Is Football to Blame?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Six one seven two six six sixty eight sixty eight
is the number. You can also text the cooner man
seven zero four seven zero seven zero four seven zero. Okay,
my friends, let me ask you, did you what do
you make of the massacre yesterday in Manhattan? And is

(00:24):
football to blame traumatic brain injuries? Are they now too rampant,
too rife? And are we going to see more of
these kinds of mass killings because of what's happening on
the football field? Mark in Medford, Thanks for holding Mark,
and welcome there.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Good morning, Jeff.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Mark, how are you my friend?

Speaker 3 (00:49):
All right?

Speaker 4 (00:49):
So somebody screwed up here somewhere along the line, Jeff.
And the reason why I say that is this, if
the Las Vegas police told the New York police that
this guy had mental issues and he was on mental
eye was on medication.

Speaker 5 (01:04):
For these mental issues, right, But how is.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
He able to obtain a license to carry a weapon
in Nevada with mental issues? Are they that loose with
the gun laws in Nevada?

Speaker 5 (01:19):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Mark, that is a great point. No, you're right, many
people are asking the same question. You know, if this
guy had you know, serious mental health problems and traumatic
brain injury and how did he get, you know, a
concealed carry license. How did they even allow him to
get the guns in the first place? Mark, You're completely right, Mark,

(01:41):
I'm just curious. What do you make of this overall?
Do you think, I mean, has football gotten too violent?
Is it now? Is it now too dangerous? Are we
seeing now too many people with these you know CTE
as they call it, this traumatic brain injury, and a

(02:01):
lot of them are starting to commit suicide. But now
before they turn a gun on themselves, they're turning guns
on others. What say you, I've.

Speaker 6 (02:10):
Played hockey my whole life, and then we want my opinion.
That's more violent than football. Okay, that's constant play. You
get hit, you have to get back up and get
it to the play. You get hit football, the play's over. Okay,
this is your choice.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
You elect to play football, you elect to play hockey.
You know the consequences. What could happen to you? So, No,
they're not going to ban football, Jeff, because first of all,
it's a ten billion dollar a year business. The NFL
makes ten billion dollars a year. You think they're gonna
ban tackle football? We have a better shot of seeing
Jesus Christ walking down the street right now. That's that's

(02:48):
that's a given, okay. But one of two things happen here, Jeff.
Either somebody screwed up in Nevada or he just why
on application and they didn't even bother looking at it.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
I think you're right, No, you're dead right, Mark, Mark
is always thank you very much for that call, Lucy
in Lexington. Thanks for holding Lucy, and welcome.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
Good morning, Jeff.

Speaker 4 (03:19):
How are you good?

Speaker 1 (03:20):
How are you Lucy?

Speaker 3 (03:22):
This is my first time calling, so I welcome, I
took notes. Welcome, little nervous to do this.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Nervous, you're among friends, Go ahead, go ahead, Lucy.

Speaker 4 (03:31):
All right.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
So I definitely agree with Mark about what he just said.
You know, I play rugby, and that's like a that's
no armor, no padding, no nothing. And you don't hear
stories about people, you know, getting some concussions with that.
You don't hear people like going crazy with that. So
I agree with Mark. And then I also see the

(03:52):
point of like, you know, tackle football, it's a sport,
we have it. There's like flag football too, maybe that
could be better, who knows, But the whole point of
like what I was seeing from this point because I'm
twenty seven as well, and I'm a psychologist student right now.
So I've always wanted to work the brain and like

(04:12):
you know, figure out how things are. So I did
a whole study on video games and with men in particular,
whenever like they lose, if they lose over and over
and over, or they just get very very mad, especially
with GTA. You know, they're constantly like trying to reenact

(04:33):
that thing in real life or that they can't, like
there's a blurred line to them between what reality is
and what's in the game.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
Right, Yes, I mean you're talking. You're talking about grand
theft auto right when you say GTA.

Speaker 5 (04:47):
Correct?

Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yes, yeah, No, no, Lucy, No, I agree with you.
Look I think, and you tell me what you think.
I think a big difference between rugby and football, and
you're right, rugby is a contact sport. Actually I do
watch it occasionally. I think it's a great sport. It's
a very physical sport. You need a lot of skill,
a lot of toughness, a lot of courage, a lot

(05:11):
of strength to play rugby. I think a big difference
is money. There is so much more money involved in
football than in rugby. And when you look at this man,
this this animal who shot up these people. He was
a high school football star and everybody expected him. They
didn't just say college football, you're going to get a

(05:31):
free scholarship. They said, you're going to go to the NFL.
You're going to make ten twenty thirty, forty to fifty
million dollars. You're going to be famous. You're going to
be rich. You're going to be wealthy. You're going to
have mansions and cars and you know, women all over you.
And and it didn't pan out because of the brain injuries.
In fact, I don't even think he made it through college.

(05:54):
And so he was angry, bitter, resentful, and that's when
he began to take it out on football in the NFL.
But you know, Lucy, the problem is nobody thinks about
their health. He's a human being. Look what he did
was horrible. Don't get me wrong, But I'm thinking him
as a high school athlete. All everybody kept telling him

(06:15):
was keep winning, keep scoring touchdowns. That's all that matters. Well,
my head is killing me. Who cares. You're going to
be in the NFL. You're going to make tens and
tens of millions. So you have players that are playing
with one concussion and two concussion, then three concussions, then
four concussions. Well, your body can only take so many concussions.

(06:36):
You don't have that in rugby. Am I wrong, Lucy?

Speaker 3 (06:40):
Oh, You're absolutely right. And the other point that I
want to make was, you know, when this guy like
parked the car, took him ten minutes to walk in
the building. There are multiple people around. My question for
you is, and you know everyone listening, do you think
that people are to like do their protecting job because

(07:03):
we're so politely divided where it's like you know, with
I mean, I know there's a whole other topic, but
you know there's ice, and then there's people trying to
have a whole party against ice and defending everything. I think,
you know, if if people had said something, it could
have been easier. And like Mark said before, you know,

(07:24):
this guy was able to get a license. There's no
way that he should.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
Six one seven two six six sixty eight sixty eight
is the number? Okay? An absolute bloodbath now in New York.
A deranged killer apparently suffering from traumatic brain injury play
a former high school football player, a security guard, in
Las Vegas, drove across the entire country to a specific building,

(07:53):
a skyscraper on Park Avenue, which the NFL has its
headquarters at, and walked into the lobby with an M
four rifle and just started to blast away, killing a
police officer. Officer did a rule Islam an immigrant from Bangladesh,
married with two sons and a third child on the way.

(08:16):
His wife was pregnant. It is absolutely heartbreaking. He was ambushed.
He never stood a chance. Others in the lobby as
well were shot at point blank range. A security guard
was murdered. A woman just an office employee leaving, you know,
leaving work that day, about to go home, was killed brutally.

(08:40):
He then shot another this one actually was an NFL staffer.
He didn't know this person was a staffer, but shot
the staffer. It looks like that individual, that man may survive.
He's in critical condition. He then went onto the elevator
all the way up to the thirty third floor and
then began to indiscriminately shoot anyone or anything in sight.

(09:05):
He ended up killing another person who worked on the
thirty third floor, which was the property management office, not
the NFL, and then turned the gun on himself. He
left behind a suicide note saying that he suffered from CTE,
which is repeated blows to the head, traumatic brain injury

(09:27):
caused by repeated, persistent, multiple concussions. He played high school football.
Apparently he was a star high school football player with
the promise of joining the NFL. In fact, everybody said
he was practically a shoeing. However, his brain injuries prevented
him from ever making it to the NFL. He became bitter, angry,

(09:51):
suffered apparently from crippling, debilitating headaches, a severe memory loss.
He developed mental health issue. Shoes blamed football, blamed the
NFL for what happened to him, and hence why that
building and why he targeted that particular skyscraper. Now, as

(10:12):
you know my position, I don't blame the NFL. You
chose to play football. You chose to keep playing football
even after you suffered concussion after concussion, so don't blame
anybody but yourself. But there is an issue about whether
the NFL does do enough to protect its players, and

(10:32):
whether in general college, high school as well, that these
helmets that they wear now are sufficient armor or protection
against the speed, the strength, the conditioning that you now
see among all of these athletes, and that there is

(10:53):
a growing problem of repeated blows to the head. The
NFL even had to change some of its rules regarding
tackling and whether you can even tackle helmet to helmet
or blok hit someone in the head because the problem
of concussions was becoming a serious one. So this is
what Beverly wrote to me on message on messenger. Forgive me.

