June 15, 2012
And there is football, soccer, etc.
More than 285,000 children ages 5 to 15 play in Pop Warner football leagues. Long-term cognitive problems have become the concern of parents, coaches and Congress. Will football go the way of boxing? Boxing was once the number one sport at the University of Wisconsin. Then a boxer died of injuries sustained in boxing.
The concern is obvious--does the repetitive hitting of heads cause long-term problems of the brain? Can football become injury free? Is soccer with the "headers" as dangerous or more dangerous than football?
Will every school offering football and soccer have a doctor at all practices and games? For years we heard that a player "had his bell rung." That meant, of course, that he had a concussion. Recall someone on the sidelines holding up three fingers and asking the player how many he saw! Rather primitive testing. Hells bells with the cutbacks in extra curricular sports because of money problems, school boards will not pay for neurologists at games not to mention practice. It comes to this. Will you permit your child to play football?
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Rather than ask if a parent would let their kids play football or soccer, why not ask if they'd allow them to take an art class or sing in the choir or play an instrument or spend time in the library? Athletics are fine but there are so many other pursuits more worthy of a child's time and of greater benefit to all.
Instead of something that bashes the brain, encourage kids to use their brains to achieve their dreams.
-Pietr Haikuu | Hurley, Wis | June 15, 2012
If the progressive movement really wanted to get more people on our side, we should have suggested that sports will have to be cut in schools to save money. Many right wing nut parents would have stormed Rethuglican legislators and voted for Barrett to save John and Jane's precious hope for glory.
-WisconsinLiberal | Fox Valley, WI | June 15, 2012
24/7 sports=24/7 government corruption.
-Jeffrey Erbs | Chippewa Falls Wisconsin | June 15, 2012
As everywhere in this once-great nation, there is plenty of money for athletic facilities and varsity sports programs in our local school district. Yet budget constraints are "necessary" in building maintenance, teacher salaries (no such constraints on administrators' compensation), classroom materials, etc. Allow me to speculate:
As mentioned above, too many parents are fixated on their little up-and-coming NFL star, which only feeds the larger agenda of indoctrinating our future citizens in the importance of competition over cooperation. Winner take all. Dovetails right into the Capitalist model, eh?
The local school districts serve as the first level of recruitment by the Big League money machines - owned, of course, by the wealthiest among us. Gotta identify those potential MVPs early on, get 'em started on the right track to become part of the very profitable industry, the ultimate purpose of which is to keep the masses entertained and distracted from the systematic dismantling of their democracy and the wholesale theft of their productivity.
-Charles Kuehn | Fall Creek, WI | June 16, 2012
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