OT(?): Targeting Rule: a sign of things to come (video)?

http://deadspin.com/chris-berman-trent-dilfer-and-the-nfl-love-jon-bostic-1178024837

Granted this is from the NFL, but Jon Bostic was fined $21,000 yesterday for this hit.

Wow.

Ridiculous.

Right?

That, to me, was one of the best hits I've seen put on someone in sometime.

And not a single millisecond of it appears to be illegal to me.

I'm terrified of this new targeting rule making its debut this season. Not just for our players, for the game of football as a whole.

It will spell the end of football as we know it. If they are so concerned with safety, just take the facemasks off. There will be no more leading with the helmet and the fundamentals of tackling will return. Lower shoulder, wrap arms, drive through, put player on ground.

Yes, this will impact some games as moron will be idiots and do things illegally. In the long run though this "should" work, I can't say that it will as it is all theoretical at this point. But remember, football is a game. A game that we all love but a game none-the-less. The average NFL career is what, something like 6 years (that is for the people who actually play).

http://nflcommunications.com/2011/04/18/what-is-average-nfl-player%E2%80%99s-career-length-longer-than-you-might-think-commissioner-goodell-says/

Are you willing to risk your entire life, or another players entire life on the "chance" that you'll play 6 years? If young children when they first start playing the game are taught how to play the game correctly simply by watching these plays be penalized there is a very small likelihood that they will emulate those plays when they get older.

This rule isn't about the "pussification" of the game, rather the lives of all of those who play the game. In addition the families of the players from Pee-Wee to the NFL are also affected if/when something happens. Tell me, is it worth it so fans can be entertained for a few minutes?

When the hitting gets legislated out of the game people will shut it off and the league will suffer.

True story.

Perhaps you missed blu's comment. That doesn't sound like hitting being eliminated...

blu4vr wrote:

It will spell the end of football as we know it.  If they are so concerned with safety, just take the facemasks off.  There will be no more leading with the helmet and the fundamentals of tackling will return.  Lower shoulder, wrap arms, drive through, put player on ground.