I keep hearing about football and concussions. I have a solution:
1) Keep or increase penalties for head hits
2) Make the helmets "break" (this is not as silly or as technically challenging as it may sound)
2a) A broken helmet should mean the player must leave the game until another helmet is retrieved (kind of like the NBA's Magic Johnson rule but for equipment and not blood). Think of NASCAR, the cars break into pieces when they are hit hard enough...why? Because it allows for energy to be dispersed. This concept is utilized with bicycle helmets.
3) Reduce the amount of padding players are allowed to wear. The cost in terms of "pain" for hitting someone hard is too low. I am not talking about joint and neck protection. Pads should prevent injury not make players tougher. At one time baseballs player could wear ridiculous amounts of arm protection when batting, the result was players like Craig Biggio and Barry Bonds could lean out over the plate with no fear of being hit. When MLB tightened the rules on this type of protection HPB's reduced.
These changes would allow the game to stay tough while emphasizing speed and athleticism. In other words won't make the game wimpy.
I am not the only person who has thought about this:
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/05/21/new-device-could-help-limit-concussions-in-practice/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johntamny/2012/05/27/memo-to-the-nfl-to-reduce-concussions-ban-football-helmets/
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