Today we take a break from the norm (if anything on here is normal). No Cavs talk (don’t play until tomorrow), no Indians talk (although great game last night but they might not score 15 runs in the their next five games combined) and really no current sports talk at all. Today, we settle an aged old debate: What hurts more, a slap to the head or helmet to the head?
OK, that’s not exactly the question. The point was raised to me that these two people I know have been arguing over this for some time, even as long as six years. Six years for any argument is a long time, let a lone a pointless one, so today it comes to an end.
The real question in limbo is when a quarterback is standing in the pocket and gets hit, what hurts more; a helmet-to-helmet hit or a swinging slap to the helmet? The way I understand it, the slap isn’t one of those accidentally hit the helmet but a full blown swing like when a D-linemen jumps up and swings his arms down and wallops the QB in the top of the head. A helmet-to-helmet hit is obvious.
Let’s break this down. On first look, it seems obvious that a helmet-to-helmet hit would be more forceful since it is done with a stronger/harder object, and therefore, hurt a lot more. But is that really the case? The helmet-to-helmet hit on quarterbacks is rarely the kind of hits we see from a safety on a wide receiver. In the secondary, they have time to time up their hits and unload. When a defensive lineman or linebacker is rushing the quarterback, he is usually dealing with trying to get around a 300-plus mountain of a man. Even the worse offensive lineman in the league poises some kind of challenge and can slow down the rusher, taking away from some of the impact. Of course, there are those times when a blitzing cornerback or linebacker gets a clear shot. The force of the impact will be enhanced because of the hardness (te he he, hardness) of the helmet. Getting hit with a helmet on the head without wearing a helmet would obviously hurt more than getting hit with a hand on the head.
But let’s look at how that hand hits the helmet. On the surface, no way does the impact have anywhere near the same force as a helmet. Or does it? When some gets hit helmet-to-helmet, the force comes from the speed one is moving, i.e. how fast he is running. When a hand is swung and hits the helmet, the impact comes from just that, the speed the hand is moving. I’d say you can swing your arm at a faster speed than you can run. That would make for a more forceful impact. Is it enough to offset the strength of a helmet-to-helmet?
No way. Come on, really? If you ask 100 people, while wearing a helmet, would they rather been hit with a hand or another helmet, 100 people would answer helmet. That’s the bottomline. That’s a pretty easy choice, isn’t it? I can understand why this one guy can make arguments for a hand hurting more for a few minutes, but for six years?!?! Maybe he was hit in the head too much. Don’t you always laugh at football players when they get in fights and swing fists at guys wearing helmets? As stupid as University of Miami football players are, at least they are smart enough to know when you get in a fight, swing your helmet, not your fist at people wearing helmets. If a football player at Miami is smart enough to know the difference, so should we.
A helmet-to-helmet causes more damage and would hurt more than a little slap to the head.
I don’t think this looks so fun either.
Fratello