(11:16):
This is what she messaged me on messenger. Jeff, good morning, Well,
good morning to you, Beverly. I believe the helmets give
the players a false sense of security, whereas in rugby
they technically have no protective equipment, if I'm not mistaken,
and so they tend to be a little more cautious,

(11:40):
whereas in the in football they believe they're invincible even
in hockey and they have smaller helmets. Could that potentially
be why there are so many head to head collisions
and injuries and CTE. Interesting. Look, let me be honest

(12:01):
with you, I don't think the helmets are enough. I don't.
I think they do give them a sense of false security.
I think some people do think they're invincible, especially with
a helmet on and I don't care who you are
when you're going head to head with some you know,
linebacker or defensive linemen or whatever, two hundred and sixty

(12:25):
two hundred and seventy two hundred and eighty three hundred
pounds of mostly solid muscle coming at you at you know,
at lightning speed. With the way these players are conditioned nowadays,
you're going to rattle your brain. Like I don't care
who you are, and you take enough of those shots

(12:46):
to the head and you're never going to be the
same again. Now, I'm not saying band football, far from it.
But you know, do I think that the NFL could
do more to protect their players? Question? Do I believe
high school and college football could do more to protect
their players, No question, But I think Mark in Medford

(13:09):
nailed it. There's just too much money now. And it's
not just professional football. He mentioned ten billion in the NFL.
College football is an absolute financial windfall. It is huge,
huge money. The stadiums are packed. I'm talking one hundred

(13:30):
and one hundred even one hundred and twenty thousand people,
the merchandise, the TV contracts, schools, I mean they rely
on that money. That money. I mean schools, universities have
become big business. And it's not just football, to be frank,
it's basketball, it's some of the other you know, big

(13:51):
programs that they have. But there's so much money now,
so they don't care if these kids, know, get their
brain smashed or get suffer you know, CTE or constant concussions. Hey,
just keep winning, baby, you know. As yeah, three weeks away,

(14:11):
as as you know, as as Mike was telling me,
you know, three weeks away college football starts, so you know.
And so now they they're going to pay the players.
So the players now are going to make college players. Now,
forget just a scholarship. Now, it's going to be millions
of dollars. Plus they even get revenue from their jerseys,

(14:34):
the sale of their merchandise, sale of their jerseys, so
there's even more of an incentive. And if your brain
gets splattered, or if your head gets smashed, or if
you have one too many concussions, hey, it's all about.
The incentive now is so much more than it was
in the past. And look, I'm not defending what he did.
Obviously was disgusting, it was evil, But this guy thought

(14:58):
he was going to the NFL everybody, But he told him,
your ticket is punched. All you got to do is
keep playing and keep winning. And the fact that you're
turning your brain to mush, well, you know, hey, you'll
deal with it when you deal with it. And the
problem was he couldn't tough it out. His brain began
to collapse on him. He couldn't even get through college,

(15:21):
and he ended up being a security guard in Las Vegas,
and he got to the point that he couldn't function
as a human being, and he got so angry and
developed serious mental health problems that he took it out
on these poor innocent people in Park Avenue in New York.
Six one seven two six six sixty eight sixty eight.

