Concussions and football

I would not allow any child of mine to play a game I enjoyed playing.

I've said before that I wouldn't... and I wish that I hadn't played. I'm sure that it began my neck problems.

I don't have a son, and my grandson is 2. I won't really have a choice whether he plays or not. He will be an athlete, no doubt about it. My dad played for the Army when helmets were still made of leather. Both my brothers played, although my youngest brother dropped out...really didn't like getting hit. No doubt it's dangerous. I may have mentioned before that my first year of college was marked by tragedy...a linebacker named Ed Scott, who was destined for the pros, but suffered a spinal injury that left him paralyzed. Like any other contact sport, the potential for serious injury, even cumulative concussion, is always there.

I encouraged my son to focus on different sports. The sports that coincided with football.

My son played basketball. I discouraged football.

Salinsky wrote:I played linebacker in high school.

During a big game in my junior year, I had a full speed, helmet-to-helmet collision.

I came to with my facemask detached from my helmet on one side, my head was humming, and I couldn't focus for several minutes.

It was undoubtedly a concussion, but at the time they just called it, "getting your bell rung", and I received no medical treatment at all.

I remember very little of the next 24 hours.

It scared me enough that I decided to quit playing.

I felt lucky that my son chose to focus solely on baseball, so I never had to face the choice of whether or not to allow him to play football.

Turns out baseball can be pretty dangerous too.

I got knocked out on a stupid trick play... didn't remember playing the second half or riding the bus home or anything until the next day. Certainly a concussion. But I think the most harm was getting blind sided in the pocket. That hurts.