Paly fan here: big up to the Gunn Varsity football players tonight. Next time, though, please don't overreact like that, Gunn coaches. If there is a flagrant foul, the player can be disqualified from the game, but it cheats the rest of the players to cancel a dang scrimmage. We expect such silliness out of Los Gatos but not Gunn...

Who plays regular season football during springtime except maybe that gimmicky arena football league?

The prep football season should have been canceled due to Covid-19 as there are no seasonal crowds to watch the games.

And do the cheerleaders and pom-pom girls also participate?

If so, what exactly are they doing if hardly anyone is there to watch the game?

How would one generate crowd noise?

Couldn't high schools simply place cardboard fans (like they do in the NFL and MLB) to create an aura of a football crowd?

Maybe even make it part of a high school art class project.

As far as crowd noise, that could be easily simulated via the PA system.

[Post removed.]

High school football is not that big of a deal around here.

In other locales like Oklahoma, Texas and the Deep South, maybe...most likely because they don't have other more redeeming or interesting things going on.

don't really understand people logging onto a football discussion to say how much they don't care about football. why? Concerning the frightful Bay Area, of course, youth sports was banned for a long time, now its not, yet Dandy Dalton asserts 'why not ban forever,' cause he doesn't like it. [Portion removed.] The truth is I have relatives yes in the South, whose kids played sports, even tackle football, without panic. They are not crybabies, you see. Football, on the other hand, for people who like it, is a metaphor about life. When it gets tough, some people whine and sneer, while hiding in their houses and wonder why everyone doesn't do the same. Football players persevere, they get up when knocked down and work with others for a common goal. The person who said only the dumb south likes football forgets one of the NFL's best WR's Davonte Adams came from Paly, and the best QB of all time, Mr. Brady comes from about 25 miles north.

"Football, on the other hand, for people who like it, is a metaphor about life."


Football like boxing also creates unnecessary brain injuries and concussions.

No need to mention all of the former NFL players and/or professional boxers who later in life became a bit 'punchy', [portion removed], or even suicidal.

Kids today should not be subjected to this form of degenerative physical activity beginning with Pop Warner youth football.

[Portion removed.]

[Portion removed.]

My kids not only play tackle football, but they ski black hills. There was a Kennedy and Sonny & Cher member who died doing the latter. Yet, my kids never were injured in skiing or football. Because someone has a brain injury, everyone should stop [portion removed]? Lot of deaths by car accident. So ban cars? Don't laugh. There will be a time [portion removed.] You know, Jerry Seinfeld made an astute point about skateboarders. They only get 'good' at it by risk, and overcoming that risk. [Portion removed.]

I concur with The Real Slim K. If a kid wants to play football, then let him.

We will be relocating to the SF Bay Area from Norman, OK and prep football is taken very seriously out here.

My son is 17 and at 6'4"/265 lbs. he is ready to play having done so for the past three years.

Jed Jr. is an outside LB in a 3-4 or a defensive end in a 4-3 configuration.

He has been coached to physically intimidate his counterpart on the offensive line and to take a QB out of the game if necessary.

To date, he has been scouted by both U/O and U/Texas and we are hoping for some added visibility out here as he is a C- student with less than ideal academics.

Ideally our son will be able to attend college in Oklahoma or Texas upon graduation.

Parents should have the final say regarding sports participation but one cannot hold a child back if excelling in sports is his/her destiny.

And ideally his new football coach here on the peninsula will encourage him to go all out.

Incidentally, the players he idolizes are former Raiders Jack Tatum and Ted Hendricks because they both could inflict some serious damage.

Local prep football on the peninsula does not even come close to the 'Friday Night Lights' fervor of the southwest and southern regions of the United States.

The kids out there are bigger, faster and while most of them do not go on to college or professional careers, there is a community passion for the sport with a large booster following.

Over there high school football is almost semi-pro in nature as auto dealerships, tractor suppliers, fertilizer and feed companies are ardent supporters.

Prep football on the peninsula is just a recreational pastime for the most part.

One has to go where football is a viable 'out' from a life of poverty, crime or farm life to see the real players who will be actively pursuing a football career.

There will always be a few bay area exceptions but for the most part, the truly great high school football players come from blue-collar or rural regions of the United States.

thanks, Jed W. I went to OU a long time ago and still go regularly to Austin. [Portion removed.]

