CFZ When “the good old days” aren’t so good

[Bobhaze]

Citation please.

I have a theory that people who grew up before the prevalence of air conditioning were more acclimated to the heat.

Here’s good and straightforward scholarly article from 2020 on what football hits to the head can do to the brain. There are dozens of other well researched articles easily obtainable.
https://engineering.wustl.edu/news/...aying-football-can-do-to-the-human-brain.html

 

[eromeopolk]

Hey I’m 64 and remember the “good old days”. NFL Football and football in general was a lot more physical “back in the day”. Sometimes “the good old days” aren’t so good.

With all we’ve learned about brain injuries, the importance of hydration during practices and the importance of getting better rest in maximizing performance, the “good old days” are not so good when it comes to football.

In my brief days as a football player as a schoolboy, we practiced two a days in extreme heat with no water, were issued salt tablets to “replace the salt you sweated out”, and had full on padded practices almost all week before games. Coaches called players wimps (or worse) for needing water.

We know now from research that is a very foolish and dangerous way to prepare football players.

This time of year, we see lots of fans calling for the Cowboys to play our starters in some pre-season game action to “get the reps” and to “work on timing”. I disagree. In fact, I see that as some of the “old school” thinking we need to get away from. Modern players don’t need the same preparation rituals we used in the 60s through the early 2000s.

The calls for Dak and other key performers to play this ps is not smart IMO. Last year Dak did not take a single snap in a ps game and came out on opening night and threw for 400 yards and 3 TDs. We should have won the game if we had had a kicker who could make XPs.

I say let’s remember the “good ol days” fondly. But also move on into the modern era.

Practice makes perfect. Not preseason games. I agree.

Let just hope it is perfect practice.

 

[Bobhaze]

What about acclimating your body to the physical nature of the game? Like the muay thai guys who kick trees to strengthen their shins.

Citation? Lol. Seriously that may be true for for those guys. My point was simply that there is modern research about practice habits, brain trauma and hydration that have made the training of athletes change. Especially younger ones.

Here’s one on hydration: https://www.childrens.com/health-wellness/the-importance-of-hydration-for-young-athletes

 

[eromeopolk]

 

[Haimerej]

Here’s good and straightforward scholarly article from 2020 on what football hits to the head can do to the brain. There are dozens of other well researched articles easily obtainable.
https://engineering.wustl.edu/news/...aying-football-can-do-to-the-human-brain.html

Yeah, hits to the head are bad. I was referring specifically to the 2 a days and water is for wimps stuff.

 

[Bobhaze]

Yeah, hits to the head are bad. I was referring specifically to the 2 a days and water is for wimps stuff.

The “water is for wimps” stuff began to change when athletes began dying from lack of hydration in heated practices. Like Vikings lineman Korey Stringer’s death 20 years ago due to dehydration in practice.
https://www.active.com/articles/med...th-of-korey-stringer-was-entirely-preventable

 

[Haimerej]

Citation? Lol. Seriously that may be true for for those guys. My point was simply that there is modern research about practice habits, brain trauma and hydration that have made the training of athletes change. Especially younger ones.

Here’s one on hydration: https://www.childrens.com/health-wellness/the-importance-of-hydration-for-young-athletes

Here's one vid about the shin conditioning.

 

[Haimerej]

The “water is for wimps” stuff began to change when athletes began dying from lack of hydration in heated practices. Like Vikings lineman Korey Stringer’s death 20 years ago due to dehydration in practice.
https://www.active.com/articles/med...th-of-korey-stringer-was-entirely-preventable

Yeah, guys died in basic training for overhydration, too. But this story kinda builds into my point. How many old timers pre-AC were dropping out in 2 a days?

 

[Bobhaze]

Here's one vid about the shin conditioning.

Wow that’s crazy! And interesting. My legs hurt watching that!

 

[nalam]

I’m as old as the dirt where Texas Stayjum once stood, lol.

LOL, you are a older man , I would say … not too far behind , single digits.

 

[Haimerej]

Wow that’s crazy! And interesting. My legs hurt watching that!

I still think the lack of conditioning the body for contact is hurting guys in the games. Obviously we don't want people slamming heads all week, but we don't want that on gameday either. I'd rather they take the helmets off than go with these pads they're wearing in TC, for example. Rugby doesn't have this issue for exactly that reason.

 

[Haimerej]

Wow that’s crazy! And interesting. My legs hurt watching that!

I think it should also be noted that the results aren't permanent. These guys can bend metal pipes with their kicks but if they stop the conditioning it goes away.

 

[bsbellomy]

Fans forget that practices and scrimmages is where starters get all of the reps and where most of the decisions are made , not these exhibition games .

That doesn't stop them from charging full price for the tickets.

 

[atlantacowboy]

Yeah but it’s not just the cash owners bring in each year. Even more it’s the VALUE their team brings. Look at the Cowboys. Jerry bought them for a $147 mil and has turned that into a $7-10 billion dollar valuation. The value of each NFL team goes up a ton each year. And players benefit from that too, but not at the same rate.

IMO, One of the misconceptions about owning an NFL team is “risk”. We would be hard pressed to find a business model with almost ZERO financial risk but with exponential financial reward. Being an NFL owner is a golden goose. Being an NFL player is a golden egg. The players have the gold temporarily while the owners have it generationally.

