Comments on: The Dangers of Safety Equipment https://www.isegoria.net/2017/01/the-dangers-of-safety-equipment/ From the ancient Greek for equality in freedom of speech; an eclectic mix of thoughts, large and small Sun, 14 Jun 2026 19:08:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6.1 By: Anomaly UK https://www.isegoria.net/2017/01/the-dangers-of-safety-equipment/comment-page-1/#comment-2536182 Anomaly UK Tue, 17 Jan 2017 13:50:05 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=41366#comment-2536182 While we’re throwing around comparisons, something that most non-Americans won’t be aware of is the short season of American football.

An NFL team plays, if I have it right, between 18 and 23 games per season, including preseason and the playoffs. In comparison, an English Premier League soccer team plays 38 league games, plus cup games, plus European competitions, and most of the players play in international matches on top. Rugby is in between: 22 games in the Aviva premiership, plus 6-9 more for European competition.

The cause of that difference, I assume, is that the bodies of American footballers could not sustain the damage that that many more games would produce.

]]> By: Grasspunk https://www.isegoria.net/2017/01/the-dangers-of-safety-equipment/comment-page-1/#comment-2535314 Grasspunk Thu, 12 Jan 2017 15:19:25 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=41366#comment-2535314 The Seahawks make a big deal about doing rugby-style tackles in the open field. They’ve even made videos of it, e.g.

http://www.seahawks.com/video/2015/06/11/2015-seahawks-tackling

That being said, they still get their head on the wrong side a lot. Do that without a helmet and you’ll feel it.

]]> By: Isegoria https://www.isegoria.net/2017/01/the-dangers-of-safety-equipment/comment-page-1/#comment-2535209 Isegoria Wed, 11 Jan 2017 22:55:41 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=41366#comment-2535209 For a Brit, you know our game well, Anomaly UK. American football is a game of inches.

]]> By: Anomaly UK https://www.isegoria.net/2017/01/the-dangers-of-safety-equipment/comment-page-1/#comment-2535178 Anomaly UK Wed, 11 Jan 2017 19:25:28 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=41366#comment-2535178 I always imagined that the reason American footballers don’t tackle like rugby players is that they can’t afford to give up the ground. In rugby you hit the runner’s legs and their momentum plays a large part in bringing them down, but that means that taking a fast-moving runner you’re giving them three or four yards from the point where you start to hit them. In rugby that usually isn’t a big deal, but in American football it’s that much less to the next first down.

Having said that, I’m no expert in either game, though I’ve watched quite a bit of both and played rugby (extraordinarily badly) at school.

]]> By: Slovenian Guest https://www.isegoria.net/2017/01/the-dangers-of-safety-equipment/comment-page-1/#comment-2535039 Slovenian Guest Wed, 11 Jan 2017 02:54:35 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=41366#comment-2535039 This reminded me of: TEDxCopenhagen – Mikael Colville-Andersen – Why We Shouldn’t Bike with a Helmet

“In a 2010 Tedx Talk (video above) Mikael Colville-Andersen, cycling ambassador for Copenhagen, insisted that some research found that cycle helmets actually cause more brain damage.

Moreover, he described society’s obsession with safety equipment as “almost pornographic.” Why, he wondered, don’t pedestrians wear helmets, as they suffer more brain damage than cyclists? For him, riding without a helmet is also a symbol of the livable city. The problem, as he sees it, is drivers, not cyclists. What would happen, he mused, if drivers were forced to wear helmets? That would surely save lives. It would also destroy car sales.”

He is correct, as drivers give cyclists more passing room if they are not wearing a helmet. It’s almost Luttwakian, in the “the bad road is the good road because it is the bad road” sense, only for safety.

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