From my own eyes, five decades, youth football is not as dangerous as wrestling, rugby, or ice hockey. these 3 are still great sports, but their headgear isn't as good. It seemed to be the man had a crusade that is losing, because football remain's America's most popular sport. For people of color, football had players and even coaches before the other American sports. Maybe he should start a new crusade to save more lives, like v. poverty or obesity?

✓football remain's America's most popular sport.

It truly is but perhaps for the wrong reasons.

Football is about protecting and aquiring sections of 'turf' which is very war-like in nature.

Basic football terms like bombs, blitz, red zone etc. are also battle terminology and players are oftentimes coached to intimidate, brutalize and even injure opposing players to create bench attrition (aka battlefield losses).

That said, football is symbolic of an American cultural mindset that cherishes and encourages victory at all costs.

Traumatic brain injuries, paralysis, subsequent arthritis, permanent knee injuries and broken bones are just a part of the game and symbolically no different than the losses suffered in war.

It is a high-testosterone fueled sport that only the biggest, fastest and most agile athletes can excel at (with the possible exception of placekickers).

My other half played football on both the collegiate and NFL level (though his professional experience was limited to pre-season/exhibition games).

Football is a man's sport and for some, the potential physical injuries are risks worth taking.

I have been told that the adrenaline rush is better than sex and so I am not going to argue or debate the pros and cons of playing football.

It is what it is.

I agree with those who love the game of football but...

Until transgenders are allowed to participate in all sports regardless of
gender designations (mens/women or boys/girls), we will not have true sports equality.

Personally speaking, I would love to play boys high school football (ideally as a center or middle linebacker) but am not allowed to even though I am bigger and far stronger than many boys my age.

And a fellow classmate (who identifies as a female) cannot participate in girls sports.

Since the military now allows men, women, and transgenders to serve in the same outfit, the identical criterion should apply to all high school, collegiate, Olympic and professional sports.

And openly bi-sexual athletes should be allowed the same latitude.

[Post removed; off topic.]

Jane, symbolically or any other way you compare them seriously, war is worse because lots of people die. Few die from football. So again, if preventing death is your crusade, please join me in fighting obesity and poverty, both of which, football at least for some, helps to overcome.

glad you said 'perhaps.' But isn't that sentence about America being wrong for liking football more than...what? chess? like people who want to insult people for making Action Adventure movies so popular? compared to movies about woman crying?

Finally, a culture that values winning even in your words 'at all costs,' is still a less naive and helpful lesson for kids than to value losing and trying to curtail the freedom of choice in others in the name of being politically correct or most 'woke'.

[Post removed; off topic.]

Actually, my mother played tackle football in Oklahoma. It was fund-raising, the mothers who wanted to, were suited up in the high school (and jr. high school) players uniforms. She was not seriously injured in that game--no one was. Did you know girls can play Pop Warner? My kids had female teammates. I have no problem with trans players for football. Are they really banned? I wouldn't think so.

for me, football is not winning at all costs. It IS a sport that values competitors trying the longest and hardest (and sometimes luckily, you man falls down and the play works), and TEAM-WORK because of so many players. Sometimes a near win is a win. Sometimes a loss isn't really a loss. Again, these are all life lessons, and now comes the warning. Those who now think that participation trophies for everyone, stop the SATS'!, stop football--it's too violent and winner take all: when your princess and the pea philosophy takes hold in your kids' brains, are they really ready to compete for the job they want or the managerial position they want v. others? What of hardships, some even unfair, and may even involve violence and crime, heaven forbid crooked cops even. Do they protest the unfairness of it all or may they like football teaches, get back up and keep working with others, persevering for a common goal?

° "for me, football is not winning at all costs."

Vince Lombardi, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" and Woody Hayes of Ohio State would beg to differ along with countless other successful coaches.

Winners win championships...losers go home.

Why bother suiting up if you are not prepared to win and willing to spit out a few broken teeth in the process?

Football like war is about winning at all costs and those unwilling to make that sacrifice shouldn't even bother putting on a uniform.

Had the Marines taken this perspective, we would be under the rule of another country.

While I agree that football and other sports can build character, character development is a by-product.

And any girl who has more balls and can outperform boys should replace them on the gridiron ASAP. Weenies need not apply.

[Portion removed.]

Emory Andrews: I live by choice (and ability to pay high mortgage with spouse not leaving me or job firing me) and find it mostly idyllic. But not completely. Right at the top would be your short-hand stereotypes. Have you ever been to Austin? They voted against Trump by almost the same margin as Phily did. Houston, my hometown? They had a black lesbian mayor. ("these are non-isues" and "we're more open to discussion.") that's what you said. sorry, that's gosh darn ignorant. [Portion removed.]

