An Issue That Needs to be Solved

I was watching some college football today and noticed something happening that was becoming a lot more prevalent in football, loose helmets. All these guys in the NCAA all take their helmets off like they are hats. They aren't supposed to come off like that they are supposed to be on tight and be difficult to both put on and take off. This is makes the helmet safer as your head has less room to move around.

I started noticing this more and more after reading Malcolm Gladwell's article in the New Yorker about how the NFL was comparable to dogfighting (sounds weird I know. Here is the link if you wanna go read it: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/19/091019fa_fact_gladwell/). Kids in college should not be wearing their helmets so loose and it is one the causes of concussions as the helmets are not on tight enough,

This isn't just an NCAA problem however as it also affects the NFL and even the NHL (more on that later). Players in the NFL wear their helmets far too loose as well and you can see their helmets moving around as they run. This is a sign of trouble. A helmet should fit tight and move with your head not independent from it.

If the NFL and NCAA were serious about stopping their players from getting hurt they would do something to stop this. For instance if a guys helmet comes off during a play then fine him. No more helmets flying off linemen in the trenches or running backs after they shed a block. I even saw a receivers helmet fly off last week when he bent his head down after being tackled.

Shouldn't happen.

This is a massive problem in the NHL as well as players don't wear their helmets tight enough and they fall off too often and don't provide the necessary protection to the players.

The problem in the NHL tarted with Wayne Gretzky. Before Gretzky everyone wore their helmet tight with the chin strap done up firmly. Gretzky didn't like this however and wore his chin strap loose. Young kids saw this and saw the success he had and of course copied his style.

What they failed to realise was that no one ever hit Gretzky because he was Gretzky so his loose chin strap didn't matter but if you get a lot it is going to matter.

Last year a young man from Ontario died after his helmet came loose and he fell to the ice. Now he was involved in a fight so that added to everything but the fact remains had his helmet been on firmly than it would have cushioned his fall somewhat when his head hit the ice.

I don't want to come off as preachy or anything I just don't enjoy seeing people getting injured or possibly dying because they wanted to be more comfortable. Helmets are like seat belts if they aren't on tight they aren't on properly (almost went with "right" instead of "properly" but I didn't want it to rhyme.)

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