Football vs. Baseball

Possibly the wrong board to look for football support

This one is easy for me. My passion is baseball and I think I have passed it onto my son and our entire family.

I hope I get some opportunity to travel to a lot of games. The distance won't matter much to me. I will be there as much as I can no matter how far from home.

I played football through HS growing up and my son played through middle school. Not even close in terms of viewing enjoyment for me as a parent. Baseball hands down.

You are asking this on a baseball forum?

I was thrilled when mid way through high school my son gave up football to focus on his baseball aspirations.

Both sports are great. As a parent can we really dictate what sport they will play in college? What I would prefer doesn't even matter, does it?

I'm guessing the decision is made based on what sport the kid likes the best, which sport he is best at and what happens with recruiting. There are a few that play both sports in college.

I think many kids have this decision to make. I think it comes down to what sport wants them the most and are they in alignment with that. I know we have had this issue at our house, and it was stressfull on everyone but in the end it has worked out for the best.

Lefty...

Depending on the D2 program, football can be pretty time consuming. More that you would think. While I agree baseball can go year around during the season football can require huge amounts of time with respect to game plans (recognition of def. or off.), trainer room w/injury, film room after practice (etc). It can be pretty intense during the season.

Growing up, I was football player that played baseball when I wasnt playing football. When kids started throwing pitches other then fastballs, my days as a baseball player were over, but being in St Louis, it was a rule you have to be a baseball fan.

When the strike in '94 happened, I honestly quit caring about baseball for about two years until my then 2 year old son said his first word--"Yankee" when looking at a guy wearing a Yankee cap. I pretty much figured he was going to be a baseball player.

As much as I have always loved football, and always will, my son is a baseball player and I wouldnt want it any other way. Next year, he continues his journey into college and my wife and I are already trying to figure out how we will see him play as much as possible.

Hopefully there will be a baseball or two-sport parent that can answer your question regarding the time commitment. I can't imagine football taking as much time as baseball, but baseball's all I know. My daughter is a D-1 rower and the time commitment there is pretty substantial as well.

But frankly, I'd say leave it up to him. He'll figure it out. Sit back and enjoy the ride, whichever stadium you're in.

Just stirring up debate.... and I realize this is a baseball board. And I do enjoy both equally as far as that goes.

It just seems to me that if your options were equal, then football allows more time to be a college student and makes it easier for a parent to watch. It seems that they both have a fairly equal amount of time requirements in the off-semester. However, baseball seems to be a real bear during the regular season with no time off.

Then there's also the possibility of wood bat summer league play as well for baseball players.

I would prefer my kids go with their passion. If asked my opinion my input would be factual rather than emotional regarding the big picture of participating in each sport. If asked which one I would chose my response would be I'm not the one who has to live with the decision.

I was a former All State football player in high school and now during the Super Bowl I'm thinking about baseball, either the Major Leagues or my son's college career. What does that tell you?

I must say, with all of the recent heightened awareness regarding concussions and long term effects, my feelings on this topic have been altered.

I have newfound concerns for the kids I coach that are crossover athletes. I am no longer as confident spewing the benefits of playing multiple sports when football is one of them. It's tough because I love the game.

In our experience, the sons no. 1 passion was football, but the offers did not come as he expected.

Baseball offers came and the interest level was high, but his interest was low to medium. He finally determine to go the BB route, which is his number two passion. In time he has fallen back in love with BB and is full steam ahead.

It's a process...

Thank God!

quote:

Originally posted by Stafford:
Just stirring up debate.... and I realize this is a baseball board. And I do enjoy both equally as far as that goes.

It just seems to me that if your options were equal, then football allows more time to be a college student and makes it easier for a parent to watch. It seems that they both have a fairly equal amount of time requirements in the off-semester. However, baseball seems to be a real bear during the regular season with no time off.

Then there's also the possibility of wood bat summer league play as well for baseball players.

I was just wondering if you have you ever looked into what is required to be a college football player? Many football players also play other sports, s****r, track and field, so for many there is year round activity and most have to attend school in summer, which is when they hold practice to be ready for first game end of Aug.

Both sports have their challenges and the decision should not be based upon which is easier.

We have a friend who plays D1 football. It is a huge time commitment similar to BB. TPM is correct in that summer school is mandatory. Plus they have spring practice and never stop lifting weights or conditioning through the year. It is tough!!! In thier program toughness is no. 1, so you can imagine the difficulty of the workouts.

Our friend has stated that it is no longer fun and that it is a job. His perspective. We have spoken about this and I think in time the fun will come.

Play baseball... lol

With all due respect but you don't have much experience with football do you? I won't say football is more time consuming but it will take up your time.

As for chance of more injury I disagree there is MORE chance. I believe there is a higher chance of a major traumatic injury than baseball.

I played both in high school and got to play some baseball in college. I love Friday nights even now as a coach but I have NO desire to play football ever again. I truly wish I could still get behind the plate and catch.

Each one provides an opportunity to make yourself a better person and provide you chances to set you up in the future based on experience, what you learn and who you meet. It's really what you make of it. You control that destiny.

