There was also the effort in 1905-1906 to tamp down the number of deaths in college football (this was pre-NFL and pre-NCAA) by President Theodore Roosevelt facilitating negotiations between the major college programs. 19 people died in college games in 1905, compared to 45 in the five years previous. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1905-11-27/ed-1/seq-1/#words=NINETEEN+football Rules were changed, outlawing so-called wedge formations and making the game more distinct from rugby by allowing the forward pass, establishing the 'neutral zone' at the line of scrimmage, and requiring 10 yards for a first down rather than five. Schools also gathered together and formed what would eventually become the NCAA. https://guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america-ncaa-college-football-reform This did not eliminate fatalities in college football, but they were reduced. There were further reforms and (eventually) protective equipment, but it has been rare for a year to go by where someone doesn't die from playing the game, as evidenced by the 2021 Annual Survey of Football Injury Research (known as the Annual Survey of Football Fatalities until 1980).
https://nccsir.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/5614/2022/05/Annual-Football-2021-Fatalities-FINAL-public-1.pdf So, yeah, I don't expect much to change. I even think there's a non-zero chance they will try to finish this game. Best,David On Tuesday, January 3, 2023 at 09:01:38 AM PST, Jim Ellwanger <[email protected]> wrote: To add to your opinion: during a game on August 16, 1920, Ray Chapman of the Cleveland baseball team was hit in the head by a pitch, collapsed, and died in the hospital 12 hours later -- and you may notice that professional baseball still exists. That said, that incident did prompt the major leagues to make a couple of rule changes, and that's pretty much the extent of what I expect to happen as a result of what happened in the NFL last night. (True, the 1920 baseball game was not broadcast and wasn't even filmed, so comparatively few people actually saw the injury and its aftermath, unlike last night's NFL game... but conversely, there is a LOT more money involved in the NFL today than there was in the baseball major leagues in 1920.) If you're curious about the baseball rule changes: because it was likely that a major contributor to Chapman's injury was the ball being discolored, the major leagues banned spitballs, and instructed umpires to start removing baseballs from play whenever they got dirty. (Batting helmets were not made mandatory until 1971.) On Jan 3, 2023, at 8:45 AM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: My brother is the biggest pro football fan I’ve ever encountered; he said the events of last night were the beginning of the end of football. I’d like to think he is correct, however we are a nation that experiences a mass shooting nearly every day, but does nothing to limit guns. America simply doesn’t care if football players live or die, as long as they have a game to watch. The only thing I saw that was potentially noteworthy was that the decision to end the game came from he coaches; the NFL allegedly wanted the game to resume shortly after the dying man was removed from the field. That’s very telling. On Tue, Jan 3, 2023 at 8:34 AM PGage <[email protected]> wrote: I am no cheerleader for the NFL, ESPN, or Joe Buck, but I give Buck, Aikman and ESPN generally positive marks for how they handled an unprecedented medical emergency during last night’s MNF telecast. As the severity of the incident became clear they were respectful and restrained, and avoided speculation. When there wasn’t anything to say, they noted that, and didn’t say anything. I thought it was smart to switch to the studio and let those people fill time, rather than than have the broadcasters on site do that. sideline reporter Lisa Salter really distinguished herself, reporting what she could observe, filtering out what must have been a flood of rumors and speculation, all while allowing her humanity and emotion to appropriately come through. One problem with the restraint they showed is it created a vacuum into which anti-vax poison got injected over social media. Qualified physicians could tell what had likely happened, but I think ESPN was right not to put one of those on, and instead restrict themselves to what was actually known. Hoping for the best for Damar Hamlin, and all the young people who had to experience that. Until you actually witness medical professions engage in life saving intervention, it is difficult to prepare yourself for what it is like, and the sense that you might be watching someone you care about die. I am often critical of cliched provision of mental health counselors to the scene of emergencies, but this is a case where some of those folks are going to need someone to talk to. “The eerie and heartbreaking scene that unfolded on the field in the aftermath of Damar Hamlin’s collapse during Monday night’s Buffalo Bills-Cincinnati Bengals game presented a virtually unprecedented scenario for ESPN’s football broadcast. As the network toggled between the game broadcast crew in Cincinnati and a subdued studio set in New York, a news outlet that had prepared to cover one of the season’s biggest games suddenly found itself covering a medical calamity. Viewers at home watched the developing story unfold slowly as commentators Joe Buck and Troy Aikman and sideline reporter Lisa Salters received information and relayed it in real time. Over the next three hours, the broadcast was measured, informative and emotional. Analysts, hosts and reporters tried to make sense of a lengthy delay and an initial report that play would resume; grappled with the obvious severity of the injury; and then finally made impassioned appeals for the game to be suspended for the night, a choice the NFL eventually made.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/01/02/espn-damar-hamlin-bengals-bills/-- Sent from Gmail Mobile -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYJ0VNdgyyU5Rjuxmk2YUTuwO%3DK6gYke6An%3D60Qr3dG08w%40mail.gmail.com. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4A2-p%3D0tbPb40-vBoWy7%2B9bz7AqTJ6D%3Dv8N9%2BNBRS3w-A%40mail.gmail.com. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/E5F01961-2B14-49EC-9E29-8591EC3A6D21%40ellwanger.tv. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/959413425.2680177.1672770813687%40mail.yahoo.com.