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"Until transgenders are allowed to participate in all sports regardless of
gender designations (mens/women or boys/girls), we will not have true sports equality."

@Trans Palo Alto

Why not try-out for the boys varsity football team?

And if the coaches either refuse you an opportunity or you are cut due to perceived gender biases, contact the ACLU and have them go after the PAUSD.

Palo Alto is no stranger to the ACLU.

Okay, back to the subject. This scrimmage was historic. For about 100 years of whatever, these 2 (once, of 3), in recent times, the only 2 high schools had a great rivalry, including in football. This rivalry was fun, as rivalries, are. but then, one team became much more powerful and beat the hell out of the other school, so the rivalry was canceled. Maybe 10-12 years later, we have this scrimmage because both high school football teams were good last year. Still, one team has many more players and they are bigger. They have a train that goes by during games instead of owls flying by from the woods. The underdog team, came with the single wing of all things, which is more conservative and predictable than the veer or even wishbone, and a QB who is 5'7" yet in this scrimmage on 'enemy' turf, they were playing very well. A real game would be competitive if it really happened. It would not even be shocking if Gunn won.

"Okay, back to the subject. This scrimmage was historic. For about 100 years of whatever, these 2 (once, of 3), in recent times, the only 2 high schools had a great rivalry, including in football. This rivalry was fun, as rivalries, are. but then, one team became much more powerful and beat the hell out of the other school, so the rivalry was canceled."


Assuming you are referring to 'The Little Big Game' between Palo Alto High School and Sequoia High School of Redwood City played on Thanksgiving day at Stanford Stadium.

Yes, the Cherokees almost always beat the Vikings because RC was a blue-collar, working class city and we despised and resented the snobby, namby-pamby aura of Palo Alto.

It was one day of redemption and RC adult fans reveled vicariously as their varsity football players took it out on hapless Paly.

No different than decades ago when coach Dave Baldwin of SJS loaded his players on a bus prior to a game at Stanford and took them for a tour of the campus.

He told his players that while most of them would be relegated to lower middle class lives even after graduation, the Stanford graduates would go on to wealth, upwardly-mobile lives and forever look down upon those from San Jose State.

The motivation apparently worked that season as the SJS football team destroyed Stanford.

There are no more true local prep football rivalries today because there are fewer high school communities left to despise and to take it out on. The Gunn-Paly rivalry (if one can even call it that) pales in comparison to the old Sequoia-Paly rivalry.

This is one reason why high school football is so much more popular in the southern red states and parts of Appalachia.

@Paul Winters

Thanks for the memories.

The annual Paly-Sequoia "Little Big Game" was about as close the mid-peninsula ever got to a 'Friday Night Lights' vibe.

The sports page of the now defunct Palo Alto Times always highlighted this game and it truly rivaled a Stanford-Cal fever but on the prep level.

A Menlo-Atherton vs Woodside or Gunn vs Paly aren't true football rivalries, just neighborhood football match-ups.

The annual St. Francis vs Bellermine game always had a strong following as most Catholic schools with football programs tend to take the sport very seriously.

Come to think of it...even the true 'Al Bundys' of peninsula prep football are officially extinct.

okay, if you guys believe so. But really, you missed some fun games the last several years vs. Wilcox, and some over the top protectionism from police departments, separating fans and even having two concession stands, I agree with you!--needlessly, last year in Los Gatos...

° "okay, if you guys believe so."

^ It goes beyond simply believing in a make believe world.

Football has gotten too soft, especially on the NFL level and it trickles down to the kids playing high school and college football.

With refs overprotecting QBs and WRs, anyone can rack up the yardage as the defense is now under further scrutiny and unfair disadvantage.

And talk of Tom Brady being the GOAT quarterback of all time or Patrick Mahomes being a future Hall of Famer is misleading.

In the old days, QBs took their hits like a man and those who whined (like Jim Everett of the Rams) were either ridiculed or run out of town.

Old timers will recall that famous pic of Y.A. Tittle kneeling on the ground beaten and bleeding during the 1963 NFL championship game. That's how the game is played.

Tell guys like Ray Nitzche, Mike Curtis, Chuck Howley, Ted Hendricks, Junior Seau etc. to go easy on the quarterback so he can complete his passes to WRs now protected by a myriad of pass interference calls.

