Dwight Clark passing

[Dan Lamb]

I was very saddened to hear of Dwight Clarks passing , he wasen’t a personal friend but he was the same age AS my father . 61 years old is to young , I remember sitting and watching 49’er games with my dad and the day he made ｫ the catchï½» we watched that game together Which started the great 49er dynasty of the 80’s´ , dad passed in 1988 still miss him.

 

[Thomas]

Pass from Joe Montana to Dwight Clark for winning touchdown against Dallas Cowboys. :thumbsup:

 

[smstonypoint]

And he played at Clemson. While there he was involved with a Clemson coed, Shawn Weatherly, who went on to win the Miss Universe contest.*

If I ever knew this, I had forgotten it.

Former San Francisco 49ers great Dwight Clark dies at 61 after battling ALS

Steve

* How can I remember such trivia from 40 years ago and not remember where I put my keys?:confused3:

 

[Wagtail]

Steve

* How can I remember such trivia from 40 years ago and not remember where I put my keys?:confused3:

They're on top of the refrigerator, where you left them last night.

 

[smstonypoint]

They're on top of the refrigerator, where you left them last night.

You're right!

How did you know that?:shocked:

Steve

 

[buckeyefarmer]

More likely the keys are in the fridge, and he left food sitting on the counter.

 

[smstonypoint]

More likely the keys are in the fridge, and he left food sitting on the counter.

I've never left my keys in the fridge, but I have been known to leave food sitting on the counter.

My most recent experience in this regard was my search for my cell phone. After searching its normal hiding places, I discovered it in my hand. After relating my experience to a friend, she remarked that "At least you weren't talking on it."

Speaking of absent-mindedness, I was recently reading remembrances of a famous economist, Leland Yeager, who had just just passed. He and a colleague had attended a conference in Atlanta. After the conference, they carried on a conversation during their ride to the Atlanta airport and then on their flight back to DC. After arriving in DC, they couldn't find Leland's car in the parking lot. After some time, Leland remembered that he had driven to Atlanta.




Steve

 

[flusher]

Very sad. Died from ALS. He was diagnosed about 2 years ago. Very short time compared to Stephen Hawking who survived for over 50 years after he was diagnosed with ALS.

 

[CobyRupert]

It's getting harder and harder to watch football knowing that I am responsible for sending people to an early death for my Sunday entertainment.

(*: I and other fans creating a demand.)

 

[smstonypoint]

It's getting harder and harder to watch football knowing that I am responsible for sending people to an early death for my Sunday entertainment.

(*: I and other fans creating a demand.)

I'm not a football fan, but no one is holding a gun to the players' heads, forcing them to play. However, I have read that an increasing number of pro players are calling it quits early in light of the medical evidence about the effects of their sport on their health.

Steve

 

[CobyRupert]

.....no one is holding a gun to the players' heads, forcing them to play.
Steve

We don't force them, but we are responsible for creating the demand.
So, taking the argumentum ad absurdum, if the market offers poor (but athletically talented) people 10 million dollar contracts to fight to the death, you're good with that? "meh, no one's holding a gun to their heads."

Essentially you (I /we) do that when we watch the NFL, it's just delayed a few years.
We know people will take that chance when the reward is so great.
I guess it just come down to our individual (and collective) conscious and sense of morality.

If you look at how boxing has waned, and ultimate fighting has surged, getting back to gladiator games is the direction. (Not to mention our appetite for perpetual war)

I think a better argument (for you) is to say: Well, what about a coal worker who is paid to get black lung, (or some other laborer whose job shortens their life...."), and that would be a good point for which I have no counter, other than to say: "It just feels different" (again, back to our individual sense of morality).

 

[smstonypoint]

We don't force them, but we are responsible for creating the demand.
So, taking the argumentum ad absurdum, if the market offers poor (but athletically talented) people 10 million dollar contracts to fight to the death, you're good with that? "meh, no one's holding a gun to their heads."