As for which one I wish my son (I don't have one) would play - I want him to play the one he loves the most. I want him to love which one he wants to provide him the things I was able to attain from my limited experience playing college baseball even if it's football. It's his life and he needs to be the one to make that call. But if he plays both then he will respect the one who doesn't love and do it right.

quote:

Stafford posted.....I've thrown in my ideas on the subject and I'm obviously more in favor of football, but I'm curious as to what others think.

My brother, father, and grandfather all played college football. Needless to say, I grew up in a football-centric house, like so many of us in Texas, and saw more games than I can count. However, I always enjoyed watching baseball. In fact, I was the scorekeeper for our high school baseball team. You have to love baseball to volunteer as a teenager to keep score and track pitches.

Every year since my son was 7 or 8 I asked him if he wanted to play football, and every year he said no. I would have enjoyed watching him play, but never pushed it. Meanwhile, we were season ticket holders for the Astros, so my son saw a lot of baseball. When he started playing, he knew what it was about. I wonder if his baseball sense is partly attributable to watching baseball as a very young child.

Bottom line, I like watching baseball more than football. However, I would have been happy if my son had played football. As it is, I'm very happy that my son is a 4th generation college athlete. Keeping the tradition alive.

quote:

As for chance of more injury I disagree there is MORE chance. I believe there is a higher chance of a major traumatic injury than baseball.

According to NCAA data, injuries in college football games occur at a rate that is 6 times greater than injuries in college baseball games.

baseball games, 5.78 injuries per 1000 Athletic Exposures
football games, 36 injuries/1000 AE's

Links to the data, including the definition of what constitutes an injury:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1941283/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17710170

Seems like someone is injured every few minutes in college football. Pro football has become extremely dangerous. The players just keep getting bigger, stronger and faster. The equipment isn't keeping up with the size, power and speed.

quote:

Originally posted by PGStaff:
Seems like someone is injured every few minutes in college football.

There's an ambulance standing by at every game, and a physician on the sidelines, which kind of says it all.

Men's college s****r is no walk in the park either--3 times more likely to get injured in s****r games than in baseball games.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17710176

NCAA injuries in games:
baseball, approx. 6 per 1000 athletic exposures
s****r, approx. 18 per 1000 AE's
football, approx. 36 per 1000 AE's

quote:

Originally posted by freddy77:
There's an ambulance standing by at every game, and a physician on the sidelines, which kind of says it all.

Yeah, that says it all. Even at the high school level there is an ambulance at the football games (even JV) but none at the baseball games. Though maybe there should be. One of the injuries my son suffered was a concussion while at a showcase game - hit by pitch in the helmet and he was cleated during an Legion game - was catching and there was a play at the plate - ended up with 12 stitches - effectively ended his Legion season (last regular game). The good news is he recovered from both and is playing ball at a Div II JUCO.

Yes, there are injuries in baseball, but usually not near as bad as football.

Our middle school and high school had EMT skilled people at every practice and game of every sport.

Well I'm not going to sit here and proclaim to be any kind of expert on injury numbers. I'm going on what I've seen over my life and with my athletes which isn't very reliable since we're talking about college and my guys were high school. I know I had more injuries in baseball than football.

I also hope this doesn't turn into a bash football thread either.

My question on the studies is - what is an injury? I didn't read the whole thing so maybe it was answered but do they just count incidences where you lose playing time, practice time, games or what? Will the fact that football allows for multiple substitutions while baseball doesn't allow substitutions - for example a guy gets hurt in football, comes out two or three plays / series but comes back in is counted as an injury where the same situation in baseball is treated the same but not counted as an injury due to the fact he stays in the game because if he leaves he won't come back in.

Maybe I'm over thinking this because I tend to do this but I've been around long enough to know you can make stats say whatever you want.

The risks involved in football make this an easy question to answer: Baseball.I am thankful that my son never played football even though the high school coach "recruited " him every year.

quote:

Originally posted by RJM:
Our middle school ... had EMT skilled people at every practice... of every sport.

Your MS sports programs were extremely well-funded, especially when compared to the many districts that have eliminated MS and 9th grade sports programs.

My son played both in high school. I think he'd tell you that he prefers the kind of team dynamic that football creates.

I posted this on another thread a couple weeks ago, but it probably is germane to this discussion. It's an essay my son wrote for a college class about the lessons on life he learned from his experience in high school football.

Click here to read it.

quote:

Originally posted by Rob Kremer:
My son played both in high school. I think he'd tell you that he prefers the kind of team dynamic that football creates.

I posted this on another thread a couple weeks ago, but it probably is germane to this discussion. It's an essay my son wrote for a college class about the lessons on life he learned from his experience in high school football.

Click here to read it.

Great stuff, thanks, I read every word of it.

