Football Follies

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy flickr

You wouldn’t know it if you check the thermometer outside, but it’s the start of football season.  Since football is one of the most popular sports in the country, I thought I’d take the time to point out some of the epic fails that can occur to ardent fans who let their enthusiasm for the sport get the better of them.

1.    Can football prove fatal? – Here’s one sobering statistic most football fans don’t know.  According to WebMD, the Super Bowl is associated with a super risk of suffering a fatal coronary.  Researchers led by Robert A. Kloner, MD, PhD, of the University of Southern California, examined data on death rates for Los Angeles County around the time of the Los Angeles Rams’ loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIV in Pasadena in 1980. Researchers also looked at what happened four years later when the Los Angeles Raiders won Super Bowl XVIII in Tampa.  The 1980 loss was associated with an increase in total heart-related deaths in men and women in Los Angeles County on the day of the Super Bowl loss and for the two weeks following the loss. The increased risk of death was more pronounced in people aged 65 and older. 

2.      Should you take a hike before you take the hike? – Another curious statistical anomaly shows that ER visits spike during the Thanksgiving-Christmas holidays.  While the visits include everything from food poisoning, to alcohol-related accidents, there was also a serious spike in the number of fractures associated with playing touch football for both children and adults.  While most of the ER visits were treat and release, many of them were preventable.  Especially if you are over the age of 40, you should think twice before playing football with the youngsters.  If you must, don’t forget to stretch before you engage in physical activity, since a sprain or torn ligament could leave you on the sidelines for the rest of the holiday season.

Image courtesy flickr

3.      When is it time to curtail the tailgate party? – Another favorite football season activity is hosting a tailgate party before the game.  While tailgating at the stadium can be fun, it can also lead to disaster if you don’t follow some tried and true safety rules.  One of the most serious liability issues has to do with how much alcohol you serve to your guests.  While a cold beer is a blessing on a hot day, it can also lead to a serious liability problem if your tailgating guests have a little too much to drink.  Even if you provide a designated driver to take guests home after the game, should one of them become inebriated only to get injured during or after the game, you could be held liable if you served them alcohol.

4.      Learn how not to burn – Another serious liability issue has to do with that gas grill you use at your tailgating party.  While grills are allowed at the stadium, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use caution when open flames are present.  That means keeping guests away from the grill and having a fire extinguisher on hand in case your BBQ goes up in flames.  A quick check of the Internet provided a number of fires at various stadiums that were caused by tailgaters, including one at MetLife Stadium last November that destroyed 7 cars during a NY Jets game.  The cause: hot coals that had been improperly disposed of by tailgaters.  

5.      Don’t let food poisoning sideline your tailgate party. – Another serious source of tailgating tragedy comes from inadvertent food poisoning.  Unlike restaurants that are inspected by the health department, food served at a tailgating party is left to the host to store and cook safely.  As a result, there are numerous ways to wind up getting your guests sick from food you serve.  The USDA points out the three most likely causes of food poisoning at tailgate parties being improper food storage, insufficient hygiene and cross-contamination.  While most people know that food needs to be stored in a cooler during transport, many either don’t provide sufficient ice or they mix drinks and food together in the same cooler, which is a no-no.  Another booboo is failing to wash your hands after touching raw meat.  Last but not least, it’s all too easy for meat juices to contaminate other items contained in the same cooler or for someone to inadvertently put cooked food on a platter that previously held raw meat.  For a complete list of the dos and don’ts of food handling, click on the link. 

Image courtesy flickr

6.      How do you beat the heat? – While those in more northerly climes spend the time before, during and immediately after the game trying to keep warm, here in Florida we have the opposite problem.  There’s a reason TIAA Bank Field has a swimming pool.  That’s because it gets hot both on and off the field.  Especially during the preseason games during August and the early stages of the regular season, temperatures inside the stadium can be in the nineties.  That means heat stress for both the players and the spectators.  While the players have misters on the sidelines, their fans are pretty much on their own.  It isn’t unusual for some spectators to succumb to the heat and pass out in the stands during a game.  During one afternoon game in 2007, 175 Jaguars fans were treated for some heat distress.  Aside from drinking plenty of water and less alcohol during a scorcher, other ways to help beat the heat include wearing a hat (even better is to wet the hat then don it) and/or taking the ice from a beverage to rub on the side of your neck.

7.      Don’t let ice stop the festivities cold. – Speaking of ice, exercise caution when taking ice from a cooler and putting it in your guests’ beverages.  Believe it or not, this can also be another unfortunate cause of cross-contamination.   A study published in 2017, revealed that both ice and lemons were the cause of bacterial food poisoning.  In one example, contaminated ice served at a football game in Philadelphia led to a four-state outbreak of norovirus in the United States, which left more than 5,000 people ill.  

By pointing out these football follies it’s my hope you’ll be able to enjoy the 2020 season without incurring any personal fouls.

Catherine Powell is the owner of A Plus All Florida, Insurance in Orange Park, Florida.  To find out more about saving money on all your insurance needs, check out her website at http://aplusallfloridainsuranceinc.com/