(15:41):
Let me ask all of you. It is the Kooner
Country Pole Question of the Day sponsored by Marios Marios
Quality Roofing, siding and Windows. Is the NFL doing enough
to protect the players? In other words, are they doing

(16:04):
enough to try to protect from this constant brain you know,
these constant concussions, brain injuries, brain trauma as b No, honestly,
I'm a no. I'm not blaming the NFL for what happened,
But no, I don't think they're protecting their players enough.
But it's all about the money. They don't care about

(16:25):
player safety. But that's me I want to hear from you.
You can vote on our web page wrko dot com
slash cooner wrko dot com slash cooner. Kuh N is
a national Er. You can also vote via x and
I'm always active on X. My handle there at the

(16:46):
Kooner Report. All one word kuh N is in national Er.
I want to take all of your calls, okay, very quickly.
Listen now to New York Police Commission Jessica Tish on
the massacre in Manhattan. They received a call at six

(17:08):
twenty eight pm Eastern time, that was yesterday of an
active shooter inside three forty five Park Avenue, which is
that huge, swanky, swanky forgive me swanky skyscraper where the
NFL is headquartered. Blackstone is there as well, a lot
of very very big companies and businesses are located there.

(17:33):
And listen to what she says, roll Cut twenty Mike.

Speaker 7 (17:40):
At six twenty eight pm, the nine one one call
center started receiving multiple nine one one calls for an
active shooter inside of three forty five Park Avenue at
fifty second Street in Manhattan. What happened next is under
an active investigation and details are still coming in, but
here's what we know so far. Surveillance video shows a

(18:03):
mail exit a double parked black BMW on Park Avenue
between fifty first and fifty second Streets, Carrying an M
four rifle in his right hand. He walks towards the
building's entrance. That individual was seen exiting the BMW alone.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
So it appears it was a lone wolf. Initially there
was talk of maybe a second person who was involved,
but the police are now saying no, it was one
person and only one person. Now, this is the part
to me that is really chilling. He's walking towards the
building holding the rifle, calm, cool, completely without a care

(18:45):
in the world, and then he enters the lobby roll
cut twenty one mike.

Speaker 7 (18:54):
The building security camera footage shows the shooter enter the lobby,
turn right, and immediately open fire on an NYPD officer.
He then shoots a woman who took cover behind a
pillar and proceeds through the lobby, spraying it with gunfire.
He makes his way to the elevator bank, where he

(19:14):
shoots a security guard who is taking cover behind the
security desk. One additional mail shot in the lobby for
his own statement from the hospital.

Speaker 1 (19:27):
I mean, I gotta tell you, man, you are You're evil.
You are one cold sociopathic sob. You know, Okay, I'm not.
Please don't misunderstand me. You hate the NFL. It's your fault.
It's not the NFL's fault. But okay, you hate the NFL.

(19:48):
He didn't even go to the NFL headquarters and shoots
somebody there, not saying he should have. Please don't misunderstand me.
But what the hell do these people have to do
with what happened to you? There is innocent that I
can be and to do that at point blank range,

(20:11):
one after another after another after another, and then hear
this roll cut twenty two.

Speaker 7 (20:20):
Mike the shooter then calls the elevator, which opens in
the lobby. A female exits that elevator, and he allows
her to walk past him unharmed. He goes up to
the thirty third floor, which is Roodent Management, and begins
to walk the floor, firing rounds as he traveled. One

(20:41):
person was struck and killed on that floor. He then
proceeds down a hallway and shoots himself in the chest.
In total, we have five victims shot, our officer and
four other innocent civilians plus the shooter.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
So the police officer is dead, the innocent civilians are dead.
The shooter killed himself. The person that he shot in
the lobby actually happens to be an NFL staffer, a male.
He appears to have survived, God willing. He is in
very critical but stable condition, and people are doctors are

(21:24):
hopeful he'll be able to pull through it. Now, just
super quick, listen now to her describe what they the
suspect and what they found in his vehicle. Roll cut
twenty three, Mike.

Speaker 7 (21:41):
The shooter is believed to be Shane Tamora, a twenty
seven year old male with a Las Vegas address. The
vehicle he exited is registered in Nevada to mister Tamora.
Inside of that vehicle, officers found a rifle case with rounds,
a loaded revolver, ammunition and magazine, a backpack, and medication

(22:03):
prescribed to mister Timora. The vehicle was searched by our
bomb squad and found to be clear of any explosives.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
Now, on top of everything else, he drove from Las Vegas,
over two days across the country. He was determined to
get to New York City. He was determined to get
to that particular place, that's Skyscraper, that building, and he
wanted to be there during rush hour as people are,

(22:34):
you know, leaving to go home to maximize the body count.
Roll cut twenty four Mike.