Essentially you (I /we) do that when we watch the NFL, it's just delayed a few years.
We know people will take that chance when the reward is so great.
I guess it just come down to our individual (and collective) conscious and sense of morality.

If you look at how boxing has waned, and ultimate fighting has surged, getting back to gladiator games is the direction. (Not to mention our appetite for perpetual war)

I think a better argument (for you) is to say: Well, what about a coal worker who is paid to get black lung, (or some other laborer whose job shortens their life...."), and that would be a good point for which I have no counter, other than to say: "It just feels different" (again, back to our individual sense of morality).

Remain calm. Economists have studied the issue -- it's called the "compensating wage differential" issue.

Compensating differential - Wikipedia

Steve

 

[CobyRupert]

Sure they are well compensated, no argument there. Though in regards to "compensating differential", I don't think NFL players are highly compensated because it's an undesirable, unpleasant job, or because of the health risks. They're highly compensated because of their talents. There are a lot of amateur leagues and conferences were football players are paid nothing.

I guess what I'm getting at is what's my moral responsibility when I have people give (shorten) their lives for my entertainment, for sport?

I think that because it's "for sport", (and "entertainment"), that this is a significant difference than asking someone to give/shorten their life for country (military service), or employment in a job that (hopefully) contributes basic needs (food, shelter, clothing, warmth, health) to society (e.g. dangerous jobs: the coal miner who will get black lung, the lumberjack, the farmer, sanitation worker ).

(These are some of the most dangerous jobs, but not the most highly compensated.)

 

[2LaneCruzer]

We don't force them, but we are responsible for creating the demand.
So, taking the argumentum ad absurdum, if the market offers poor (but athletically talented) people 10 million dollar contracts to fight to the death, you're good with that? "meh, no one's holding a gun to their heads."

Essentially you (I /we) do that when we watch the NFL, it's just delayed a few years.
We know people will take that chance when the reward is so great.
I guess it just come down to our individual (and collective) conscious and sense of morality.

If you look at how boxing has waned, and ultimate fighting has surged, getting back to gladiator games is the direction. (Not to mention our appetite for perpetual war)

I think a better argument (for you) is to say: Well, what about a coal worker who is paid to get black lung, (or some other laborer whose job shortens their life...."), and that would be a good point for which I have no counter, other than to say: "It just feels different" (again, back to our individual sense of morality).

You touch on some very profound issues which most of us really won't or intellectually can't address. Having grown up in a poor family, I can testify that choices like that are every day realities for some of us, with much lower stakes. Those who were fortunate to have been born with a good mind and a good body will at least consider and explore other options; others are faced with taking physically hard and/or dangerous jobs just to survive. I had an uncle who died in his 40's from lung disease from working in the Lead and Zinc mines in Missouri.

I think today's economics and the welfare system do offer some relief, but for a physically gifted individual with a 75 I.Q., several million dollars a year is almost irresistible. For most of us, three or four years and it would be early retirement and off to the Caribbean. For my part, I would rather watch my Grandson play Jr. High football, or even old reruns of "I Love Lucy" than watch the NFL.

 

[Jstpssng]

You guys are in a philosophical argument which has probably been repeated many times over the centuries. How many of the people in our military are there because it seemed like a way to get out of the low income rut? Yet they make considerably less than what a pro ball player makes.

 

[Sigarms]

Two things my wife won't let our boys play, football and wrestling.

The reality is we're all closer to death than any of us probably realize.

Being an Eagles fan since youth (watching their games with my uncles in Pennsylvania when my father was overseas and when he came back) and hating the Cowboys (needless to say, my uncles made an impression on my as a youth), I will always remember that play Mr. Clark made. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy.

By the same token, watched "A football life" on Emmit Smith some time ago, and even though he played for Dallas and I despised him on what he did to the Eagles when he played, he also seems like a genuinely nice man.