Today's Poll: Should youth tackle football be banned?

80 votes for yes! Have you lost your mind!

I agree with you on this one Mike.....this trend of reducing "possible" injuries as well as the trend to make everyone a winner and everyone sucessful as they grow up sets them up for failure when they get out into the big bad real world. I'm reminded of a speech given at a high school for graduation somewhere in the US.

----------Whether you like Bill Gates or not...this is pretty
cool. Here's some advice Bill Gates recently dished out
at a high school speech about 11 things they did not
learn in school. He talks about how feel-good,
politically correct teaching has created a full
generation of kids with no concept of reality and how
this concept sets them up for failure in the real
world.

RULE 1
Life is not fair - get used to it.

RULE 2
The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world
will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel
good about yourself.

RULE 3
You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out
of high school. You won't be a vice president with
car phone, until you earn both.

RULE 4
If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a
boss. He doesn't have tenure.

RULE 5
Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your
grandparents had a different word for burger flipping
they
called it Opportunity.

RULE 6
If you mess up,it's not your parents' fault, so don't
whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

RULE 7
Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as
they are now. They got that way from paying your bills,
cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about
how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest
from the parasites of your parent's generation, try
delousing the closet in your own room.

RULE 8
Your school may have done away with winners and losers,
but life has not. In some schools they have abolished
failing grades and they'll give you as many times as
you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the
slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

RULE 9
Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get
summers off and very few employers are interested in
helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

RULE 10
Television is NOT real life. In real life people
actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

RULE 11
Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for
one.

I WAS GONNA SAY PUSSIFICATION, of this generation… but never mind

...not Bill Gates (http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/schoolrules.asp), but certainly is decent advice.

Way Spot on Kyle!!!!!!!!!!!!!

30 some odd years ago, I worked for a radiologist who shuddered each time a boy came in from an injury on the football field. He wasn't concerned with self esteem issues, but he was concerned about the physical condition of the children when they reached mid life. Arthritic pain; back issues, and the lasting effects of concussions. He didn't advocate babying our youth, but felt strongly, for their own future well being, that pre-teens did not belong in organized football.

Bea? What was his reaction to bicycle injuries? Playground injuries? Dodge ball injuries? Tree climbing injuries?

Should we protect our kids to the point where no risk of injury is posed? Game box manufacturers would be elated.

But then you'd have to deal with Michelle O.

Bob, I won't make this political, nor will I be baited into presuming how this late pysician would answer your questions- it was just a memory about a good doctor who could foresee the physical ailments to come. He didn't think children should be coddled and was aware of the injuries that befall them. For whatever reason, football for pre teens was something that struck a nerve (maybe from his own experience).

I know it wasnt Bill Gates Tim but on the internet its faster to find when associated w him as the quote is (erroniously) but as everyone else said, its the content that applies here.....

Bea..... I can see your point, however if you are exposed to such dangers when you are younger, there are 2 benefits. 1) You learn how to handle situations that can injure you, (ie roll with falls, brace for hits or even dodge hits) 2) Younger you are the more likely you WONT have lasting ill effects (like arthritis or chronic pain or lasting effects of concussions) as your body is still growing and adapting to it's adult form. So such injuries wont be as lasting as they would be at say, 21 or 25.

Kyle, you will have the opportunity to debate those finer points with the late doctor when you cross those pearly gates.

after some thought, I voted no... reason being is I don't feel it's up to me whether or not some kid plays football.. several of my children did in fact play organized football in their youth...
I do remember the worry about broken bones and the injuries that could happen every time I watched them play.
Today I am more informed about the head injuries that football players do incur.
If I had children today that wanted to play football, short of telling them NO, I would discuss the head injury issue with them and encourage them to apply their time and energy towards another sport.