Since sports have been around, so has injury. Depending on the level of competition, injuries can cause players to sit for a game, a season, or even be benched for the rest of their career. Luckily, along with the development of sports, the development of safety gear has also progressed. Unluckily, the development of strength and size has also increased.

Recently, Baltimore Ravens player Bernard Pollard, has made a scary prediction about the future of one of America’s most violent sports, football. He said in an interview, the direction that the NFL is going, someone is going to die on the field.

“The only thing I’m waiting for … and, Lord, I hope it doesn’t happen … is a guy dying on the field. We’ve had everything else happen there except for a death. We understand what we signed up for, and it sucks,” said Pollard.

He goes on to explain that the way the players of the game are getting bigger and stronger than they have ever been, and there is only so much that the human body can take.

The safety question also comes into play when it comes to youth sports. A lot of parents don’t let their child start playing football until the middle school or high school age, due to the long term effects that result after a lifetime of taking brain rattling tackles.

President Obama himself told the press that he would have to think “long and hard” before he allowed his (hypothetical) son play the contact sport. With the parents that shy away from starting their kids young, there are the parents that throw their kid on the field with the hopes they become the next NFL superstar. Hopefully those parents are well informed about the long term effects of having their child play football for an extended amount of time, and are willing to live with the outcome.