TERRY MOSHER

There was a story in the Seattle Times today on whether the NFL is becoming too soft with its safety rules, especially on hard hits, and I’m thinking that maybe someday everybody will wake up to what I have been warning for years that football has outgrown its rules.

 I played football as a young kid when if you were 6-foot and 180 pounds you were big. Now if you are that size you are probably the water boy or team manager.

With the advent of special football camps, seven-on-seven competition, spring practices and select programs, better training methods and better nutrition programs, and kids specializing in one sport, players arrive at high schools, colleges and in the pros bigger, stronger, faster and quicker.

So it is not surprising that football rules that in some cases are older than the hills are being outclassed by players who are so much better than they were when the rules were first put down on paper.

The average size of a pro linebacker in today’s game is six-foot-two and 245pounds. Seattle Seahawks’ all-pro linebacker Bobby Wagner is six-foot and 242 pounds. When he first came into the NFL, Wagner ran a 4.45 in the 40.

I suspect you would not want to get hit by a blitzing Wagner. I know I wouldn’t. On a good day, he probably could bench-press a mini-car.

It’s a basic human instinct to enjoy the thrill of two players smashing into each other. That’s why we watch these games, which often involve at least one player being carted off the field with a serious injury.

There is a risk-reward ratio going on for the players and owners. Players know the risks involved, but also in most cases are rewarded well with contracts that can go into the millions.

Owners made a combined $15 billion last year and hope to up that to $25 billion by 2027. Their risk is the negativity of the injured. How long can they profit from the misery of players who are carted off?

So there is an effort to tone the game down some. Install rules on unnecessary hits, protect the quarterback, and upgrade equipment to provide more safety is part of the effort.

I still believe that at some point, maybe years down the line, new rules will change the game and probably end the viable of it.

 

 

I’m surprised, although I shouldn’t be, how well kids are playing the game of baseball at the Little League level. I watched some of the LL Regional Tournaments and, man, those little guys can play the game.  I especially liked Hawaii. They are real good.

The World Series begins on Thursday and I’ll be glued to the television.  Hawaii is matched up against Louisiana on Friday.

I was also surprised how hard the girls throw a softball in the LL competition. A bunch of them were caught on the radar throwing in the low 60s. That is college level hard, and these girls are from 11 to 13-years-old.

Many years ago the Mariners had a place in the Kingdome where you could test your speed throwing a baseball. I passed it up many times before I got the courage to throw and see what kind of arm I had left.

I was probably about 50 years old at the time and I’m embarrassed to write this, but the best I could do was 48 mph. They wouldn’t let me near a LL mound with that kind of speed.

 

I see Antonio Brown lost his effort to wear his old helmet. What a head case he is. Maybe they should let him use a leather helmet.

 

 

That’s it for today.

Be well pal.

Be careful out there.

Have a great day.

You are loved.