The difference is that in soccer football, there is one Youtube tape of a gory injury (leg break). In football football, there are Saturday and Sunday 24 hour replays of the two dozen or so gory injuries of the day (and of course fatalities and life altering tragedies).
Nothing in sports compares to a 250lb linebacker or 220lb safety, running at 4.3-4 speed, putting his helmet down and colliding with an opponent running at 4.3-5.0 speed head on.
It's a scientific fact that hits like that have the effect on the body as a 25 mph car
crash into a wall (wearing seat belts). That is why NFL players life expectency is in the 50's (and why their pension triples if they wait till age 59 to take it).
I represented a former star, 16 major concusions in 4 years of NFL!!! (And in the late 70's early 80's, the doctors told him the dizzyness/ringing in his ears and nausea were signs he had recovered, and he never missed a game!!! :( :( :( :(
I got in a fight with a Scottish Rugby Team once. The first foe, about 6'-0'' and 180lbs, was so slow, I landed two jabs, a right, then left hook to the body before he finished one slow, haymaker right. (and I did feel awful when I saw his eye the next day. I kinda started the whole thing by mouthing off :( )
The seond guy to get to me was a big 5'-10", 245 lb, square headed monster (looked exactly like the type of goon you don't want to mess with) Strong as an ape! He had me in a bear hug against a hallway wall
, in the air, with my feet kicking, as I pounded
him with left hooks and chopping rights to his face to zero effect(and I could punch, I already had pro boxing matches and some tough man competitions under my belt). He just said, "are you through, mate?" and indicated he would release me as soon as I stopped punching.
I said "Sorry! Sure thing, budddy!" and he released me.
I will tell you that he could have crushed me, but the way he ran down the hall and wrapped me up was no where near the force of a football player running at me and smashing me.
I know, been crushed in fights by NFL all pros, College all Americans, and several normal college footballers.
Besides a weird Halloween Party fight against a 6'-8" Tulsa Defensive End that turned into an improbable great victory for me(my assegai I was carrying for my Zulu costume saved the day), every one of them beat me down like a dog, because they were lightning fast on foot and handspeed, as well as stronger pound for pound than anybody.
Football players are the toughest, most vicious physical specimens of any team sport.
The Defensive Linemen (former Canes All American, 6+ time Pro bowler (I recall) and 3+ Super Bowl rings(I know)) I fought when I was a junior in high school (his first year in the pros) was white, 6'-5" 290 lbs maybe, and I figured
"no way some big, slow, dumb, white, NFL linemen could match up in a fight with a 6'-2", 195 lb, 17 year old tennis player, I'll just use my jab until he tires, then if he doesn't quit, I'll move in and end it with a right!"
As I got into my stance, he jumped up from his chair, raced @ 8 feet to where I was, and hit me so hard that I flew, completely horizontal, back about 15 feet in the air, and though I immediately flipped on my stomache and started to bounce up in a dive toward him, (I figured my only chance then was to dive on him, and pray the crowd broke it up) he was upon me with a drop kick to the face before my knees were off the floor!!! :( Damn! That was dirty!
I still remember flying through the air backwards after the first punch, thinking "That was SOOOOOOO HARD! OMG! That was SOOOOOO FAST! I didn't know anyone hit this hard! I'm gonna get killed! Where's Andy?" (Andy was my cousin, down for vacation, a Purdue football player, and he was with a girl in his corvette when I needed him :( )
Seriously, I was in the air long enough to think all that.
I bounced up after the kick, did a little Suger Ray dance, and quitely rejoiced when 20 people tackled him and held him back. I remember yelling "Let him go! Let him go! I'll find you!" as I backpeddled out of the building.
Futbol players and fans (even the ones who start riots), I wouldn't get too heated with an American Football player about who's tougher!!! :)
surprises her grandmother on her 80th birthday.
