Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

They can choose not to play the game. Nobody's forcing them to assume the inherent risk of being on the field.  Some have already said they'd opt out.  Many others have said "Let Us Play."

They know the risks.  Acting like they're 10-year-olds who are incapable of making their own decisions isn't going to help them manage this situation.

If they want to play football, they can play football. I'll bet there are plenty of fields open. Put together a game and play. 

The Big Ten universities have said that they're not sanctioning official football in the fall. That doesn't mean nobody is allowed to play. It just means the universities [perhaps minus Nebraska] aren't sponsoring organized football competitions. 

If the Big Ten chose to play, the players can choose not to. If the Big Ten chooses not to play, players can choose to play--wherever and whenever someone else offers them the opportunity.  

One extra zero in my math.  Sorry

so- the real question is- if they don’t play, how many of those 32 will end up hospitalized?

There is no data for that.  Only intuition.

Half?  zero?  Twice as many?    That’s what it comes down to.  And those lineman you speak of, which is very debatable by the way, have an opportunity to opt out including conversations with their parents, but have opted in based upon the level of medical attention and protocols they see around them versus when they’re not with the team And those lineman you speak of, which is very debatable by the way, have an opportunity to opt out including conversations with their parents, but have opted in based upon the level of medical attention and protocols they see around them versus when they’re not with the team 

So it comes down to an unknowable thing? 

We're talking about the difference between two situations we can't measure, if an excess of physical contact and behavior that could spread will possibly create outbreaks among well-tested and somewhat regulated populaces. At a point we don't know, which means it comes down to the non-risk-averse players lobbying the possibly risk-averse institutions. 

The Pac-12 and Big Ten have made their risk-averseness clear when it comes to football, but less clearly when it comes to students. I'm not so surprised with that. We'll see how the rest of the schools treat it when we get closer to nut-cutting time. 

I'm watching this 1990 UM-MSU game and they are really laying it on each other.  They're trying to hurt the ball-carrier every play, on both sides. 

Holy cow, crazy ending!  
UM's driving down to tie, and all their receivers dropping passes.
They score on an awful fade pass and go for 2.
Desmond Howard gets tripped by the DB, but it's a no-call, and the ball pops out as he lands on his back!  Failure all around!
UM gets the onside kick and the hail mary falls short.  Whew.  

I'm not even talking about deaths here.  Any "let them play" people want to tell me about the stats on heart and/or lung damage going forward? 

The stats would strike me as a tad inconclusive. I might think there's evidence of that and see some, but we're super early in the game. Plus football destroys people all the time. 

This isn't even arguing one side or the other, but the "sacrifice" rhetoric is a bit blunt, I think. 

Didn't take long for this thread to get hijacked.

My esposita and I have two basset hounds.

They're great.

My esposita and the basset hounds.

It's not a tragic mistake.  The kids don't get to play football - nothing tragic about that.  FFS

It’s their entire life at this point in their life FFS. 
don’t do what you always do and tell them what they should think.  
You have the right to think what you think but they think it is tragic and have said so repeatedly

If they want to play football, they can play football. I'll bet there are plenty of fields open. Put together a game and play.

The Big Ten universities have said that they're not sanctioning official football in the fall. That doesn't mean nobody is allowed to play. It just means the universities [perhaps minus Nebraska] aren't sponsoring organized football competitions.

If the Big Ten chose to play, the players can choose not to. If the Big Ten chooses not to play, players can choose to play--wherever and whenever someone else offers them the opportunity. 

This is a pretty cheesy cop-out.  They want to compete at the highest level and play the game in the same way they are accustomed to.  And they know the risks, just as they know the risk of injury and CTE.