That Aud Smell

And based on media reports, it sure looks like football participation is down. And the declines are probably in the 10s of 1000s. But its still a pretty frickin' robust number. A million kids playing football in a given year? Compare that with 35,000 kids playing hockey.

That same site, btw, appears to show that the numbers of high school boys playing football has remained fairly stable since 2002 (just north of 1,000,000).

The Minnesota hockey article is an interesting one. In/around Buffalo? I am confident that hockey participation is up over the same period of time as referenced in the article re Minnesota high school hockey. For example, the local private boys' high schools no longer have one hockey team (as was the case back in the day). Now, those schools will have a "federation" team (not quite sure what that is), then a series of tiered league or even club teams. So, where you used to see a school with one team, now that same school may have 3, 4, or more. I noodled around on this website*, and found that, nationally, ~23,000 male high school students played hockey in the late 80s. Nowadays, that number is more like 35,000. And that's to say nothing of the modern trend of girls playing ice hockey. * http://www.nfhs.org/ParticipationStatics/ParticipationStatics.aspx/

In which sports? Link(s)?

@Hoss acknowledged the slave metaphor was hyperbole, y’all. A bit of incendiary hyperbole. But hyperbole.

I think @josie pointed out some time ago that this is derived from a style you see in other current ad marketing. It is also objectively terrible looking. And illegible. They did do a meme correctly, though, with a mini Kermit doll looking at and then hugging an iPhone at the news of Reinhart signing. @Hoss has skills like that. Don’t try to keep up — you’ll just end up pulling a muscle.

Tyrod is still terrible.

Um, yeah. Quite so. Also, IIRC, Ulf did a lot of nasty stuff himself.

I specifically recall hearing of NFL players whose livers were just shot because of the massive amounts of ibuprofen they were pumped with on a preventive/maintenance basis.

And that SH% of those with whom he plays while they're playing together?

First: Second: What's the SH% like? (PDO?)

The OP reflects a good take. I think there's a fundamental mental fortitude in him. I'll stay tuned, and post as able.

Waaaaaaaayyy off. Maybe his girlfriend is still refusing to take out the trash? Not sure what the second parag. is about.

Waaaaaaaayyy off. Maybe his girlfriend is still refusing to take out the trash? Not sure what the second parag. is about.

Well, they're predictive, not determinative. For sure. Paid less, but a good org treats all employees largely the same.

Pragmatic may be a mite more charitable than the teams deserve. I do think there's something to the removed nature of the owners. They can turn screws on their FO and coaches to get results, while also thinking themselves as the magnanimous patrons of these fine athletes. You still hear about that -- players professing love and loyalty for owners (calling them "Mr. so-and-so"). I have memories of Lafontaine saying he was quite close with Seymour and Jean Knox. (As to Jean, by the way, her Facebook is fairly open and she is a LOON. Edit: Her profile is actually fairly closed. But she regularly posts on public pages with Buffalo-related themes. Look for her!) I agree more than I disagree, though. Pro athletes, to varying degrees, will often get treated like so much livestock. Well-compensated livestock, sure. But still.

That mos def was a sucker punch. I hope that idiot gets 10 games.

You have a point to make. But you're undermining it by overstating the case.

I had the same reaction. There is something to the idea that the teams' care for the players' health is utilitarian in nature. I think there's much more to the idea that coaches and even GMs take a pragmatic approach to their concern with player safety. (I especially think of football coordinators, who can be infamously nasty about players nursing injuries.) Being more removed from the day to day effects of injuries, I think owners would profess to having a more genuine concern for their players' well-being. Of course, the proof is in the pudding of the policies that a league adopts, the terms that are negotiated in a CBA, etc.

I’m not saying destructive behavior should be condoned.

That sounds like a path to division. Which, go for it. That seems to be de rigueur.

I think you’re taking too narrow a view of love, and you’re probably misinterpreting what I’m saying. No one is bound to tie themselves to people who actively hate, reject, or abuse them. But love can and will still prevail over such hate, if you let it.

I'm not sure when that point comes. I suppose it varies for everyone. For the people I'm talking about, we mostly don't talk politics. Every now and then a surplus of beers will prompt someone to say something, but mostly we avoid the subject. Instead, we talk about stuff like getting my mother-in-law's deck fixed (it's sagging from some kind of underground erosion issue), what joint trip the young cousins want to plan for next year (a tradition), baseball, football, and so on. Oh, and there are a number of rootsy Americana acts on which we can agree when it comes to listening to music. When I feel the need to, I communicate my views in ways that are perhaps more oblique. Oh, and love is always enough. Sometimes we falter, break down, or quit as its messengers, but love itself never fails.

Is that true? Damn. When I was a young turk, we listened to Tribe Called Quest and "sport[ed] New Balance sneakers to avoid a narrow path."