Football's $1,000 helmet

[Dion]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...rss-topstories

Coming soon to a worried parent near you: a sales pitch for a $1,000 football helmet that can monitor the precise location and severity of impacts to little Johnny's head. Leading helmetmaker Riddell plans to begin flooding high schools with take-home brochures this month and to start shipping this concussion-sensing gear to families in November. Says Riddell marketing chief Jim Heidenreich: "If people buy $1,000 drivers and $500 baseball bats, we hope they'll spend that kind of money on head protection."

Eight colleges, including three Big Ten schools, are using the team version of Riddell's high-tech helmets, which wirelessly relay real-time data--gleaned from the same sensors found in car air bags--to a sideline computer that can send a pager alert if a player receives a hit or a series of hits that exceed a certain magnitude.

[ricoFlame]

hmm, that's an interesting chunk of equipment. i guess knowing how much damage is being done to your head will somehow make you feel better about it? oh well.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by ricoFlame

hmm, that's an interesting chunk of equipment. i guess knowing how much damage is being done to your head will somehow make you feel better about it? oh well.

might not make you feel better, but it might prevent you from continuing to play if you get a concussion without knowing it right away. that will probably make you feel better in the long-run.

i'm usually not a fan of over-protecting children, but head injuries are serious stuff.

[corporatejay]

That's a lot of cash but considering how much dough i shell out for hockey gear and there are MANY parents willing to spend 300 bucks on a f'n stick i dont' think it's that insane to buy something like this.

if they come out with it for hockey i think it would be a worthy purchase since you buy like 2 helmets your whole life.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

if they come out with it for hockey i think it would be a worthy purchase since you buy like 2 helmets your whole life.

This just goes to further my case for my "Helmet Makers Conspiracy theory." You see, they have you convinced that you only buy helmets a couple of times in your life. But really you buy so many more.

The crux of my CT is the question- why do you need a different helmet for different sports? For example skiing- why can I not wear my hockey helmet without being shunned by the rest of the skiers? Why is there a different helmet for biking and skateboarding?

Now they are trying to sell us $1000 helmets. Mark my words- the helmet makers are trying to take over the world.

OK, maybe not take over the world. But it is interesting why we need so many of the dang things.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by ken0042

The crux of my CT is the question- why do you need a different helmet for different sports? For example skiing- why can I not wear my hockey helmet without being shunned by the rest of the skiers? Why is there a different helmet for biking and skateboarding?

Different types of protection for different types of impact.

If you crash your bike, you'll hit the ground in a completely different way than if you wipe out on a skateboard. A hockey helmet isn't designed to protect you from falling off a bike going 30 km/h and a bike helmet isn't designed to protect you from getting hit by a puck traveling 100mph.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by ken0042

This just goes to further my case for my "Helmet Makers Conspiracy theory." You see, they have you convinced that you only buy helmets a couple of times in your life. But really you buy so many more.

The crux of my CT is the question- why do you need a different helmet for different sports? For example skiing- why can I not wear my hockey helmet without being shunned by the rest of the skiers? Why is there a different helmet for biking and skateboarding?

Now they are trying to sell us $1000 helmets. Mark my words- the helmet makers are trying to take over the world.

OK, maybe not take over the world. But it is interesting why we need so many of the dang things.

I meant that you only buy like 2 hockey helmets.

basically a junior and then a senior, I know you wear a bunch when you're a little kid but 1000 wouldn't be worth it at that point.

[Sample00]

as a goaltender and as the parent of a goaltender, the head protection is the most important of all, and its probably the piece of equipment that I spend the most money on. I want my noodle and my sons noodle protected. we both wear helmets that are in the 1000.00 range. both are itech pro models with paint and tahts the cost.
if the new 1000 helmet protects a persons head better, then I am all for it. especially in rough sports like football and hockey.

[HOOT]

I remember a few years ago when I was watching a college football game they were talking about these things and how a few players had them on to test them.

One of the RB got just smashed in the game and he was one of the guys with the helmet on and with the data it showed that the force was like someone running into a wall at 60 mph...gross!