Speaker 7 (22:43):
The initial investigation shows that mister Timora's vehicle traveled cross
country through Colorado on July twenty sixth, then Nebraska and
Iowa on July twenty seventh, and then in Columbia, New
Jersey as recently as four twenty four today. The vehicle
entered New York City shortly thereafter.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
Now, and that's when he got stuck in traffic. So
he basically hits New York City about four thirty ish,
and there's only two ways to get there, either the
Holland Tunnel or the Lincoln Tunnel, and that time it's
a parking lot. It's like the ninety three here or
the ninety five. It's a parking lot by that time.
So he was hoping to get there by five thirty ish,

(23:28):
which is prime rush hour. He gets there instead at
six point thirty, and luckily the lobby was a little
bit more cleared out, a lot of people had left.
But even then, you see these horrific pictures. They're everywhere
of people within that forty four story building because you know,
all they're hearing his gunshots, so you can see them barricading.

(23:51):
This is floor after floor after floor. You know, people
dressed in you know, office attire, and couches, dead chairs,
barricading their doors, the couches going all the way up
to the ceiling. I mean there was one picture I saw,
I think there was like five or six couches piled

(24:11):
up on top of each other and people absolutely petrified.
Now they did a quick background check on him. Listen
to this. This is unbelievable. Roll cut twenty five, Mike.

Speaker 7 (24:26):
According to our law enforcement partners in Las Vegas, mister
Timora has a documented mental health history. His motives are
still under investigation, and we are working to understand why
he targeted this particular location. Three forty five Park Avenue
is a commercial office building whose tenants include the NFL,

(24:48):
Rooting Management, KPMG, and Blackstone.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
So they later found the suicide note and it looks
more and more like it was NFL related and concussion related.
Just one more clip. This is just some of the sound,
the natural sound that you were able to hear outside

(25:12):
as the shooting took place. This is like what New
York now looks like. This is you know, they're shootings
now in New York all the time because crime has exploded.
So by the way, and this is midtown Manhattan. This
is supposed to be the financial center, not just of
the United States, literally of the world. New York City,

(25:35):
Manhattan is in theory, not London. New York is the
financial capital of the world. And by the way, these
are the same people that are going to potentially elect
a communist, not a socialist, a communist to be their
next mayor. You want to talk about a serious screw loose,
but let that go. Listen now to what it sounded like.

(25:59):
Roll cut twenty seven A Mike, that's the.

Speaker 4 (26:13):
Police officer earlier.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
I mean, you hear gunshots in the background and you
just see I mean an army of police officers, ambulances,
fire trucks. I mean it is it's like the whole
world descended on that on that office building. Absolutely incredible,
just incredible. Sean in Indiana, Thanks for holding Sean and.

Speaker 5 (26:47):
Welcome, Hey Let's go Brandon.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
Let's go Brandon, my friend. What's on your mind? Sean?

Speaker 5 (26:55):
So you know, one of the messages you read actually
stole stole a bit of my thunder, But I think
I was going to say, you know that, I think
a lot of it has to do with the equipment
that the game has become. The football game has become
more violent, and it's being encouraged to become more violent
by the actual safety equipment. So it's actually an observation

(27:19):
that I've you know, I've noticed just watching football over
the last you know, couple decades. But you know, if
I took Jeff Cooner and I said, Jeff, I'm going
to take your vehicle, and I'm going to take your
seatbelts out of your car, and I'm going to take
your air bags out of your car, and you're not
allowed to use those anymore, you would adjust your behavior accordingly.

