Better Helmets, Better Pads? Just What Would They Look Like?

   Pattern football helmets and pads after boxing gloves, and you'll have better helmets and pads.

   Would the word be malleable? We need football helmets and pads with "malleable" surfaces, then. I am not aware of helmets that give -- that when a blow comes, they absorb some of the shock with cushioning covering the outside.

   A foam rubber exterior, perhap? Polyurethane, perhaps? Or perhaps even better, leather over the padding -- just like boxing gloves.

   Currently, the exterior of a football helmet is made of plastic, fiberglass, Kevlar and carbon fiber. Keep those elements, but move them to the middle. The covering should be of softer material.

   Ask yourself, which makes for a better boxing glove? Do the gloves we are using absorb the blow better, or would the boxing world be wise to move to fiberglass and Kevlar -- for the outside of the glove?

   It's laughable to think of boxing gloves with fiberglass coverings, isn't it? We can tell somebody's quickly going to get hurt. Why, then, do we think fiberglass and Kevlar the best thing for the outside of shoulder pads and helmets?