Darryl Stingley - RIP

[bachbeet]

Just one of the many reasons why I dislike football:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/6647374?MSNHPHMA

 

[rnoldh]

I remember that hit by Tatum on Stingley! Tatum was a really dirty player.

According to the article, Stingley was a survivor and did a lot after he was paralyzed.

He was a director of personal for the Patriots, had a non-profit to help inner city youth, and wrote a book.

A Good Man, he will be missed.

BTW: I like Football. I think it's the best TV sport by far. But incidents like this don't seem to happen in other sports!

 

[romafan]

It seems that some of the recent generations of retired players are suffering Alzheimers-like symptoms. Even with the super-duper helmets, players are just getting too strong. I think NEP Ted Johnson's plight is well known. I recently saw another moving article about a fairly young guy (40's?) who doesn't recognize his former teammate...

 

[Hawkeye]

Originally Posted by rnoldh

But incidents like this don't seem to happen in other sports!

Unfortunately they do, I'll never forget turning on the BU Terriers hockey game years ago watching Travis Roy laying on the ice after hitting the boards the wrong way.

I think the Darryl Stingley hit is the reason my father hates the Raiders so much, nice write up in the Globe.

 

[Concordia]

Just last night I say a George Will interview where he described football as distilling the two worst aspects of modern American life: violence punctuated by committee meetings.

There are intelligent people who would disagree with this, but Stingley's injury really brings home the high risk that we ask children and young men to bear for our entertainment.

 

[skalogre]

Originally Posted by Concordia

Just last night I say a George Will interview where he described football as distilling the two worst aspects of modern American life: violence punctuated by committee meetings.

There are intelligent people who would disagree with this, but Stingley's injury really brings home the high risk that we ask children and young men to bear for our entertainment.

Not a US sport limited phenomenon unfortunately. Same thing with football and rugby - lots of war & tear and injuries there also. And they don't even have protective gear like in american football

 

[lawyerdad]

Originally Posted by Concordia

Just last night I say a George Will interview where he described football as distilling the two worst aspects of modern American life: violence punctuated by committee meetings.

.

 

[Drinkwaters]

According to the Director of the Massachusetts Sports Museum. Tatum never once offered an apology, regret or communication to Stingley in all the years he survived.

 

[Hawkeye]

Originally Posted by drink8648

According to the Director of the Massachusetts Sports Museum. Tatum never once offered an apology, regret or communication to Stingley in all the years he survived.

They were supposed to appear on a talk show together in the 90s, but Stingley withdrew because he was told that it was just publicity for Tatum's book: Final Confessions of an NFL Assassin.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Originally Posted by skalogre

Not a US sport limited phenomenon unfortunately. Same thing with football and rugby - lots of war & tear and injuries there also. And they don't even have protective gear like in american football

Everyone knows where I stand already. Football and Rugby are incomparable sports.

A: the "pads" foriegners dismiss so lightly are made of hard reinforced plastic, not rubber or protective foam like you might be assuming. In essence, they are weapons that enable you to hit people without the restraint you need to excercise in rugby to prevent yourself from being paralyzed or dying. The pads don't ABSORB shock, they distribute throughout your skeletal structure so that your organs and soft tissues don't burst. If a rugby player tackled like a football player, his career wouldn't last a game. The protective gear is there to save players lives and to make it possible to hit people HARDER, not because they are any less "manly".

B: The game is fundimentally different, there is no "blocking" in rugby. (IE the only person being tackled is the guy with the ball) that enables the game to flow pretty much uninterrupted the entire length of the game, but it also basically means that the level of actual contact is far lower than in the NFL or college football, where on every play, nearly every player is hit. This generally requires a "reset" of the formation and a pause in the action, not because players are any less athletic, or "soft" but because all of them are either engaged in wrestling a 350lb guy with an attitude problem, lying flat on their back with a footprint on their chest, or have just been hit by a guy who weighs LITERALLY twice what he does and are unconcious.