The "Hard Hit"

If anyone watches the NFL, then they know what a year it has been considering all the fines and such being implemented due to the NFL's top dogs sudden and needed interest in the players safety.  This year, there seemed to be a lot of attention drawn to tackles that seemed too harsh and too damaging to the leagues players.  ESPN showed a number of tackles made against opposing players that looked "unfair" or that appeared to be too dangerous to player safety.  I can remember watching these highlight reels on ESPN thinking that some of these hits have gotten out of control.  The amount of information and research going on now that shows the affects these gruesome hits have had on players is overwhelming.  This new knowledge is showing players and anyone interested that these hits that cause players to have concussions can have implications to the players mind and body for the rest of their lives.

The NFL administration is implementing fines and penalties into the game so that players that give these hits will be cautioned to not do them as much.  I mean some of these tackles look ridiculously painful.  I distinctly remember the tackle Steelers Linebacker James Harrison put on Joshua Cribbs of the Cleveland Browns in week 6 of this season.  Harrison knocked Cribbs out cold.  This was not the first time Harrison was fined.  He was fined earlier in the season for a hit he put on another Browns player, Mohamed Massaquoi.  James Harrison was fined for these hits and investigated for a few other hits he did through out the season.


The league is doing what it can to fix this problem.  Now I know, these hits are a part of the game and are sometimes generally fun to see.  But you have to look at this from the players stand point.  These are people, and their safety needs to be taken into account as much as any other person even though their profession calls for them to beat the crap out of each other every Sunday.  I'm not saying that hard hits should be taken out of the game completely, but something needs to be done to make sure that we can still watch football and so that these players can live out their lives once they are done with the game of football and move on with their lives.  The NFL is doing a good job so far with the issue.  I can't wait to see what they do next.