Chansky’s Notebook: Better Than Ever?

The game of football may become addition by subtraction.

Certain high schools across the country are not fielding football teams because they can’t get enough kids to come out. East Chapel Hill didn’t have a team last season, and this fall Chapel Hill and Cedar Ridge — local schools with good traditions in the sport — won’t have varsity football programs.

Obviously, this is a trend in certain communities, where families are hearing the danger sounds caused by the head trauma on the college and professional levels, and the potential of developing CTE. But the game of football will never go away, and it may be even better in the long run.

Parents keeping their kids away from football and other sports where hits to the head are prevalent have a point. They have read the stories, heard the statistics and, in many cases, have viable options for their children in athletics. Chapel Hill is a good example, an affluent university town whose schools have won numerous accolades in so-called non-contact sports.

But in the Deep South, the Southwest, Midwest and on the West Coast, where high school football is taken and played far more seriously, there won’t be any wholesale attrition. Sure, parents want to know the risks and what’s being done with the rules and equipment to minimize long-term danger.

Those regions will continue to play football, and in some cases the quality of the games might go up. For thousands of young football players across the country, their sport is a way to get to college with scholarships and reach their ultimate goal of playing in the NFL. Kids with that kind of speed and talent and those dreams will not give up their path to glory.

They may believe the safety measures will help, but for many even a possibility of illness long after they retire won’t keep them from playing. It’s their way to possible fame and fortune and, for some, a way to escape to a better life. Those kids will know the risks and still roll the dice.

The result may be more consolidated high school teams whose rosters are loaded with future college and pro stars. The game at the highest levels won’t be hurt. In fact, it may be better and wind up producing more great players than ever.

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