Tackle?

So I am surrounded by tackle football fans here in Texas.  Not that there's anything wrong with that- it's just not my favorite sport.  All of our boys have played a little flag football and that is a lot of fun. But now the playground peer pressure has kicked in Daniel and Isaac think flag is for babies!  arghh!!  They both really want to play tackle in the fall. 

I can talk Isaac out of it because he has a few friends whose parents aren't tackle fans and that will make the pill easier to swallow.  But in Daniel's grade, everyone plays tackle.   Serioulsy.  And they are all together on a few teams and Daniel wants to be a part of it SO badly.  The problem is that 1) he's not a strong player and I worry that it's going to be an overall negative experience for him and 2) it's a dangerous sport and I don't WANT HIM to be a football player!!  I mean does anyone notice that half of the pro players have alzheimers in their 40's?!?  Not to mention the thug culture that surrounds the sport? 

I've been sweating it for months and am out of time.  Football starts in August and I've already missed early registration.  The truth is that I know my answer.  It's no.  Deal with it.  But I also know that the fallout from that answer will be ugly.  And long.  And my boys already complain constantly about the fact that we're the only ones who a) don't do sleepovers, b) go to church every Sunday and c) don't go to birthday parties and other fun events on Sundays.  Do I really need to give them another reason to think they're parents are ruining their lives?!

Sometimes I just want to return to the days when my biggest problem was deciding what to wear to school.