The issue of concussions in football is back in the forefront of people’s minds now that:
- Junior Seau’s family announced it is suing the National Football League over brain injuries (as reported by Huffington Post),
- Harvard Medical School is awarded a $100 million research project by the NFL to investigate the effects concussions on professional football players (Boston Business Journal), and
- President Barack Obama said that, if he had son who wanted to play football, he would think twice.
In an article released on Jan. 27, President Obama told The Republican,
I'm a big football fan, but I have to tell you if I had a son, I'd have to think long and hard before I let him play football...I tend to be more worried about college players than NFL players in the sense that the NFL players have a union, they're grown men, they can make some of these decisions on their own, and most of them are well-compensated for the violence they do to their bodies. You read some of these stories about college players who undergo some of these same problems with concussions and so forth and then have nothing to fall back on. That's something that I'd like to see the NCAA think about.
In October, Patch readers sounded off on the topic of youth football after the Boston Globe reported that two Pop Warner coaches were suspended after five players suffered concussions during a game.
What do you think about concussions in football? Do you agree with President Obama? Do you think the Harvard study will help? What do you personally think about children and/or adults playing the sport? Tell us in the comments.