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When a guy who played in the NFL for 20 years, won a Super Bowl, is the only player to win NFL MVP three consecutive times, and has been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, says the only way to make the game safer is, “you don’t play,” you might have a problem on your hands. Because that is exactly what 11-time Pro Bowler Brett Favre told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour when asked.
Favre, now 48, was well-known for his toughness while playing quarterback for the Packers, Jets and Vikings throughout his career. He played in an era before the NFL’s well-publicized (and very much-maligned) concussion protocol so he knows that his quality of life could take a rapid downturn on any given day.
He also saw his career come to an end thanks to a major concussion Favre suffered when his head hit the frozen turf at TCF Bank Stadium in a game in 2010.
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“If you had asked me eight years ago how many concussions I had during my playing career I would probably have said two, maybe three, and I’m talking about where I lost consciousness for five seconds, ten seconds, a minute,” Favre explained.
That’s what he considered a concussion in his playing days. Knowing that he does now about concussions, thanks in large part to Dr. Bennet Omalu,
“The old saying in football was, ‘I got my bell rung.’ Well, having your bell rung, seeing stars, seeing fireworks, ringing in the ears, things of that nature, hundreds, maybe thousands of times I could say that happened to me,” revealed Favre. “That’s very frightening and it’s not a good thing. So I am very fearful of what the future will bring.”
Later in the interview Favre talked about the future, both for himself as well as the game of football.
“I am afraid of not only my future, but of other players … intentionally playing the game, knowing that the repercussions could be life threatening. I have one who’s 8, 3 and a newborn. And they have not decided, at least the 8-year-old, to play football,” said Favre. “I’m not going to encourage him to play football. I’m not saying I would discourage him, but I would be cringing every time I saw my grandson get tackled, because I know, physically, what’s at stake. I’m able to function the way I so choose, at least up to this point. I stay active. Tomorrow may be totally different. Tomorrow I may not remember who I am, I may not know where I live, and that’s the frightening thing for us football players.”
Favre also pointed out that NFL players are just going to get “bigger, faster, stronger” and “so concussions will continue to be a serious issue. There’s only so much that helmets can do. So we’ll look at it from a treatment standpoint. And the only other option is not to play.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, of course, had a canned response to Favre’s comments.
“I would tell you this: this has been a major focus for us in trying to make our game safer at our level and all the way through every level of football, replied Goodell. “The game of football is much safer than when I played it, but that’s part of our responsibility and we take that seriously and it’s something we’ll continue to focus on.”
Goodell still hasn’t explained how to prevent brain injuries when some collisions in the sport, as Dr. Omalu put it, “…are like a car traveling at 30 mph slamming into a brick wall. So we need to realize it’s not about the concussions.”
“You could play just one game on Super Bowl Sunday — after just one game, many players have suffered irreparable brain damage. All you need is one violent blow. What goes through my mind: where will these players be in 20 years?”
Unfortunately, we already have much evidence as to what the answer to that question will be.
H/T The Big Lead