For one week I'd like the NFL to lose the pads and helmets

Rugby is hardcore.  So is Aussie Rules Football.

Had a friend try to recruit me to play on their squad.  I went to watch a game with the then fiance now wife.  We both agreed I would be mince meat in 10 seconds.  I was only 160lbs at 6'3" at the time.

I played rugby for about 10 years. It isn't that tough.

The contact in rugby is way more "controlled" and the flow of the game is always in front of you. You can only make contact with an opposing player that has the ball or during a ruck or maul. The odds of getting blind sided in rugby is highly unlikely unless you do something really stupid.

American football was developed from rugby. The ivy league schools altered the laws of rugby to create the sport.

They have done studies that show american football has about 4 times the injuries as rugby.

Rugby takes all shapes and sizes. One of the better players on an old team was 5'7" and about 165lbs. It was amazing to watch him tackle guys 6'4" and 245lbs. The bigger guy would try to run him over and he would just drop them.

There is still an issue with head injuries.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/sports/rugby/24iht-rugby24.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

One of many with a simple search.

Problem I've seen is too many former American Football players (Pee Wee, HS, College) get into it and forget they don't have pads and try to hit like they did when they played. 

There is a well-researched parallel in the world of competitive fighting. 

I heard a show about this on NPR many years ago. If you study the history of boxing, the early bare knuckle days were very different. Gloves were added to encourage a more "sophisticated" audience, thus increasing the betting, and eventually the prize purses. They didn't want to see the blood. It was gentrified. 

Fast forward decades. The long-term injuries for a professional boxer are for more dangerous than those of a typical bare knuckle fighter. They might have had uglier bruises, and more blood, which in the immediate term can look more violent, certainly more visceral. Yet these injuries tended to heal better. 

Our era has seen the huge increase in MMA fighting, which I would venture to guess is now a much bigger sport than gloved boxing. It looks brutal. It comes across as way more violent. But I would bet that the participants have a better long-term health picture than boxers.

Problem I've seen is too many former American Football players (Pee Wee, HS, College) get into it and forget they don't have pads and try to hit like they did when they played. 

Interesting thing I heard from one of the commentators yesterday. They said all this cracking down by the league on head to head hits and leading with the head and such has caused players to start tackling lower. Unintended consequence is players are getting more knee, ankle and general leg injuries than they were before.

Sometimes I wonder if the problem might just go away if the players were allowed to handle it. Police them and some will follow the strict rules and others will get blindsided when one guy decides to break the rules and get outta hand.

Leave it up to the players and you get some good righteous fear going on and maybe everyone would play nice. Linebacker comes in a bit too hot and nails your QB hard? Next play send the fullback full steam at him and put him down, bet he will play nicer next time. I suppose to favors the defense because it is harder to hit someone hard when you are playing offense. 

But perhaps a for tat, you lay our guys out we target your guys would cause everyone to calm down a bit. Or it could just lead to utter chaos, who knows.

T1t is a naughty word here.

Your risk level is also highly dependent on which position you play.

Either way, quite entertaining.

Want to spruce up the pro-bowl? End of year. Instead of selecting the best players, select the dirtiest ones (by player's votes). Let them go at it. Must watch TV.

Why is "American Football" so popular in the US as compared to the perennial world favorite, footbal or "soccer"?  Because American culture really does have violence near its center.  Movies... TV shows... and yes, our favorite sport is nothing more than a modern-day gladiator battle.  The fans LOVE the intense hits and impacts.  They live to see the NASCAR crash where cars flip and roll.  "When the gloves come off" in hockey.  We have "professional wrestling".  Our culture glorifies violence.

So there's a conflict of interest here...

The "big hit" = fan entertainment = tix & TV renevue VS player safety & protecting children

When I was little, I asked mom if I could play football and she responded with a firm, "NO!  It's too dangerous."  She did let me wrestle though which became "my sport" and I went as far as becoming a high school state champion.  To this day, I'm thankful for her decision.  I wouldn't let my son play tackle football today.  The message about repeat and playing with concussions and the effects of brain injury on children aren't yet fully known and documented.

But certainly I wouldn't want myself or my son to develop Parkinson's disease or Early Onset Dimentia like so many retired football players have now.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2012-09-27/jim-mcmahon-dementia-would-have-played-baseball-nfl

Because our capitalist society can't handle a sport that never stops for advertisements.

I always think that soccer is less possible here in Australia because of a few other reasons. Firstly, there is way too little scoring. WAY too little. Secondly, all the flopping and acting, I mean seriously, get up off the ground and man up. 

I played union and Australian rules. Union has MUCH harder hits, but is an easier game overall. Aussie rules is just crazy running. No stopping. Perpetual motion (some of the best players run over 20 km in a game), and you never know where the hits will come from. Both great games once you get to know them.

I got hooked on footy when I was in Australia a few years ago.

It struck me as a faster paced football because they do not stop when the ball is downed.

Go Sea Eagles!