(27:42):
And this is why psychologists back in like the seventies
were trying to figure out why automobile accident you know,
rates and fatality rates were increasing even though they started
putting seatbelts in cars. And it's because people started to
develop a all sense of security that the more security

(28:04):
features that we put in cars, and the more security
that we put around us, the more we adjust our
behavior and we consider ourselves to be safer. So and
in point with some of the comments that you've gotten
from some of your callers regarding rugby or regarding hockey,
you know, you look at hockey. Yes, a violent sport.
I mean, they fist fight, but they wear very thin

(28:26):
helmets and because of that, whenever they hit each other,
they check and they lead with their their shoulder or
their hits. They don't lead with their head. If you
watch some of you know, football used to be you know, right,
leather heads. That's that's where you get the leather heads term.
They used to wear leather caps. And when you watch
old footage of old football games, that ball would get hiped.

(28:48):
You didn't hear the sound of a bunch of craniums
smashing each other. But now we give everybody, you know,
helmets and all the safety equipment, and now when they
hike that ball, all you hear is the sound of
the helmets on the smashing each other. So my argument
would be it is the NFL's fault in the sense
that they've just continued to try to give these people

(29:10):
more tools to somehow safeguard them during their violence, rather
than figuring out how to repool the game, you know,
from a rules perspective, to make it safer, so that
like in rugby, people you know, are encouraged to just
smash heads.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
Sean, I think you've really put your finger on it.
And I know a lot of people who love football
are not going to like what you just said, but
it doesn't matter. I think the truth is the truth. Look,
a lot of the appeal of football it's like mma,
it's like boxing. It's that it's violent. Yes, there's a
tremendous amount of skill, there's no question. Okay, it's a

(29:52):
highly skilled game. And I can't do what they can do.
I could only dream of what they do. But look,
I played football when I was much younger. I wasn't
very good at it, but I did play. And look,
I remember there were some and they were very good players.
But man, I remember some guys on that team. They
had that helmet. It was a weapon. They thought they

(30:13):
were invincible. They were like an unguided missile. They would
lead with their heads, they would tackle with their heads.
They loved head to head contact. They got off on
the head to head contact because exactly what you said,
they thought with all the shoulder pads and all the
other protection they had, but especially that helmet, that they

(30:34):
were you know, they were invincible. And you know, I mean,
I can't tell you how many head to head, you know, hits,
there were collisions, and I don't know if they ended
up developing traumatic brain injury when they got older. I
didn't keep in contact with many of them, but I
mean they and some of them were vicious. I mean, honestly, look,

(30:57):
I always just and maybe that's why I wasn't a
good football player. Okay, I'm going to say that right
up front. I always just wanted to bring the guy down.
I didn't want to kill him. I didn't want to
injure them. But there were some players on that team, really,
I mean, they were great players, don't get me wrong.
And part of it was, you know, it's to terrorize

(31:18):
the other side, to intimidate, to bully the other side,
to psychologically overpower the other side. But they wanted to
do damage. And some of these guys, I mean, they
they launched themselves. This was all you know, these new
rules have changed that. This was I'm talking now this
is in the mid eighties, but they would like, you know,

(31:40):
launch themselves at running backs or quarterbacks or whoever had
the ball. And if they you know, they went helmet
to helmet, great, If they took a player out, great,
so and I would look at them, I go, what's
wrong with you, man, Like you want to do serious
injury to somebody. Relax, It's just see. I always would

(32:02):
say this, It's just the game. Relax. I mean, sure,
I want to win, but I don't want to, you know,
break somebody's bones or smash somebody's face in or they're
head in over a game like Relax, man. And now
you know why I wasn't very good at it. But no, look,
I think there's no question Sean. The violence of the

(32:23):
game is a big part of the appeal of the game,
and in many ways, I don't want to overdo it.
But I'm not the only one who said this. Who's
saying this, Modern day football is very much equivalent to
the gladiators in the Roman Colisseum. I mean, they're not
throwing people to the lions like the Christians to the

(32:44):
lions where they're getting eaten alive. But it's very similar
to the Gladiators, who would fight almost to the death.
It's very violent among very physically strong, fast, skilled men.
They're essentially warriors who have protective gear and the goal

