Fans speak

The conclusion of ‘Building Football 3.0’

This is the third and final installment in a series on head trauma and the future of football. In part one, we looked at the new science of football-related concussions and injuries. Last issue, we scoped technologies, rule changes and tracking systems that might foster a safer gridiron. We conclude by interviewing local fans about the game’s future and their notions of what might lie ahead.

My second big encounter with football was in junior high. I was walking down a school corridor in Killeen, Texas in the late sixties. A giant man crossed over from the opposite of the hallway. He asked briskly if I “liked to hit.” 

It was a bizarre question, but I quickly discerned that the big guy was trying to recruit me for the Kangaroos, my junior high football team. He was of course, a coach, and I told him that I had a debate team commitment that ruled football out. 

While this was true, there was a tentpole event, earlier in my life, burnished in memory.

The kid who crashed

My dad, an Army guy, wanted me to play flag football in elementary school while we were stationed in Germany. During my second game, a kid I didn’t know got hit, went down badly and was carted off field; this was in the early ‘60s. My little peers and I never knew where the kid went—he was never again seen in my school.

One day, while I was eavesdropping on my mom’s exchange with a neighbor, I heard that the kid and his family had been shipped back to the U.S. because of head injuries. I’ll never forget the neighbor saying that the kid “couldn’t talk.” The neighbor also said the Army hoped that stateside doctors could bring him “back.” 

The whole episode, rare as it must have been then—and now—made a permanent impression on me.

Local fans on football futures

“Can you imagine any business or industry (apart from the military) where it is assumed that one third or more of the workers are going to have injuries for life? You know the most common effects of injury, from what I've read about brain injury, is anger—spontaneous anger. I still have some having been in a car accident. I often think about the off-field football incidents, where a player beats up a girlfriend on an elevator, or the Adrian Peterson case, where a player aggressively hits his kid. You know, it's not just about looking at behaviors that come from a big brain injury, it may be more about a series of small bumps that build up. The game needs to be reworked to liberate players from this trauma.”

George Lewis,
retired Tulsa geophysics pro

“Whatever solution is proposed will be technological and made up of rule changes ... I read somewhere that kick-offs and punt returns are the most dangerous plays in the game. Maybe we'll target them for a change. I went to school out of state so I don't have the OU/OSU obsession, and I rarely watch pro ball. I have been watching Sam Bradford and the Eagles for the past two years, but it's been a waste of time.

I purposely watch the Cincinnati/Pittsburgh games because of the ill will between the teams. It's sort of like watching demolition derby car races.”

Dick Lieser,
retired computer science expert

“What should we think about a venture in which 97% of the performers suffer temporary disabilities, 65% suffer permanent disability and a half dozen or more players are killed during a typical season? A good football game is simple: no one gets hurt. I think we'll see more of an effort to stop ‘targeting’—we saw it during the Cincinnati Bengals game earlier this month. And players are going to see more penalties, but I don't see that the rule changes are going to diminish the popularity of the sport for spectators or participants in my lifetime.

We have a sports culture that is truly engrained in our time; it may be in our DNA. I'll keep showing up as long as there are games to attend.”

Bill Salwaechter,
former superintendent of
Claremore public schools

“I was raised on OU football. In part it was a fascination with the Owens family, Stephen and Tinker Owens. And there was small-town world; we had high school football—a pretty big deal. I always looked forward to Friday nights during the fall and as I got older, the guys, my fellow high school classmates who played the game, were people I admired. And these guys were doing something I couldn't have done even though I was very competitive, very athletic. Then it was off to OSU and a lot of football defeats while there. After that, I got to go to a pro game featuring Earl Campbell (Houston Oilers/New Orleans Saints), the biggest person I'd ever seen. His thigh was bigger around than my entire body.

I didn't want my boys playing football. They played soccer. The weird thing about pro football is it's gotten so technical because of the rules. I've lost interest in it.”

Angela Manley,
legal administrator