The next dominoes (July 15 edition)

[TheDrifter75]

It's getting more and more difficult to find youth to play football around here, I'm in central Illinois. Recently, the youth leagues have had to combine ages and/or join with another town. One of the decent highschools in the area just entered into a co-op with other area schools to keep the sport alive.

 

[shizzle787]

It's getting more and more difficult to find youth to play football around here, I'm in central Illinois. Recently, the youth leagues have had to combine ages and/or join with another town. One of the decent highschools in the area just entered into a co-op with other area schools to keep the sport alive.

Football is definitely losing steam at the youth level. So is baseball. Little leagues are merging as well. Only basketball and soccer (least expensive sports to play) are either maintaining or growing.

 

[Billy Jack]

Parents who understand CTE - including some former NFL players - are not letting their children to play football.

 

[Kolumbo]

No sarcasm here. Soccer is not that big of a deal. The best athletes in the U.S. are not playing soccer. They’re playing football and basketball and that’s a fact.

Wrong. How could you even suggest the best athletes are playing basketball? The NBA has guys who didn't even start playing basketball until high school. They happen to be huge, not great athletes. Soccer players are far better athletes than basketball players. The skill and athleticism required to excel in soccer is so far beyond basketball, there is no debate. Think: Hasheem Thabeet. Case closed. Football is a mixed bag. You have some awesome athletes, and some big guys who can push back. I don't even think a kid has to be able to run a mile in order to make the high school team.

Check it. Just about every kid starts out with soccer. some try baseball, some basketball, some football. but they all start with soccer. there are thousands of recreation leagues around. I see guys from their mid 20's through probably 60's playing soccer and softball. Football? No. Basketball? Not as much. Hockey? a few. Soccer is a huge deal. Life is not a spectator sport.

 

[Hondo 77]

Football is definitely losing steam at the youth level. So is baseball. Little leagues are merging as well. Only basketball and soccer (least expensive sports to play) are either maintaining or growing.

Not in places like Texas.

 

[Kolumbo]

It's getting more and more difficult to find youth to play football around here, I'm in central Illinois. Recently, the youth leagues have had to combine ages and/or join with another town. One of the decent highschools in the area just entered into a co-op with other area schools to keep the sport alive.

In our town there is a growing flag football league but even those kids are getting hurt. Even though they don't tackle, they still collide and hit the ground, so playing without helmets almost makes it worse.

Little league of course takes a hit because of the popularity of the other growing sports. Girls softball has just 1 team to play other towns instead of playing in a league. lacrosse seems to be getting more popular. And of course, everyone at least tries soccer.

 

[CTBballfan243]

Wrong. How could you even suggest the best athletes are playing basketball? The NBA has guys who didn't even start playing basketball until high school. They happen to be huge, not great athletes. Soccer players are far better athletes than basketball players. The skill and athleticism required to excel in soccer is so far beyond basketball, there is no debate. Think: Hasheem Thabeet. Case closed. Football is a mixed bag. You have some awesome athletes, and some big guys who can push back. I don't even think a kid has to be able to run a mile in order to make the high school team.

Check it. Just about every kid starts out with soccer. some try baseball, some basketball, some football. but they all start with soccer. there are thousands of recreation leagues around. I see guys from their mid 20's through probably 60's playing soccer and softball. Football? No. Basketball? Not as much. Hockey? a few. Soccer is a huge deal. Life is not a spectator sport.

Oh, I get it, I missed that you were being sarcastic. In high school, the kids who can’t make the football team play soccer, unless the play a musical instrument, then they join band instead of the soccer team.

 

[Slasher]

Iowa State, Kansas State, Cincinnati, Houston, Central Florida are all fairly deadweight. Also there really is no “more than makes up for it in basketball” as that’s not how that works at present. So Kansas football is the definition of deadweight. The best brands in the B12 are Oklahoma State and Texas Tech and West Virginia. Baylor and TCU are fairly small alumni bases, but along with BYU would be the best of the rest.

The reason the PAC-12 is in more trouble is because the best bits of the B12 have already been taken. There’s still more meat on the bones with the PAC.

Lots of delusion in this thread. Cincinnati, UCF and BYU are far more desirable than Cal, Washington State, and Oregon State. We'll see who raids who in the coming weeks and months and I guarantee no one is leaving the Big 12 for the Pac 12.

 

[Billy Jack]

The Pac-12 does not have the advantage over the Pac-12. And the Pac-12 has the most dead weight. Wash State / bOregon State / Cal. What's the dead weight in the Big 12? Uhh Kansas State? Kansas in football sure, but they more than make up for it in hoops. WVU?

You’re forgetting about Houston as dead weight in the Big XII and you’re underrating Cal. Cincinnati is also dead weight.

The advantage that the PAC-12 has is Washington, Stanford, and Oregon at the top. The Big XII has no one to match those 3. That’s also what makes the PAC-12 vulnerable. If the B1G picks off those 3, it’s “Good night, nurse.” for the PAC-12. But as long as those 3 stick together, there is a nucleus to build around.

 

[Billy Jack]

Lots of delusion in this thread. Cincinnati, UCF and BYU are far more desirable than Cal, Washington State, and Oregon State. We'll see who raids who in the coming weeks and months and I guarantee no one is leaving the Big 12 for the Pac 12.

Cinch and UCF are desirable? To whom? But the Big XII has other problems besides just those two. K State, Kansas, and Houston aren’t properties anyone will be fighting over.

I agree with you that BYU brings value, but Utah is comparable. You’re right that AZ, WA State, and OR State don’t bring value. And Colorado is meh. But that still leaves the Big XII with more problems and no real studs at the top.

 

[Kolumbo]

Oh, I get it, I missed that you were being sarcastic. In high school, the kids who can’t make the football team play soccer, unless the play a musical instrument, then they join band instead of the soccer team.

A lucky kid who can't make the soccer team becomes a kicker on the gridiron. The rest become motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, mushroom caps. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[UC1995]

Not in places like Texas.

Or in Ohio.

 

[Huskygrad88]

Or in Ohio.

Except for statistically. “ The number of high school football players in Ohio dropped by 28% from 2009-10 to 2018-19, according to data tracked by the National Federation of State High School Associations”