Will a woman play in the NFL someday?

[Deberg_1990]

Female will compete at regional combine for first time


The NFL debuted its regional scouting combine concept back in 2011. Ten cities this year hold a regional combine from January to March, with the best players going to a super-regional in Dallas in April.


The March 2-3 New Jersey regional will mark a first in the regional combine process: A female player will compete.

Lauren Silberman of New York City will participate as a kicker. A club soccer player at Wisconsin, Silberman has taken a different path than your average college kicker. She wrote a Master's thesis at MIT about how athletes use video games to enhance their own performance. She then founded a consulting company Double Play that helps athletes use video games for virtual training purposes.

"I was not aware that I was the first female registrant," Silberman told NFL.com on Tuesday. "I was actually hoping that the 2012 historical milestone rule, to allow women to play, would prompt more women to attend tryouts this year. But for me, what's important is to finally have a chance to fulfill my dreams by trying out to play in the world's most competitive football league."

Silberman, 28, will be competing against plenty of college kickers. (Greg "Legatron" Zuerlein was a success story from last year's regional combines.) She's the ultimate long shot in an event full of them. Her story reminds me of Albert Breer's piece on making the regional combines an American Idol-style buildup to the main NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

"The opportunity to attend this event could not be more exciting. Getting to meet interesting people and perfect my technique from others could not be more rewarding. ... Regardless of the outcome of the tryout, I hope there is a way I can contribute and strengthen the league," Silberman said.

We wish Silberman all the best at her tryout and congratulate her on making some history.


http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap100...for-first-time

[LiveSteam]

I would use Bernice from South Side Towing as a run stopper in short yardage situations any day of the week

[CoMoChief]

only as a kicker...possibly. I could see that in the future.

any other position that mainly requires contact? absolutely not in my lifetime.

but who knows....maybe eventually NFL will become National Flagfootball League and then maybe women would be able to play.

[Mr. Laz]

There will be a female kicker at some point.


probably a punter


i guess a female QB is feasible, but i dunno ... i would think a female would get crushed the first real sack from a 300+ pound lineman.

[Lzen]

I just never have liked the idea of women playing men's sports. Our bodies are built differently. Plus, there are other issues when mixing genders in this way.

I was at the Y last night playing hoops. After playing a few games I was sitting out a game watching when this small girl who had just arrived with a group of guys got in the next game. I rarely see girls play with us guys out there and usually it's for good reason.

I sat back and watched the game and noticed that she was hacking quite a bit when making a steal or when trying to keep someone from getting up a good shot. Now don't get me wrong, she was not a bad player. She had a decent mid range shot and played the passing lanes well for steals. But her size was a problem for her, especially on defense.

When I got in the next game, I grabbed a rebound with the intention of putting it back in. I knew she was right next to/behind me. So, I gave her a good bump to clear some space to put it back in. My boys commented about that later. I simply said that I had seen her hacking people to prevent them from making their shots earlier and I wasn't about to let her do that to me. There were a few times that she tried to set a screen on me. In cases like that, I will just about run through the screen so that the screener thinks twice about doing that again. Or you had better know how to set a solid screen. With this girl being about 80 or more lbs less than me, that was almost unfair. Needless to say, she didn't try to screen me very much.

But you know the way I see it, if she wants to play with the big boys then she has to know that she's gonna get banged around like that because that's what we do to each other. It's just how basketball is played. And she's gotta be able to take it or go play with the girls. She actually didn't have a problem with it so I respected her for that.

But the other problem was that when she had the ball my middle son (16 years) didn't want to block her. Keep in mind that this is the boy that will block anyone (including and especially me) if he gets the chance. But he didn't play as hard of defense against her simply because she was a girl. That's ridiculous. I gave him crap about it later, though.

[tooge]

kicker only. Then they'd have to come up with some new sexual tackling rules or guys would basically be hump tackling them whenever they got a chance.

[unnecessary drama]

Originally Posted by Lzen

I just never have liked the idea of women playing men's sports. Our bodies are built differently. Plus, there are other issues when mixing genders in this way.

I was at the Y last night playing hoops. After playing a few games I was sitting out a game watching when this small girl who had just arrived with a group of guys got in the next game. I rarely see girls play with us guys out there and usually it's for good reason.

I sat back and watched the game and noticed that she was hacking quite a bit when making a steal or when trying to keep someone from getting up a good shot. Now don't get me wrong, she was not a bad player. She had a decent mid range shot and played the passing lanes well for steals. But her size was a problem for her, especially on defense.

When I got in the next game, I grabbed a rebound with the intention of putting it back in. I knew she was right next to/behind me. So, I gave her a good bump to clear some space to put it back in. My boys commented about that later. I simply said that I had seen her hacking people to prevent them from making their shots earlier and I wasn't about to let her do that to me. There were a few times that she tried to set a screen on me. In cases like that, I will just about run through the screen so that the screener thinks twice about doing that again. Or you had better know how to set a solid screen. With this girl being about 80 or more lbs less than me, that was almost unfair. Needless to say, she didn't try to screen me very much.

But you know the way I see it, if she wants to play with the big boys then she has to know that she's gonna get banged around like that because that's what we do to each other. It's just how basketball is played. And she's gotta be able to take it or go play with the girls. She actually didn't have a problem with it so I respected her for that.

But the other problem was that when she had the ball my middle son (16 years) didn't want to block her. Keep in mind that this is the boy that will block anyone (including and especially me) if he gets the chance. But he didn't play as hard of defense against her simply because she was a girl. That's ridiculous. I gave him crap about it later, though.

Because he's a gentleman?

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by Peyton's Princess

Because he's a gentleman?

Screw that! Win or lose? I want to win!

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Peyton's Princess

Because he's a gentleman?

which is a conceptual problem for sports too.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by Lzen

But the other problem was that when she had the ball my middle son (16 years) didn't want to block her. Keep in mind that this is the boy that will block anyone (including and especially me) if he gets the chance. But he didn't play as hard of defense against her simply because she was a girl. That's ridiculous. I gave him crap about it later, though.

Yea, i could potentially see that as a problem. Guys wont play as physical against a girl...we are just wired that way.

[Chief Gump]

Probably see a lot more of this...

[beach tribe]

Hot!

[beach tribe]

Lulz. KU.

Dude palying for KU looks 40.

[PGM]

Can't even win a fictional game

[theelusiveeightrop]

Can you play football from the kitchen?

[Canofbier]

Originally Posted by theelusiveeightrop

Can you play football from the kitchen?

Honestly, though, wouldn't it be pretty ****ing cool if a woman was able to be competitive in the NFL at any position at all? I'd root for her.