NFL Hard Hits

It is one of the biggest reasons we watch the game. The casual fan will tune in just in the hopes of seeing one. The NFL sells videos and pictures from all teams of collections of these. It is what makes Moms everywhere cringe when their son wants to play football (another reason my Mama loves me more, I was in the band).

If you search YouTube and type in NFL the first thing that comes up is "hardest hits." There are 1000s of videos online of the classic bell-ringers. I have to admit I have watched some Arkansas hits more than 50 times a piece (USC game on kick off return, JPW of Alabama trying but not trying hard enough to get out of bounds and it destroyed by a Razorback LB). Without a doubt it is the most entertaining part of the game.

I bet former New England Patriot Safety Rodney Harrison had no idea the beast he would unleash when he and Coach Tony Dungy discussed an unusually rough weekend during NBC's coverage of the Colts vs. Redskins game Sunday night. He said that the League should start suspending players because the $15K- $20K fines do not mean anything to a person making a couple million a year. Harrison himself was known around the league for his rough and sometimes dirty play. In fact he had a designated fund set aside at the begining of the year to pay for the fines and was ultimately fined more than $250,000 throughout his career.

The NFL took his words and has in the last few days issued larger fines for the tough hits this past weekend, totaling more than $175,000. There has been an uproar from the fines and penalties for these helmet to helmet hits. Super Bowl MVP James Harrison has threatened to retire all together because he "is not playing football anymore." Sports media has exploded with debates about whether this is the right thing for the league to do. Monday Night Football host Stuart Scott felt so passionately against the new concentration he was all but standing up on set in an argument with Steve Young, a quarterback that suffered more than six concussions during his career.

Knowing what I have learned over the years about concussions I know that it is not the first one that is damaging to the brain but second impact syndrome, the repeated harm done to the brain. The syndrome can lead to seizures, migraines and recent research show a connection to Hodgkin's, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, and Parkinson's. I am OK with leading the tackle with the shoulder it is the head-to-head hits that are so devastating.  I also agree with most of the football pros in saying that it is a choice to play football and playing with that risk is just part of the game. I also know post retirement  on football players is one of the hardest in all pro sports because the damage done to the body starts to catch up.

Maybe a change is necessary but with the change rules on the defensive side of the ball need to be looked at too or defenses do not have a chance. The passing game is already glorified in the NFL and hard hits are some of the only ways defensive players have a chance because of the strict pass interference penalties and how well the quarterback is protected. I am ready to see the Week 7, watching how the linebackers and safeties handle the new attention to be paid to the blows they deliver.

On a side note, Grannie, "How 'bout them/your Cowboys?" They have to get it together. I can see her now on the couch as frustrated as anyone in America with the way her 'Boys are playing.

Oh and how about a Thursday night game with the No. 1 team in the nation? ESPN lucked out there.

On the other hand, the Yankees are not lucking out and my childhood favorite Texas Rangers look like they are headed to the World Series. Hope those back at home are enjoying the one piece of Ranger memorbillia we still have, a glass cup.