix? - Look Bob - we all know you stayed too long as a reporter and had nothing to say. Ever since football was invented it was a dangerous and exciting sport. The whole concept that on every play 22 men are in action - that it involves strategy, courage, sacrifice, team play is a must, you sacrifice your ego for the success of the team, etc, etc. Biggie Munn - a head coach at Michigan State 50 years ago said that football is not a contact sport it is a collision sport. If you don't like it - don't watch it and please never write about it again. Please go back to that place you came from and stay off the sports pages.

Mr. Ryan what about the damage to baseball players bodies you and your colleagues were complicit in during the roid years for baseball?  You all stuck your heads in the sand (along with owners and fans) and cheered like you were employees of MLB.  

Also Mr. Ryan conveniently leaves out the fact that he's a boxing fan.  What say you about that Bob?

Also I suppose if I'm in desperate need of a story during the boring season (read basketball before baseball begins) I'd write something like this.

Football and basketball are equally boring.

Basketball: Run, dunk.  Run, dunk.  Run, 3-pointer!  Run... wait for it... dunk.

Football is bread and circus for the masses.  Absolutely frightening how breathlessly the discussion was around this year's Super Bowl.  DID YOU KNOW THE COACHES ARE BROTHERS!!!  THAT IS THE MOST AMAZING THING I HAVE EVER HEARD OF!!!

America, don't be afraid to look around for sports that are exciting to watch and still maintain some semblance of character and balance without the media-saturated hysterics.  Hockey does it for me, but I'm just one vote.

Get rid of glorified fights on ice (hockey) first. A national disgrace and the only major sport that encourages and teaches bad sportsmanship and behavior for children and adults.

Here is a way to lessen the physical impacts of vicious hits: Have a weight restriction on at least certain classes of players.  Let us say, for example, that defensive linemen cannot exceed X weight, linebackers Y weight, and d-backs Z-weight.  This would place a premium on lean, athletic players.

Great article Mr Ryan. The barbaric nature of the game is the very reason the game is not routinely ridiculed for the very same things that baseball gets blasted for. It now takes just under 3 1/2 hours to finish a game that's clocked to run 60 minutes; actual on field action, minutes-wise, is in single digit territory. Yet when a baseball game hits 3 hours, everyone's yapping about pitch clocks. Go figure.  Football players are juiced up in every way imaginable and it's accepted, even embraced, by the masses. Many of those same fans react with absolute shock and disdain when a baseball player is caught juicing. Heck, a story about MLB players taking a painkiller like taradol is front page news. Lance Armstrong is a filthy cheating junkie in the eyes of the majority of NFL fans but it's an all out don't ask, don't tell, I see nothing, I know nothing Sgt. Schultz like approach when it comes to football. 

i have had pats season tickets for almost 30 yrs and I am losing interest. How popular would football be if there was no gambling on it ? I also think that all the close up super slo mo makes us see too much and I also believe that ALL players are juiced. The owners, while very smart businessmen, are probably the most insensitive, profit orientated group of ignoramouses in the world. I went to th AFC championship and from the time I got there , I couldn't wait to go home. The crowd at Gillette is not the same crowd who went to Foxboro / Sullivan/ Schaefer stadium. In fact, all sports aren't the same anymore. Maybe its me . BTW artificial turf also ruins the game for me. Mr. Ryan , you are retiring at the right time. 

I played HS football and some college and have had my share of concussions and memory lapses.  Before CTE was even mentioned, I often wondered what the long term effects would be of 13 years of collisions, each year gaining more velocity and impact.  I wonder if my 8 year old son will want to play at some point but I won't let him play until he's grown a bit more.  Seeing kids with their bobble-head helmets and being implored by ignoramus coaches to HIT HIM screaming at the top of their lungs on the sideline is not only disgusting, but hazardous.  

My primary argument for football for youth used to be this...it's the one sport where anyone can play and make a significant contribution to the team.  The large slow kid can be just as important on a play as the human highlight reel kid.  The thin fast kid can make a great catch for a touchdown or the kid that may not be too bright could fall on a fumble and make a key play.  Baseball, soccer, lacrosse, hockey, virtually every high school sport requires a fair amount of ability to be placed on a relatively small roster.  High School football rosters can carry dozens and dozens of players, each with different skill levels and athletic ability.  Some play virtually every play.  Some may only play on the PAT team.  But they all make a contribution.  

That used to be one of the key reasons I loved football as a young adult coaching at my HS alma mater.  The question now is will parents still allow their child of perhaps marginal athletic ability and size to play football at all?  Probably not.  

Poor Bob, again even with a month to conjure yet another pathetic and agenda driven column against the sport that demolished his beloved baseball in this town demonstrates unequivically that brain damage is not restricted to hockey players who are sent out by their coaches to punch the daylights out of their opponents and cause numerous concussions every year.  (see Shawn Thronton vs Scott).  CAN WE TAKE A BREAK FROM HOCKEY, PLEASE.

I used to love football and following the NFL was fun and something I looked forward to. Not anymore, it is overdone, overhyped, too much talk and analysis, too many talking heads and alot of fans that act like morons. I wonder if they pay as much attention and care about their families and jobs as they do about football. Also, the non-stop concussion talk has also ruined the sport for me. Everyone of the guys playing the sport in college and the NFL knows the risk as well as the rewards, big $$$, alot of woman, nice houses and cars, etc. and then they retire and complain that nobody told them about the long term damage from playing a violent sport. Like Bob Ryan, if the NFL ended tomorrow, I would not miss it at all.