ouch! 

An 8 year old I know just got hauled off by ambulance two days ago because of being tackled without being prepared for it by another youngster.  He broke some hip bones and was in exruciating pain especially because they couldn't find his vein to administer the meds during the ride to the hospital.  During surgery they had to insert one or two metal rods into his side.  Haven't got the details as of yet but am thinking his football days might be over and his dad is quite the football enthusiast. 

Even if that story is not true - and one almost hopes that it really is just a tale - it could very well happen just like that.

I didn't grow up with american football and the plays and moves and tactics were just very confusing for me whenever I watched a game - not that that hindered the fun of watching a game any. My guestmom in Iowa loved the Packers, her boyfriend loved the Vikings - tensions were high when they played each other. We also did football parties where everybody dressed warm with hats, scarves and gloves to watch the Packers game in the garage - out of empathy for them if they played in cold drizzle. It was fun if somewhat bizarre in hindsight. 

It is fun to watch - big boys rolling in the mud, wrestling and having a blast, there is no wonder it is popular.

KFC:  You sure can suck the fun right out of a thread!!  Seriously, I hope the boy recovers and that his folks have the good sense to let him heal and grow a few years before they let him play again. I am all for  sports for kids but seems to me that eight is a bit young to be playing tackle football...but that's just me.  The older I get, the more protective I feel about the littlies.

U:  You did grow up, I assume, with what we call soccer and I have watched the way the young Germans throw themselves into that game.  Lots of big boys rolling in the mud there, too.  

My boys played football but only in High School.  My husband who played in HS wouldn't let them play until then.  He said the kids really shouldn't be playing a contact sport like that until they get older because of the size differential in the sizes of the kids at these young ages.  Some kids are monsters in third-fourth grade while others are little pee-wees.  Besides that thier growth plates are not closed until they reach about 12 or so.  Until then much damage can be done if those growth plates get messed up. 

Anyway we were told by one of the mothers when our kids were little that if we didn't put them in when they were younger they would never get to play later.  What a crock!  Two of my boys didn't play until their last two years of HS and did fine.  In fact while they weren't the quarterback on the team their names were announced quite a bit on the mike because they were both very athletic and did fine.  They both played running backs and scored touchdowns and were heavily played.  My youngest son was voted Most Athletic by his HS class.  Before football they had played years of baseball, basketball, track and x-country.  So the Football coach was glad to have runners on his team.   He didn't care they hadn't had earlier experience. 

Oh and that mom who told me that my boys were missing out had her son break his hand in five places later on while he was still younger.  I have three boys (now in their 20's) and not one broken bone after years of playing sports.  Some of it is luck but much of it is knowing what sport to put your child in by looking at him. 

KFC:  I couldn't agree more.  There is so much pressure to put kids into programs at a younger age nowdays.  The conventional wisdom says that the younger they play the more they learn, the more experience they have when they get to high school and college.  Phooey.  Kids need exercise, competition, comraderie, and FUN.  

My three boys weren't interested in sports in their teens, they turned out just fine, too.

Yeah.. but soccer is not a contact sport and you don't have to wear protective gear for sensitive anatomy nor pads etc. in order to avoid injury during tackles. And we us a ball that is actually round and gets passed by rolling on the field.

I can't wait for the next world cup.

Wait ... Soccer?  Not a contact sport?  Could've fooled me. 

I grew up watching the German youth (of all ages) play soccer at the local field.  And every German village had at least one soccer field set up.  The phrase "no blood, no foul" is the best I can come up with the way they play.  They teach the kids to play that way, even foolhardy American kids who think they can keep up.    My son's soccer coach has to tell me to "sit down and shutup!" quite frequently 'cause I'm trying to get the kids to play the way I learned.   

That idea of "no blood, no foul" gets reinforced with every FIFA game I get to watch.  And Europeans think American Football is too violent.  Sheesh.

I've heard soccer is way worse than football as far as injuries. I remember when my kids were in football the articles that were coming out in the paper about the dangers of soccer being worse than football.   I think the reason is because there is very little equipment like padding put on the soccer kids in comparison to football.  Twisted Knees and ankles,  tearing ACL's, and concussions are quite common because collisions are occurring while the kids are eyeing the ball.  They concentrate so on the ball they don't see the player coming at them doing the same thing. 

Me,too...Soccer not a contact sport?   What part of Germany was he hiding in?

Not to mention getting hit by falling fans when the stands collapse or being knifed in the streets after the game !!

haha touché. I didn't say that no contact happened during the game, but the overall goal isn't to jump the opposition and to wrestle them to the ground so that the quarterback can throw the ball to the runner in order to make ground or to touchdown (did I get the overall goal in football right?). Soccer can be pretty ruthless and you can get bad injuries, but it is not the main tactic of the game and hence players don't usually need protective pads. I never understood why soccer wasn't more popular in the professional leagues in the US, as it seems popular enough in highschool and colleges and for kids.

KFC.. football (and what you play is not football as you neither use your feet nor a ball) isn't dangerous. Millions of german kids play it and millions more around the world. It is about tactics and teamplay, speed, being smart and adaptive - sorry if I sound like a Nike add here

You should have been here during the worldcup.. they dubbed those weeks "summer fairy tale". Everybody had so much fun, and it did unite people. Nobody got stabbed in the streets and no stands collapsed either here and everybody had a great and awesome time. Even if your team lost, you went on to celebrate with the winners. I always wondered how that must have been for the people stationed here because it was like one gigantic party. The groupgames mostly took place during the afternoon at 5pm, so if you wanted to watch you had to go and secure a spot in a park or beergarden at 2:30 the latest. They had huge viewscreens in parks, and many had to close sometime before the games started because they were completely full. The fanmile in Berlin had 1 million people watching the games together without major violence. It was summer, there was lots of beer (or beer mixed with lemonade) and Germany had won everygame until Italy kicked us out in the halffinals. And the weather was great every single day. It was just amazing - I remember one class in university on a friday afternoon (Germany played Argentina) and nobody had shown up except the professor and 2 students out of a class of maybe 50.

Every thing you said is true, U...but if you want a startling stat, compare injuries and deaths attributed to soccer worldwide to American (or Canadian) football worldwide.  I admit that England and South America are the worse culprits but remember, I spent about 14 years in Germany and have witnessed a soccer melee or two.  

I always loved the fact that the day after Super Bowl in USAREUR was a "training holiday".  Because of the time difference  

I'm not saying it's neccesarily dangerous but that the hospitals in our area say they treat more kids for injuries in soccer than in any other game, even more than football.  I think that's because at least in Football they expect to be tackled and have on the right gear and padding but in soccer they don't have such protection.  Here and there I've heard requests that soccer players be mandated to wear helmets because of such injuries. 

I am traumatized by the vivid picture of that event! 

As for fair weather fans, if I tell you that I am a Raiders fan, that should tell you that I have not strayed in the blizzard, so I am especially aware (and did see) the napolean MCallum injury.  And was Watching the Deadskins (somehow local TV thinks we are a burb of DC) when Theisman broke his leg (my mother always liked him because he played for Notre Dame).

I did not see the Daryl Stingley hit however.

When Joe got his leg broken, it was Lawrence Taylor that made the hit.  The legend has it that as they all stood around waiting for the golf cart to come fetch him, Joe put up a brave face and said, "I'll be back!"

To which LT replied, "Not tonight, Joe."