Even at the old Kezar Stadium, 49er players would wear their helmets while entering the tunnel into the clubhouse to protect themselves from the beer bottles being thrown at the by disgruntled 49er fans.

Those were the good old days when players worked off-season jobs and were missing most of their front teeth.

Football has become a weenie, prima-donna sport for overpaid athletes with fashion model wives.

And some naive kids playing football today aspire towards the same superficial life goals.

Suggestion: go to Hollywood instead and become an actor.

quote:

"Football has gotten too soft, especially on the NFL level and it trickles down to the kids playing high school and college football."

In the interest of safety...quarterbacks, running backs, and receivers of the future will simply wear flags.

And the only actual contact will be at the line of scrimmage.

not completely disagreeing with you. Personally, I like the expression, 'princess and the pea syndrome'. but, I do wish you guys could get this message over better to the ban tackle football crusaders because they STILL think it's too dangerous (and war-like, but in a bad, NOT-George Washington/Lincoln and beating Hitler kind of way!)...

"I do wish you guys could get this message over better to the ban tackle football crusaders because they STILL think it's too dangerous.."

If all-girls varsity football teams existed (minus the current protective sissy rules), the game would potentially be even rougher than the all-boys version.

Do you remember the all-girl fights that took place in grammar, junior high, and high school?

Now you get the picture.

>>I have been told that the adrenaline rush is better than sex and so I am not going to argue or debate the pros and cons of playing football.

There is nothing more satisfying than delivering a bone-crunching hit on an opposing player.

Executed properly, even fans in the upper deck can hear it.

And I've seen my share of stars as well.

The coaching advocacy of making and taking 'bone-crunching hits' probably explains most of the subsequent brain injuries, dementia, and tragic suicides on the part of former football players who didn't quit at an earlier stage and opted instead to pursue their gridiron dreams, passions, and professional careers.

On the professional level, football players are little more than well-paid disposable parts of an even bigger money-grubbing machine. And the same could be said of big-time collegiate football as there are certain 'perks' involved.

So enjoy playing high school football and then consider quitting while one's marbles and joints are still intact.

College football and the NFL are for the most part...corrupt entities.

Not sure what your credentials are, Ms. Johnson, whether they are medical, sociological, or uh, heavenly, concerning trying to tell others what to do. Not at all sure why you would not be satisfied with simply making your own decisions and leaving it at that. But please consider, many people are arguing here that football has been severely weakened by rules and society so that it may not be as grim as you first thought any longer. Secondly, there are many people who might listen to your totalitarian decisions for all, based on danger and unacceptable risk and what not, and think, 'what would she think if she saw MY life? it's a lot tougher than football.' In the princess and the pea syndrome game, you win, you see. You woke up, very very very sore about a sport you never played, and we are all exceedingly sorry for you if you want us to be. But we don't want you to tell us what to do, either. Go and bug motorcycle riders or little girls training on balance beams for the olympics, perhaps. Even cheerleaders get hurt, so you can cry for them and offer your advice. thanks.

I have watched my share of football and have come to this conclusion...

To ensure the overall safety of its players, holding (instead of blocking) should be mandated at the line of scrimmage with flags or touch replacing tackling.

Then there will be fewer injuries and less need for improvements in equipment.

Football epitomizes violence and by reducing that element we send out a better message to society as a whole.

The sport need not be banned.

Just make it less violent so our children can grow up more civilized.

Other questions for Ms. Johnson (and now, Ms. Winslow): If you get what you want, and someone says, go ahead Ms. Johnson, ban tackle football, what will you gain? okay, self-righteousness, maybe. But will it be enough to compensate for increased obesity? and I don't know about you during Covid, but what free entertainment will replace football games on TV? Would obesity go up without football? I suspect it would. suicides? would ending football make them go down for youths? how about poverty? College to pro football is gone, to be replaced by what Ms. Johnson-approved entity? would your replacement teach boys how to become men in not always so conflict and violence-free adult society?

Lastly, since you have outlawed entities for employment and entertainment, in which, there may be corruption, Could you please supply us with a list of non-corrupt entities in the US? We do so hope to spend our lives trying to live up to your moral standard.