140M was a lot of money in 1989. Just ask Jerry. Valuation is simply a guess at what somebody would pay for the franchise on the open market, and every team in the league is worth 20x its 1989 valuation. Its an asset for sure, but you don't realize that until you sell. Kinda like your house.

Is it zero risk? Nope. The Packers lost money in 1989. It still takes skilled management to make these teams profitable on a yearly cash flow basis. Hell, the water boys make 53k. One of the reason teams are constantly building new stadiums is so the owners can increase team revenues to meet overhead and still get paid. How much cash should an owner pocket on a yearly basis? I would bet that there are now NFL players who make more yearly cash than some owners.

 

[Diehardblues]

That doesn't stop them from charging full price for the tickets.

Of course not . And part of why those revenues have skyrocketed .

My bigger point or intent is we shouldn’t be bashing the players for their increased salaries. And consider about 80% of players make less than a million a year. The average NFL salary is only a little over 2 million.

It’s just a handful or two of players on these rosters who are making tens and hundreds of millions .

 

[TheCritic]

A lot of what the OP is saying could be applied to society at large. Think of all the jobs/careers that require fitness and hard work ethic. Military, police, firefighting, etc. Not nearly enough qualified people.

 

[CouchCoach]

What I miss about those good old days was that I had the NFL for standard football, a lot of smash mouth, and the AFL for fun ball with more scoring and a wider open game. I also miss the war for the players between the two of them.

The NFL for me was "watch us bleed" and the AFL was "watch our speed".

But what I really miss about the game is that FA made all of those old bitter rivalries a thing of the past. That is one of the reasons my passion for the game has diminished.

I can remember bounding out of the bed on Sunday mornings feeling as if I were suiting up and would play that day against the hated Skins. I was on fire and my wife thought I was nuts!

KC v OAK, LA v SF, DET v MIN, ATL v NO and the oldest one, CHI v GB. I don't like Rodgers but I loved him that day he was yelling "I own you" at the Bears fans last season. Bring it back, bring back that hate!

At some point it all changed from game/sport to business and they're all one big happy rich family. And the game I used to love is gone forever.

Go ahead, you whippersnappers, call me the old guy yelling at you to get off my lawn but you didn't live it and I did. I got a physical release from watching those rivalries and was actually tired after one of them.

Instant replay didn't exist, I had to stay glued to the TV or I might miss the play of the game and back then it wasn't a score fest, that one play could make the game. No full-time sports channels to catch the playback, hell, we only had 3 commercial networks. We invested time and bladder control to the games back then.

 

[Vtwin]

Citation please.

I have a theory that people who grew up before the prevalence of air conditioning were more acclimated to the heat.

Agree 100%.
I grew up without AC, and for quite some time worked in very hot environments. Then I switched gears to 15 years or so of working in the comfort of AC. It must definitely lowered my tolerance to heat.

The reverse is also true. Growing up with thermostat set at 65 all winter, no problem. Now, after heating predominantly with a woodstove for the last 20 years, 65 degrees is downright chilly.

It's been my experience that if you train in more extreme conditions than you will likely encounter, the conditions you encounter will be much easier to deal with.

 

[gimmesix]

Salt tablets! Man I forgot about those. I puked those up a lot on the practice field for sure.

We had those two a days to get in shape. These dudes train year round and throw/catch/run all offseason. The college game doesn’t have PS games and they do just fine. I think practicing against other teams is genius which eliminates the need to play in these PS games for sure.

Yep. That's where we moving with the starters. The joint practices give them the opportunity to measure themselves against other team's starters without as much risk of injury. In fact, they get more reps against starters that way than they would by playing a series or two in a preseason game. Obviously, you can't simulate everything if there's not tackling, but there's always going to be some tradeoff.

I give McCarthy some credit for recognizing the value of this. He's not the first coach to do it, or to actually schedule multiple joint practices, but he saw it as a way to make his team better without the risk of full-contact preseason action. It's a trend that may ultimately lead to actual preseason games being about evaluating younger players, who you do need to see in full-contact, full-go settings, while the vets just practice against the teams they play.

 

[Diehardblues]

What I miss about those good old days was that I had the NFL for standard football, a lot of smash mouth, and the AFL for fun ball with more scoring and a wider open game. I also miss the war for the players between the two of them.

The NFL for me was "watch us bleed" and the AFL was "watch our speed".

But what I really miss about the game is that FA made all of those old bitter rivalries a thing of the past. That is one of the reasons my passion for the game has diminished.

I can remember bounding out of the bed on Sunday mornings feeling as if I were suiting up and would play that day against the hated Skins. I was on fire and my wife thought I was nuts!

KC v OAK, LA v SF, DET v MIN, ATL v NO and the oldest one, CHI v GB. I don't like Rodgers but I loved him that day he was yelling "I own you" at the Bears fans last season. Bring it back, bring back that hate!

At some point it all changed from game/sport to business and they're all one big happy rich family. And the game I used to love is gone forever.

Go ahead, you whippersnappers, call me the old guy yelling at you to get off my lawn but you didn't live it and I did. I got a physical release from watching those rivalries and was actually tired after one of them.

Instant replay didn't exist, I had to stay glued to the TV or I might miss the play of the game and back then it wasn't a score fest, that one play could make the game. No full-time sports channels to catch the playback, hell, we only had 3 commercial networks. We invested time and bladder control to the games back then.

LMAO. Very entertaining read.

“ watch us bleed or watch our speed”. And “bladder controll”.
Well done CC