> I think a great deal of them would still choose to play despite knowing the risks. There are likely neighborhoods where people raise families that are less safe than playing in the NFL.

Yes, some of these athletes are choosing between sports and poverty. That's another reason why it's messed up, not why it's okay.

And 17-18 yo is the age of accepting a football scholarship to an NCAA school.

I see what you are saying but its framed wrongly, again. That is the average age of the team players. Do you know the average age of player entering the team? (average career length might be helpful?) Also, what is the average age of the people who dream of playing on the team, or who are making decisions that would lead to them being on such a team?

I might agree that 25 is an adult but lets be realistic here.. if you can find somebody who at that age made the decision to join the sport and actually got into a pro team, well I'll be amazed!

> I think a great deal of them would still choose to play despite knowing the risks

Nice guess, but that's not your decision to make. I'm not sure what movie you watched that gave you such a deep understanding of the trade offs, but is it possible you don't fully understand them?

> 25 year olds are not "young and impressionable" any more

They're not? News to me. Maybe I'm just getting old.

> And I'm sorry, but 25 year olds are not "young and impressionable" any more, so I don't buy that defense.

I'll say this because it fits the demographic here on HN, but have you ever met mid-20-something techies in the bay area? My experience has been that many of them are still very impressionable. Being technically an adult doesn't magically make you immune to being impressionable.

Remember the state of being impressionable is about a lack of critical thinking. Given what we've seen with the recent election, it seems very plausible that many adults lack critical thinking. No?

Looking at this more objectively - 1 out of 4 college football players drops out of school and doesn't finish their degree. Also, more objectively, at the age of 25, you're only a third of the way through your expected life (~78). So, yes these people are still considered "young".

This particular thread was about the NCAA, which does recruit players at 17-18 (just entering college).

The recruiting actually starts earlier than that for the most gifted players.

Oh. I should read more.

> a great deal of them would still choose to play despite knowing the risks

Good, then this is easy: let's tell them, and make it their choice.

>I think a great deal of them would still choose to play despite knowing the risks.

They would still play even if we took steps to minimize the risks.