Jim Rome had a panel that included Bill Romanoski on his Showtime TV show. When the topic of concussions came up ,Romanoski was asked by Romo how many concussions did he think he had during his career counting practices and games. Romanoski replied 500.
When Romo asked him to repeat it to make sure he heard him right, Romanoski said 500. He claimed that if seeing stars and feeling dizzy counted, then yes 500.
That sounds like something that I would NOT want my son playing and thankfully he did not.

In terms of concussions, it is just a matter of time before the rest of college football and possibly the Pros do something meaningful and game-changing about concussions. The Ivy conference started two years ago in football and one year ago in s****r and lacrosse. The Big Ten is looking into it. This is going to be a very serious national issue going forward that each conference is going to have to figure out. As for the Pros, there is a rumor that they may get rid of kickoff returns. This is serious stuff and change is on the way.


Ivy League Presidents Approve Concussion-Curbing Measures for Football
Ivy League Presidents Approve Concussion Recommendations for Lacrosse and S****r

quote:

Originally posted by Stafford: Football...also provides much more free time for a student...

Baseball is more year round...No real time off at all in the spring to be a college student...

As far as a parent, football means...Much, much less time/travel/cost as a parent to see your kid play.

Seems to me that the original post here places a lot of weight on which sport requires less time, trouble and commitment on the part of both family and student-athlete. If that's you and your son's priority, I might suggest re-thinking the whole athletics thing in the first place. If you're going to be a serious student-athlete, you don't want to be choosing your sport based on how little you have to put into it, but rather on how much you can expect to get out of it.

I don't think of going to see my son play as a burden. I don't prefer football because it is fewer games I HAVE to go watch. I prefer basbeall because it's that many more games I GET to go see him play!

I guess the real answer here is a question; What does the student-athlete want? Which sport does HE enjoy most? Well, then play that. And, importantly, is his interst in picking a sport also minimizing commitment of time and effort? If that is the case, he might want to consider intramurals instead of inter-collegiate play...

(I can just imagine the response a football coach would have to a player who said "I chose football over baseball because it is less of a commitment." And that player wouldn't have to say that out loud. Coach will figure it out on his own.)

quote:

Originally posted by fenwaysouth:
As for the Pros, there is a rumor that they may get rid of kickoff returns. This is serious stuff and change is on the way.

Yep, I just heard about this last week. One proposal is what use to be the "kicking" team would get the ball on their own 30 yard line, but it would be "4th down" and 15 yards. They could opt to "go for it" or punt the ball to the "receiving" team.

Not sure if punting the ball is any safer though they seem to have data that points that way.

This is a classic from the late great George Carlin ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmXacL0Uny0

quote:

Originally posted by PGStaff:
Seems like someone is injured every few minutes in college football. Pro football has become extremely dangerous. The players just keep getting bigger, stronger and faster. The equipment isn't keeping up with the size, power and speed.

I've got an idea. . .

Take away ALL the equipment and I'll bet it reduces the injuries by quite a lot. Perhaps then the injury rate would be more on par with Rugby players.

But yeah, it would certaily change the game of Football as we now know it.

quote:

Truman posted...I've got an idea. . .

Take away ALL the equipment and I'll bet it reduces the injuries by quite a lot. Perhaps then the injury rate would be more on par with Rugby players.

Funny that you bring that up. Recently, I was talking to my former dentist who plays rugby in his late 50's (I kid you not!). He said exactly what you said....take the equipment away and teach these kids the right way to tackle. Truman, I think I'm a believer.

One other way football could deal with hits to the head is put some teeth into the rule. Make it an automatic ejection from the game and a 2 game suspension for any blows to the head. A 15 yard penalty just doesn't cut it...

Either they learn to tackle right or they will be doing lots of sitting.

The cynical side of me seems to think the NFL kind of likes all these hard hits and really doesn't want to get rid of them.

quote:

Originally posted by birdman14:


The cynical side of me seems to think the NFL kind of likes all these hard hits and really doesn't want to get rid of them.

Of course the NFL likes it . . .because the Fans like it and it's a business concerning $$$$.

While few fans like to see "blood", there is an attraction to violence. Don't you think? After all, look at the trend in what's popular in movies and TV . . .even news reporting.

The NFL wants to protect those valuable players. . . but within limits.

WOW, really do we really want to go to drastic measures, please remember "Sports is a choice" we all know the risk to every sport we play. I was fortunate enough to play football and baseball in college both teams were considered powerhouses at a division 2 level. Both were extremely time consuming and it forced me to try to become a better student, a better person (as it kept my priorities straight) and i knew the risk to both, BUT I ENJOYED THE HELL OUT OF IT. I can't tell you how many "concussions" i had. I guess what would be considered a concussion now in 2012 would be like in baseball pitching with a sore arm, we all do it and know the risk. Lets not be to picky about things, teach them the game, teach them the risk, teach them the fun they could have and let them enjoy it.

If my son was athletic enough to play football or baseball i would allow him to try it all and go from there. Fun brings a motivation, motivation brings ignition, ignition breeds working harder and learning more about the "how to", which in turn will bring a higher success and more love of that game.

I say this infact there are ways to protect ourselves and things we have to learn but lets not get drastic and change the game to much.