How US Football Can Improve Player Safety & Entertainment Via Technology
It felt good to Open Source my ParaWing idea, so this is a sequel in spirit
Why Would A Cripple Try To Help Gladiators?
3 games. I’ve played at most 3 games of friendly co-worker game football — two hand touch rules, 4 on 4 like — and every single time my busted left ankle blew up and sidelined me before the game was done. As healthy as I was at the time, 10 years ago or so, I couldn’t keep up. It was a reminder of why I never played organized sports in school. Instead I played computers and instruments.
Pain is something I understand. I’ve lived through it, and to this day, I live with it. I stretch, I get my rest and vitamins and water…all I want is to feel normal enough to smile. So far, so good. Scars can be covered up.
During grades 6–12 though, not being a sports player had many drawbacks. More than a few jocks tried to jab at me, tell me I wasn’t tough. Eventually I learned that getting better grades and going for academic scholarships was within my reach — not theirs. They picked on me, one fat jackass Tony learned about one of my damaged ligaments and snapped his middle finger on it just to see how much it would hurt.
Empathy. I’ve seen the hits these guys are taking. From NCAA to NFL, the physicality, equipment, and kinetic energy forces are modern problems.
Do I like watching big hits? Yes. Do I hate watching injuries, team mates taking a knee, the stretcher come out? Yeah, I do. So a few years ago, around the same time as kicking the ParaWing invention into form, I came up with something to consider…a reworking of gridiron football as we know it…
New Equipment, Hydrogen, & Commercial Breaks
So the following pic is of a sketch I presented to a Patent Attorney during a review of several concepts. He saw the merit in the idea, but, business and engineering and production and adoption as considerations, he thought the game of football would change before my idea would be considered viable. This gets mentioned because he didn’t try to take my money, to puff me up and claim all my ideas were gold. He was, for sure, constructive.
In short, the idea is to pack every player in air-pocket cells, filled with inert hydrogen, which use blow-out valves upon contact to mitigate the impacts. Using some small monitors and a couple refill points, players can totally wear gear that actually is light but needs refilling. If we’re talking about football in the US, then we’re also talking commercial breaks.
I’d rather watch commercial breaks prompted by teams having to refill their suits after a no-huddle hurry-up than because a WR got hit so hard in the ribs it probably pierced a lung or lacerated a spleen and he goes on the cart to the locker room with a towel over his head. Look at the physics of the game, look at the equipment and tell me you don’t hear the loud crack of helmet to helmet and cringe knowing what it might mean years later…
This…This Is My BOOM STICK!
What I enjoy about football is the intensity and athletic elite talents in cleats, but the game is getting, well, too complicated for its own good. What’s really a catch? What’s holding? What’s the right call on a replay viewing? Who supplied Ed Hochuli with his juice and where can I get some?
They’re trying to make the game safer when most of the equipment is essentially weaponry. Those face masks? The hardness of plastic shoulder pads leveled square? It’s armor.
But I like watching the hits. I want to see bodies fly. I want to watch them pop back up and get back to it. Maybe it has something to do with growing up watching WWF matches of Andre the Giant or seeing Bo Jackson run up the wall in Kansas City in an unintentionally show-off move that came naturally. The gear design is meant to support that entertainment factor.
Audiences Don’t Lie
Either a concept works or it doesn’t. In the US, football is a multi-billion dollar industry with lots of hooks into culture. Living in Dallas, believe me, I know. If there’s an opportunity to give fans an improvement, it’s worth trying. The XFL failed. Arena Football is a side-show.
If I’m not the only one who wants to see the game survive, but change in ways that resemble an evolution, why the hell would I keep the idea to myself? Until I gave the ParaWing away, I was really feeling selfish about some of my inventions and concepts. I now think that’s counter-productive, and aim to contribute as much Open Source, Patent-Free, Run-What-Ya-Brung gear as I can in 2017.
…or, you know, guilt trip Colin Furze, Casey Neistat, or George Hotz to step up and make dreams come true…for the lulz…
Post Script
This idea wouldn’t exist without legendary Dallas Cowboy Safety and All-American-Badass Bill Bates. He created the pad system that allowed for water cooling over the torso. Because players in Texas need that kind of stuff. What always impressed me so much about the innovation is that it was created after Bill retired from professional playing — he still had his wits intact, so much so he could improve the game. R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
