Should Football Helmets Be Conditioned?

A news report found out that many High Schools use old football helmets for their football teams - some as old as 10 years. Each helmet has a 10 year old warranty and should get reconditioned & recertified every year. It doesn’t mean that a 10 year old helmet isn’t up to code. It just means you can’t use it because you can’t get it recertified. Helmets that were recertified have lables inside them showing the last recertification date.http://www.kshb.com/news/football-helmets-up-to-10-years-old-still-in-use
Let’s face it. Football will always be dangerous. But it doesn’t have to be a sport in which helmets are tackling devices and 250 lb men are used for destroying quarterbacks and receivers with them suffering from possibly life threatening
injuries. Sure, someone can suffer a major injury from a completely legal hit on any play in any game, but the risk that comes with helmet-to-helmet hit or another illegal hit heavily increases the risk and should be taken care of. Players are rich as you probably know, so fines won’t keep them from illegal hits. Even if you fine a player $50,000, what about the other $4,950,000 that he would still make? Now, suspensions, on the other hand, would keep them from hitting illegally. If you’re leading your team to the Super Bowl, and you get suspended for a helmet to helmet hit, you wouldn’t want to do those helmet to helmet hits anymore. Which would you rather have? A legitimate chance to win the Super Bowl, or a helmet to helmet hit? That is why the NFL should suspend for illegal hits.http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81b7c9c2/article/football-is-dangerous-but-it-doesnt-have-to-be-senseless
Why do football players even wear helmets? Can helmets be the part of the problem of head injuries. Sure, while helmets reduce deaths, it also makes the players feel invulnerable and hit other players in the head. So why do they even wear the helmet? Taking it away would bring down equipment cost, which can really hurt schools. It also keeps them from making boneheaded plays with their heads. So while the helmet is a football tradition, it may be safer just to destroy the helmet. http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704402404574527881984299454
There are many ways to make the game of Football safer.
One thing is that currently, if a player has an concussion, he must pass an simple test before returning to the field. But that test isn’t the most effective way to diagnose a concussion. Every player gets a shot at the test when he’s 100% at the beginning of the season. So if he doesn’t get to that point, you bench him. The better way to do it is to bench him after sustaining a concussion. No test, no coming back in. (This rule was put in the concussion protocol) Another way to make the game safer is to make mouth guards mandatory. Impacts to the jaw can cause an concussion just as easily as a impact to the brain. So why don’t we use mouth guards? That is the question. Also they could eliminate kickoffs. (WHAT?!?!?!?!) Now hear me out! As much as a great kickoff return thrills fans, evidence says that getting rid of them would lower the probability for a concussion altogether. When they moved kickoffs from the 30 yard line to the 35, more touchbacks occurred and therefore, less concussions. Therefore, people think that one team should simply start at the 20 yard line. Another thing is to make licensing boards like boxers have to face before stepping into the ring. Maybe football players should do the same. The players should re-take the test every 12 months and if the results are really declining, they should have to be benched an few games--with full pay--until he’s declared OK. They could also put doctors on the
sideline. Now, they have medical trainers on the sidelines WHICH IS GOOD, but they don’t have authority to diagnose concussions or take them off the field. Doctors can, so why don’t we do that? I mean, “if he’s walking off the field, they shouldn’t be too hard to bench.” They can also soften the facemask so they don’t keep sacrificing their faces in stupid plays. “http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8061129/nfl-10-steps-make-game-safer”

A collision can hurt your brain as much as your bones, tendons, ligaments, and muscles. A study conducted from the 2008 to 2010 school years shows that most concussions come from football. From Fourth Down and Inches pg. 33
Anyway, on college football now.
There was a football player named Von Gammon who was a great football player a long time ago in 1896-1897 for Georgia when helmets were made of leather and you weren’t forced to wear an helmet. Unfortunately, on Oct. 30 of his sophomore year, his Georgia team was playing Virginia. Von took his place on the defensive line. A lot of offensive linemen blocked Von and he met them with just as much force. The play ended up with an mountain of bodies. One by one, Virginia players got up. Von didn’t. He was rushed to the hospital by an ambulance and later died. An Atlanta Journal headline read “The Death Knell of Football.” Von’s death nearly led football to be banned in the state of Georgia. However, Von’s parents didn’t want it outlawed because “It was the most cherished object of his (Von’s) life,” So it wasn’t outlawed. From Fourth Down and Inches pgs.
7,8
So moving on. A player lines up in his spot. The ball is snapped. In his brain, thousands of brain cells are sending and receiving messages. Move your feet. Breathe. Move your arm. Remember the play. Everything’s like clockwork. Everything is just going fine when BAM! Some linebacker unleashes a massive blow to the head right on him making the brain bounce like you’re playing the game Pong in your skull. The brain reacts to this with complete and utter chaos. From the book Fourth Down and Inches pg. 41 Some symptoms of a concussion are…
Headache
Blurred vision
Dizziness
You just don’t feel 100%
Sensitivity to light and noise
Numbness and tingling
Confusion
Drowsy and sleeping more
Sleeping Less
From the book “Fourth Down and Inches” pg. 86 Is more padding the issue of concussions? There is something called the Guardian Cap which is fitted on the outside of the helmet and is said to reduce impact by an whole 33% because it adds extra padding. University of South Carolina bought 35 for their linemen for practice. They liked it and later bought 75 more for team-wide practices. Lee Hanson, the founder of the company that makes the Guardian Cap says “The Guardian Cap reduces head impacts up to 33% in lab tests.” COULD THIS MAKE THE PERFECT HELMET? He gave them out in 2011, sold about 8,000 in 2012, ($55.00 individually w/ team discounts) and anticipated around 12,000 being used in youth leagues, high school leagues, and colleges in the USA and Canada. 35 states have schools and/or leagues using at least 20 Guardian Caps The Guardian Cap has compartments with foam inside that are arranged on top of the helmets. “Our Goal,” Hanson says, “is to provide the best protection for a kid… If you want shoulder protection, you put shoulder pads on. If you want to protect your head, you put more padding on. More padding on anything is better.” Riddell, official helmet of the NFL and an co-defendant in the concussion lawsuits, is introducing an sensor system that records hits. Reebok already has the sensor that flashes when impacts reach a certain point. Linemen at South Carolina with the Guardian Caps in the spring didn’t have any concussions.