10 
I know it’s only Monday, and there’s lots of possible dumbfuckery yet to come , but this Washington Post column by George Will prompts me to present this dubious honor well in advance of the weekend.
Basically, George Will is calling for a ban on Football
Decades ago, this column lightheartedly called football a mistake because it combines two of the worst features of American life — violence, punctuated by committee meetings, which football calls huddles. Now, however, accumulating evidence about new understandings of the human body — the brain, especially, but not exclusively — compel the conclusion that football is a mistake because the body is not built to absorb, and cannot be adequately modified by training or protected by equipment to absorb, the game’s kinetic energies.
After 18 people died playing football in 1905, even President Theodore Roosevelt, who loved war and gore generally, flinched and forced some rules changes. Today, however, the problem is not the rules; it is the fiction that football can be fixed and still resemble the game fans relish.
George Will justifies this position by mentioning the suicides of Junir Seau and Dave Duerson along with the implication that they were the result of brain trauma that lead to dementia and depression. He further states that today’s athletes are bigger, stronger & faster which will lead to more concussions and that will inevitably lead parents to keeping their kids out of Football and the eventual demise of the sport.
George Will didn’t do any research on this theory.
For starters according to the National Federation of State High Schools over 1.1 million kids played HS football in 2011. And although we don’t have exact numbers – experts for Sports Illustrated estimate another 1.1 million play youth football.
That same SI article discusses Pop Warner leagues, which have over 170,000 players nationwide, and have never had a player fatality in their 67-year history. And studies show that most youth football programs are relatively safe. In a recent study, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission examined athletic injuries on a sport-by-sport basis. It found that organized football 5-to-15 year-olds had 12 % fewer injuries per capita than organized soccer for the same age group. Football also had 50% fewer injuries than bike riding and 74% fewer than skateboarding.
I played football for 8 years and have coached sons for another 12. In all that time I’ve seen only one serious injury – a broken leg. I’ve never had a teammate or player suffer a neck injury and only a handful where I thought there might be a possible concussion. Maybe you wonder what qualifies me to judge possible concussions? 7 years of coaches clinics and certifications. and who provides the material for these clinics? Well it’s none other the CDC –
But George Will didn’t think to do any research before he wrote that Post article or talked to George Stephanopoulos in a “This Week” roundtable discussion.
He just opened his mouth and let uninformed opinions spew out.
And for that George Will is the IBC Asshat of the Week.
10 Responses to “Asshat of the Week – Early Edition”
Yogi & Boo Boo
Great post. Thanks. Old Ass-hat Will only believes in 1 sport: baseball.
discoordinated
is baseball a sport?
fake amish
It can not be the asshat of the week on monday. Besides no one cares what some old weak nerd thinks. Gonna have to do better than this.
Nefarious Rapscallion
I agree. And as per usual fake Amish is her to bum you out. Fake Amish go fuck yourself you giant asshat
Nefarious Rapscallion
Great post kc. Stay with it!,
alf44
George Will pretty much says something EVERY week that could qualify him for this dubious “honor” ! imo
—
Might wanna consider a higher hurdle !
Or, a LOWER one … as it were !
Just saying’ …
.
alf44
… take for example …
Michael Phelps having the audacity to compare himself to the greatness of Michael Jordan !
REALLY ???
PAH-LEEEZE !!!
.
Nefarious Rapscallion
Fake Amish is the devil and needs to be cast out of IBC.
Nefarious Rapscallion
Alf another troll loser
alf44
… yawn !!!
.