Football remains America's most popular sport. It is comparable to ice hockey in Canada, rugby in New Zealand, and soccer in Brazil. All three of these sports have more injuries than football. Would you busy-bodies, if you lived in these other places, be selfish enough to crusade for bans of THOSE most popular national sports as well, and if so, why?

again: obesity. Poverty. These are where many more deaths are from. So, in the name of civilization, Why not crusade against these things instead of America's most popular sport?

America was not founded by nanny state-ism. Patrick Henry did not yell, "give me nanny state ladies to tell me what to do, or give me death!" Not a big fan of the whole nanny state movement myself. I mean, I don't go to their assistive living facilities and try to knock the bingo cards out of THEIR hands, do I?

@The Real Slim K

FYI...Patrick Henry got hung for his vocal insurrection against the British Crown.

Football remains America's most popular sport because of commercialism and not because of any ideals.

And many football players are obese and from backgrounds of poverty.

If we focused on alleviating these conditions as you have stressed, perhaps there would be less of a need for those existing under these frightful conditions to pursue such a violent sport such as football.

My mother forbid me to ever play football even though my outside interests lay elsewhere (innovative cosmetology and interior design).

In retrospect, I am grateful for her caring advisements as I am now the proprietor of a successful interior design company while the majority of my former classmates who played high school football never fulfilled their pipedreams of playing in the NFL, let alone college.

Life can be beautiful when one is free from the superficial judgements of a testosterone-fueled dominant male society!

quotes:

"College football and the NFL are for the most part...corrupt entities."

∆ Being big business...hardly a surprise.


"Football epitomizes violence and by reducing that element we send out a better message to society as a whole."

∆ Perhaps far more productive to reduce the violence of war rather than in football.


"FYI...Patrick Henry got hung for his vocal insurrection against the British Crown."

∆ Sometimes it is better to keep one's thoughts to oneself.

I am somewhat familiar with your story, Jeremy, how your father did not give you attention and your mother didn't care. but one way or another, you figured out how to stand your ground and give a bully a surprise left. I liked that part of your song, and I'm sorry about the rest. I'm also glad you made a success of your life. Not sure why you want to insult testosterone, which I believe women have too. Also, just because you were bossed by your mother who was a nanny stater afraid of football, doesn't mean that there are no ideals in it for those who played. But if it makes you happy, you can pretend your lack of personal experience matters more than those who actually played. It's been my experience, though, that superficial judgements come from nanny state proponents more than anywhere else, from those who insult Patrick Henry, a great American patriot even.

I still see no plan to attack obesity and poverty. You mean, by more interior design and cosmetology classes?

I think football is popular because compared to other sports, it does not require a very high IQ.

It is basically run with ball, throw ball, catch ball, or kick ball countered by an opposing team that is simply trying to prevent these options.

Football requires athletic skill but minimal thought process, just reaction.

As a result, it is very viewer-friendly especially among those who share a common mindset or mentality.

And it is very easy to gauge progress because of the lines and numbers on the field.

One team is moving one way and the other team in the opposite direction.

Which is why physical size and speed are the primary attributes in addition to being able to throw, kick or catch the ball.

Not everyone is blessed with these physical gifts and football must be heavily coached with basic directions on where to go and who to obstruct.

It is a brutal and sometimes exciting sport with occasional moments of grace.

Like boxing, football provides an opportunity to use brawns over brains based on reaction rather than overall intelligence and this might explain its mass popularity at a variety of age levels.

Just my 2¢ as I prefer non-reactionary sports like men's figure skating, golf, and track.

You can certainly have your favorite sports, Duncan. Not I, but someone else might insult your sports, saying 'all it takes for golf is to swing a ball with a stick, etc., or in track, to run, but it does not bother me in the slightest if you tell me smart people figure skate, golf, or run track. But you don't seem to know much about football. There are quite a few formations and strategies in football, for both sides of the ball, that generally make up what is called a "playbook' that is unique to football. It sometimes takes a player who changes teams a full year to fully assimilate into a new team's playbook. In addition, a QB who audibles is reading coverages, to change the play at the line of scrimmage, and immediately communicating with 10 other people on his team the change. A newbie might not even understand a football play call, or that so many players are simultaneously assigned an assignment to support the play. A lot is required of football players, especially QB's in addition to brawn.

Lastly, reactionary? Football had players of color and even coaches of color before any other American sport. How about your faves? How long ago for the country clubs and rinks? Also, we had this brave fellow named Colin Kaepernick. What if I decided to take a knee at Augusta or a figure skating rink in support of Black Lives Matter? Reactionary? Do words have any special meaning when you choose them?

