President Barack Obama said in an interview that if he had a son he would have to think long and hard about letting him play football. There is too much risk to play the game now especially at the young age and in college because they have nothing to fall back on. The players in the NFL are a different case because they are in a union and paid millions of dollars.
"You read some of these stores 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 I'd like to see the NCAA think about." - President Obama
Like any sport as the game develops, so do the players and now a days the players are all bigger, faster and stronger then what they were when football first began. They are also paid a lot more money which is why they take the risk for the damage they do to their bodies. They all want to put up the big hit... as does Bernard Pollard (in the above picture) and he has knocked out several players in his time in the NFL. He alone says the NFL won't exist in 30 years because if they continue to take away parts of the game, fans are going to lose interest in the game. Obama says football fans will have to wrestle the fact that change will be coming and they will have to accept the fact that the changes make it a safer game for the players, even though it will make it "less exciting". Personally, I like watching the big hits.
I do agree though that something needs to be done because so many people end up with brain trauma after they quit playing and wind up committing suicide. Some of the things the NFL wants to do is take away helmets and take off shoulder pads but in my mind that is too far, and I wouldn't want to watch it let alone play. All athletes take the risk of participating in a sport for the love of the game, let the players play. What do you think? Would you still watch it if they did that?
If you want to read more you can at: http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8886528/president-barack-obama-not-sure-allow-son-play-football and http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2012/story/_/id/8889447/bernard-pollard-baltimore-ravens-nfl-not-exist-30-years
I agree with Bernard Pollard. If they continue to try and change the game they will just ruin it and we will be watching two hand touch. They cannot continue to take parts of the game away. If they do people will stop watching football because it just isn't exciting anymore.
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