Friday, October 21, 2011

"Conservatives" In WI Legislature Pursue "Feel Good" Legislation

We've commented before on the proposal before the Legislature.  They are apparently going to pass a law which would require coaches to pull kids from play if the kid suffers a concussion.

The folly of the proposal is evident in the first few grafs of this story.

On Oct. 10 after junior varsity football practice, Josh Inhof walked over to an adjacent field to greet his father, Steven, who was coaching a youth football team.

Inhof asked his son, as he did nearly every day, how practice went.

"I really got rocked," Inhof said his son told him. Josh, who is 6 feet tall and weighs 200 pounds, meant that he had taken a hard hit during practice at his school, West Bend East High School.

Inhof says now that he should have been more aggressive in talking to his son.

"In hindsight, I really didn't think enough about it. He said his head hurt, and I told him to take it easy and take an aspirin," Inhof said later.

Look, folks:  concussions are VERY serious, especially with young people.  Nobody wants to see it happen; nobody wants to make it worse if it DOES happen.

But note well:  the player here did NOT tell his coach that he had suffered a concussion--the player didn't know it.  Further, even though he told his father that 'his head hurt,' his father told him to 'take an aspirin.'  Was the father an un-caring jerk?  Not likely, folks.

So the Legislature would make this kid's father a lawbreaker?  And what then?  Put him in prison?

The Legislature cannot write a law requiring kids to self-report concussions.  It's folly.

But it's "Feel Good", ain'a?

2 comments:

Saint Revolution said...

Kudos to Dad29.

I played 7 years of contact football...as an offensive and defensive lineman.

I played:
offensive center
offensive guard
offensive tackle
defensive noseguard
defensive tackle.

I also was a kicker but that's another story.

We hit so hard we, on a regular basis, cracked our Riddells (that's "helmets" for you non-player types).

Concussions ARE serious.

So is the maturity and seriousness of all coaches, parents, and most players.

These people do NOT need "babysitting" by legislators.

Every coach I ever knew was VERY schooled and experienced in his profession and VERY serious about his job.

Legislators...do whatever it is you do.

Leave football to the game's experts.

Dad29 said...

The problem here, StR, is that WIAA is seeking air-cover from the Legggies.

WIAA is incapable of disciplining its own membership.

My solution: nuke WIAA.