The most important word in the English language is perseverance.
It combines try, with intensity and duration. I would guess that everyone who is passionate about their favorite sport values perseverance.

But football also, uniquely, values teamwork: 11 people on offense, 11 people on defense, plus special teams with kickers, all with individual duties, but working together for a common goal.
In summary, perseverance plus working with others = football more than other sports. That's why it's so important in the pros, college, and high school, and why people who never played it are so jealous...

@duncan

FYI...a proficient QB is like the CPU (central processing unit) of a computer as is the center who in addition to snapping the ball, blocks a nose guard (or middle linebacker) while directing the offensive line. Centers do not get a lot of credit but are crucial to the successful implementation and outcome of an offensive play.

The middle linebacker is like a defensive QB, always yelling to his counterparts to either shift and/or watch out for a certain play.

Reactionary? Yes, but also anticipatory and the really great players tend to have an outstanding football IQ.

Granted, football is a rough sport but it comes with the territory.

Golf, track, and men's figure skating are also respectable sports BUT to denigrate another sport based on preconceived notions or unfounded biases is a card-carrying sign of ignorance.

BTW...I never played football so I am the last one to judge the sport (unlike certain others).

I played baseball from little league up through varsity in high school and let me tell you...as one goes higher up the food chain, the level of skill and proficiency becomes so high that very few will ever turn pro or have what it takes to do so.

So let the kids who want to play prep football enjoy the moment. There are risks in anything and if we were to all go walking around afraid of our own shadows or what might or what might not happen, what a sad state of affairs.

And mothers...if you don't want your sons playing football, maybe consider encouraging them to play baseball.

Rickey Henderson and Willie Mays were outstanding high school running backs who opted for an MLB career and didn't do too bad.

And Bo Jackson and Deon Sanders were good at both on a pro level.

thanks, Mr. Cavendish. I played baseball until high school, and loved it. But the skills required to play, along with excellent eye-hand coordination, visual acuity, and split second decision-making etc. take years to acquire. Mothers? your kid is not just going to jump onto a baseball team and be good. It takes years--he will sit on the bench. To just instantly switch to baseball, Mr. C cites some of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen (Willie, Rickey, Bo...). Baseball is great fun but it's HARD to play well. That's why they make the big bucks.

Instead, if I was a mother, and especially hispanic or Asian, I would encourage my son to play football, the earlier the better. A recent former president you see, tried his best to unite white people against hispanics and Asians, resulting in horrible psycho attacks such as in El Paso and Oakland. Playing football says, 'my son is just as tough as you. That bigot ex-president was wrong. we're not the other, we're Americans, just like his white and black teammates that love tackle football so much. and if someone says, 'that's just like the military,' I would say good. There's good things about the military. For example the USA became a country. Then, slavery ended. Then, Hitler retreated underground and concentration camps opened. (sorry, nanny-staters).

~~ Instead, if I was a mother, and especially hispanic or Asian, I would encourage my son to play football, the earlier the better.

Many Asians are too diminutive to play football which is why there are so few of them in college or the NFL. And even the ones with Asian last names (i.e. Patrick Chung/DB New England) are part African American while others (i.e. Scott Fujita/LB New Orleans) are one-half Caucasian.

The Asian physical size gene per se is usually not adequate to play serious football at a higher level. Intramural touch or flag football is OK.

And the players in high school football today are a lot bigger and stronger than in the past + there are many gargantuan and dedicated Pacific Islander youth (from Tonga, Fiji and American Samoa) now actively playing on the prep level and they will receive the coach's priority and preferences when it comes to roster status.

If one is 140 lbs. (wet) they are going to get creamed by someone who is 250+lbs. and charging at them at full speed. It is simple physics regardless of position.

Even a 140 lb. punt/kick-off returner is risking serious bodily injury once a collective 2000+ lb. downfield coverage is in motion and coming directly at him.

Football is best reserved for the bigger and brawnier athletes as is basketball for the taller ones.

There is more latitude for size variation in the finesse sports like golf and baseball.

My advice to young Hispanics would be to avoid playing football unless you have the physique and interest to do so.

Go to college, get a law degree and fight white racism on behalf of minorities.

Big bucks to be made on police brutality, employment discrimination, and immigration violations.

And use part of the money towards an exclusive country club membership and play golf or tennis instead.