(33:07):
is to destroy the other side physically, emotionally, psychologically, and
of course on the scoreboard. And so that's why the
NFL is never going to really protect the players. They'll
make cosmetic changes, they'll make little tweaks here and there,
because like the old Roman coliseum and like the Gladiators,

(33:29):
it's bred and circuses. Look, I'll never forget this final point,
and I want to go back to you Sean on this.
I'll never forget it was nine to eleven. I'll never
forget that day. And if everybody, you know, people forget
this now. But the country essentially shut down after two weeks,
you know, sorry for two weeks after nine to eleven.
I mean, you know, nobody played baseball, nobody played football,

(33:53):
nobody played professional sports. Everybody thought the whole country is
in morning, it's inappropriate to play. But I remember about
ooh two weeks, people in my office, people where I
worked at, in the newsroom, everywhere, were like, we need
our fix, Like there's gotta be football, Like I can't
live without football. And I remember thinking, like, you guys

(34:16):
can't go two weeks without football, And I like football.
Don't get me wrong, but I'm like, you guys can't
go two weeks without football. Like it's almost like one
of my Sundays are empty. My Monday nights are empty.
You know a lot of baseball fans too. I don't
know what I'm gonna do every night, Okay, I mean
there's other things to do. No, you can tell. It's

(34:39):
it became our bread and circuses. And that's why. Look,
I'm telling you you could have people dropping like flies
from traumatic brain injury. They are not gonna ban football.
It's too big of a business. There's too much money involved,
and too many people love the vine. Sean, am I wrong?

Speaker 5 (35:04):
You're wrong? And I think, but I think historically, if
you look at sports, you know, Babe Ruth is a
really good example because he changed baseball. You know. Part
of the reason why we still say Babe Ruth is
one of the best hitters of all time, even though
people have gotten many more home runs than him, is
because he made baseball owners realize that fans wanted to

(35:26):
see home runs. And that's why I would Durn after
the Bay or during and after the Bay. Bruth there
they instituted a pitcher's mound because that's with the ball
coming from the pitcher at a trajectory that it made
it more likely to go to be a home run.
And they shortened the fields. They brought those fences in
so that players didn't have to hit it as far.
And I think it's it's kind of the same aspect
if you look at if you really if you look

(35:48):
at football games, no one looks back and says, oh, gee,
the best football games of all times were the ones
that were the most violent. It's always determined by the score.
I think that they need to retool the game that
makes it less violent, but in a way that drives
up the score, because that's what's going to get people excited.
That's what's going to get people to stay just as

(36:10):
passionate and keep it the you know, the multi billion
dollar business that it is. I just think that the game,
it doesn't need to be banned, It just it just
needs to be retooled. And you can do that by
making the game so that there's just more scoring. We
don't want just because the game's violent and the final
score is three to nothing. You walk play, you go

(36:31):
that game sucked.

Speaker 1 (36:33):
Yeah, No, Sean, I agree with you. I think you
put your finger on it. Well, look, let's say you
bring back the leather helmets. I think if you brought
back leather helmets, people would say, ish, don't touch anybody
above the neck, right, and it would be maybe even
a massive penalty or a suspension or whatever if you
do touch somebody above the neck. So that would force

(36:55):
players to be much more cautious. Again, like rugby, rugby's
very physical sport, very demanding sport. But because you know,
they don't have helmets and patty and shoulder pads and whatever,
people are careful. I mean, they tackle each other, it's
a rough game, but they're not you know, launching themselves
like projective missiles, you know. And Mike is now in

(37:17):
my ear saying why are you trying to kill football?
Mike is upset because you know he he likes football
as it is and he doesn't want it to be touched.
But no, Sean, I think you're onto something. So make
the game as exciting as possible, by the way, widen
the field, lengthen the field. Why because then it's it's

(37:37):
not so compact where you're having these constant head to
head collisions, So you widen it, you lengthen it, I
don't know, maybe take off one player from each side
so it's a little bit more wide open, and so
you know, you don't have as many of these congestions
and these you know, massive hits in the middle of

(37:57):
the field. What I'm saying is you can do things
if you wanted to end this