90% of the clods who dream of playing in the NFL won't...and you can bet the house on that wager.

thanks for your relatively unthoughtful generalizations, Ms. Dickerson (and now, Mr. Morales). But aren't Pacific Islanders--Asian in ethnicity? I played football, you cited my 11th grade weight exactly, 140 lbs. That was good enough for 2nd string linebacker--one interception which changed a game, and being on the kick-off team. I played 2nd grade until 12th and never incurred a serious injury. Diminutive? You mean like Bruce Lee? Taylor Rapp is a Chinese-American football player, signed by the LA Rams. Before him, there was Dat Nguyen, played linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys for 6 years.

consider the success of these "little" guys in football.

Cole Beasley, 5' 8" and 174, white. He can make it even in the pros, but all Asians can't? How about Wes Welker. 5'9" for the Pats. The best NFL coach thought he had the 'right stuff.'

Trindon Holliday, was 5'5"--yet returned kicks for the Oakland Raiders. google him. Yet, Asian-Americans can't even play in HS?

Mark McMilen, 5'7, 154; Darren Sproles, 5'8, RB! and good. Maurice Jones Drew, CB for Raiders, 5'9", Danny Amendola, 5'11" but only '185' lbs.

The greatest RB of all times for my money, Barry Sanders, was 5'8".

Isn't telling Asians they can't play football like golf courses telling Tiger Woods to go to hell?

again, Asian mothers and Hispanic Mothers, there is no good reason your kids could not and should not play football. You will only get push back from white people scared that your race may become radicalized like black people, so not so easily marginalized or attacked in public.

@ Isn't telling Asians they can't play football like golf courses telling Tiger Woods to go to hell?

Tiger Woods isn't very big. He is slender and excels in a 'finesse' sport, namely golf.

And had Tiger opted to play high school football, chances are he would not be playing championship level PGA golf or have received a golf scholarship to Stanford.

In other words, playing high school football probably would have messed Tiger's golf game up.

On the other hand, it wouldn't surprise me if John Daly played football. *L*

Yes,Mr. Jeffries, but that was not my point. Tiger loved golf so he dedicated himself to being great at golf. John Daly, I would doubt his work ethic for football..

Mark McMillian of the Chiefs (and 49'ers, Saints) nick-named "mighty mouse" was 5'7" and '154'---in the pros. Not so long ago. He had 23 INT's as a corner back. If you love football, you don't have to be big in size to play somewhere on the field, and of course, NOT at the Pop Warner, JV, and HS level!

@ Marlon Jeffries

John Daly did play football in high school but received a golf scholarship to the University of Arkansas and the rest as they say is history.

That said and though they are not on the PGA circuit, Tony Romo, Peyton Manning,
and 'Big Ben' (among others) are outstanding amateur golfers with handicaps in the 0-3 range.

All are QBs and I cannot speak for (nor do I know of) other NFL football players who played other positions and who fall into the same category of golf proficiency.

And yes...given his build + inherent and developed skills, Tiger Woods was probably better off sticking with golf.

but even though I agree with Mr. RC on much, it still misses the point. Tiger was very wise not to listen to others tell him he could not play golf (or Althea Gibson, with tennis, etc....) because of his ethnicity or skin color. Just as its so lazy and wrong to exclude races from playing football now.
On the other hand, Tiger is a fantastic and uniquely gifted athlete. So, who is to say if his dad had not pushed him into football, where he worked his rear end off instead of golf, he would not have been just as good at that sport? Please throw out "build". Tiger is muscular enough should he have chosen football to excel. enough said.

Tiger Wood's father was a golfer and not a former football player.

Tiger Wood's physical stature is not suited for playing football outside of being a 140 lb. high school level player.

And how far would that have taken him if he had unrealistic expections of playing in college or the NFL?

Golf was a better option as most of the smaller players who did play in the NFL (with the possible exception of Barry Sanders) had short or unrecognizable careers.

Now soccer is a different story...in the rest of the world, soccer is called football.

Only in the United States is this gross misnomer used for a contrived game where there are seeming no holds barred (including the use of hands).

My friends in SOCAL are posting their grandkids in all type games and sports. And the young girls are already carving out their skills for future competitions in competitive cheer leading. Yes - very competitive young ladies. There is no reason at this point in time while fans of the students cannot go to the games and sit apart. Our kids and adult sport teams need to get up and sign up for leagues and games. Our young people are starved for activity with their fellow students. Our adults are starved for their league participation with their friends.

Russel Wilson is 5'11", Tiger is 6'1". Add love, lots of weight training and protein powder, etc., and Tiger could. duh. I'm talking love being the word, not suitability.

"Seeming no holds barred" sounds kind of ignorant regarding rules for American football, Pieter. There are far more rules and more complex rules for American football than there are for soccer. The latter is a good sport, especially for girls, but it's embarrassing to watch men play, with all that flopping in hopes to get multicolored playing cards...

and thanks so much, Abode Meadows resident, you are so right! (cover your ears, nanny staters!)...

° Our kids and adult sport teams need to get up and sign up for leagues and games.

Agreed as my adult rec league softball season is currently on hold.

And we are not going to play wearing face masks!

AYSO and the adult soccer leagues as well as the many rec leagues are getting toned up for action. This should be a very well anticipated spring and summer. SOCAL is already out there and we are just sitting here. Look at the other blogs here - MP kids are up and out.

@The Slim K

It helps if a 'drop-back' quarterback is over 6' tall to see over the offensive line when they stand up to block. Most of the guards and tackles are well over 6' tall themselves.

A scrambling quarterback who does not rely on 'the pocket' need not be over 6'.

Quarterback latitude/size has more to do with the offensive scheme/design.

As for soccer, I find the men's variant incredibly dull (like watching lateral windsprints with a rare/occasional goal). It's OK for girls and their game is actually more entertaining to watch.

It will be good to hear and see massive sports crowds again. Those cardboard cutouts are lame and it must be a real drag for those who have to set them up and then remove them in outdoor stadiums.

Yes, it "helps" to be a certain thing in the pros, but a certain race and ethnicity are not precluded from having fun while playing youth football. That was my point that was swallowed up and ground down into peripheral discussions about suitability for the pros and whether or not nanny staters could impose a ban on football completely because selfishly, it was not their cup of tea and they would like to offer an insult to those parents who disagreed with them, and whether or not someone else likes another sport better or does not like the name football, and so forth... This may not be the worst trip I've ever been on, but I stand uncorrected.

btw, even amongst blue staters, less than two decades ago, one would hear, "racist old US, there can never be a black US president because he/she would take no Southern (red) states." And then he did.

> even amongst blue staters, less than two decades ago, one would hear, "racist old US, there can never be a black US president because he/she would take no Southern (red) states." And then he did.

And over 50 years ago, the same was said of black QBs...something about not having adequate football IQ.

We have come a long ways and someday there may even be an All-Pro NFL 100% Asian player but he will definitely have to be considerably larger than most of the Asians today. Until then, inter-marriages will provide the needed physical genepool.

On the high school football level, it shouldn't matter as much as one could always be a skilled placekicker.

Many of the Asian students at Paly/Gunn prefer robotic engineering and chess which is fine as not everyone can be a superb athlete.

A question for The Slim K.

Should block letters be awarded for non-athletic club activities as well?

Tracy, I understand your post is grounded in physical anthropology post-grad work at Stanford and what not, it must be, to offer your evidence of how even at the high school level, Asian kids can only be placekickers and Yao Ming needed another secret race we didn't know about and whatnot... Might want to spend another day or two on research though if I were you.

but.

Didn't you ever go out in the back yard and play football with your brothers? or when the uncles came over, and with your friends at the park? not because you were angling for a pro career, but because it was 'fun'? not once?

Pop Warner, which I continue to be shocked is used as a catch all pejorative by people who want to ban football but know almost nothing about youth football, has very strict age and weight limits. That is, the heavier little kids must play up above their ages. This allows smaller kids just a little space to learn the game and be confident playing the game without being hurt. Could hispanics and Asians and girls (and yes, my trans friends, trans, why not?) can play Pop Warner tackle football, which in every way, is much more real football and more fun football than nanny state flag or flex. Then, Asians and hispanics can play JV and HS, even in college and the pros if they love football more than racist cliches and work at getting better.

Becky: why not? such power I have all the sudden.

Paly Graduate Jeremy Lin, is 6'3" and weighs 200 lbs. He has two Chinese parents. He once put 38 on Koby, on nation-wide TV. Could he have played football if he loved and worked at it his whole life? Dangran keyi.

Yao Ming is 7'6" tall. Not too many Asians have that kind of height, at least not around here.

An all-Chinese team of 7+foot players would be a formidable basketball team.

And the only question would be which one would play center and protect the key. Or perhaps they could play all five positions, trading off at times and really baffle the opposition.

And they wouldn't even need to jump.