Tom Brady's Father Would Be 'Very Hesitant' To Let His Son Take Up Football In Concussion Era

In this Feb. 9, 2006 file photo, New England Patriots football quarterback Tom Brady, left, hugs his father Tom Brady Sr. on the first hole of the Poppy Hills course during the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament in Pebble Beach, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)

Yahoo! Sports:

Less than three weeks removed from the shocking suicide of former NFL great Junior Seau, and as the football community copes with what can legitimately be characterized as a concussion crisis, many concerned Americans are asking themselves a simple but question:

Would you let your son play football?

Read the whole story at Yahoo! Sports

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Comments

[sdave]

03:26 PM on 05/24/2012

At least Tom Sr. is being honest, but he let his son be his own man. Too many fathers out there push their sons into football because either they are living vicariously through them or somehow think their son is going to make tons of money in the NFL......you are better off convincing your son to be a doctor, lawyer, or engineer.

[OneTop]

03:19 PM on 05/24/2012

""Father Would Be 'Very Hesitant' To Let His Son Take Up Football In Concussion Era""

It has always been the "Concussion Era" in football. Individuals, leagues, parents, coaches and even the medical field just didn't understand and recognize the symptoms, the injuries and the risks for what they were.

The concussions and traumatic head injuries have always been there.

[JoeBlough]

03:02 PM on 05/24/2012

My Mom refused to let me play football in HS. Thanks, Mom!

[JoeBlough]

02:59 PM on 05/24/2012

These guys are paid big bucks to perform in a demolition derby with other players. Now is not the time to wimp-out.

[Nick Marinucci]

02:48 PM on 05/24/2012

I think the NFL Players, and the CTE condition will be this generations version of the Tobacco lawsuits from the 90's. I think that the NFL is gonna have a really hard time with this. Athletes are so big, and so fast....they have almost outgrown the physicality of the game and brought in a new element of danger.

Yes, these guys know they risk injury, but I think the long term effects, and the NFLs reputation for not taking care of its legends, are going to be a huge negative for the sport.

[MtnGeek]

02:53 PM on 05/24/2012

I think the issue will really present itself on the youth side of football. You will see fewer parents willing to let their children run the risk of concussions by playing pee wee football. Which will lead to fewer high school and college players. The talent pool for the NFL will become smaller and smaller until the caliber of play no longer attracts an audience.

[BacSi]

11:25 AM on 05/25/2012

"this generations version of the Tobacco lawsuits from the 90's."

Well stated. Although I see it more akin to the 1964 SG's Report on Smoking. That first big shot across the bow.

When will the hammer drop on youth football?

Right after that first major scientific report comes out linking "even a little" brain damage in HS seniors playing the game.

Then what will a HS do? Continue on with a game with know major health risks to its students?

Try running that past the school boards lawyers.

"You knew the game was dangerous for kids. Yet you let them play on?"

Not all that far fetched. The end of youth football could be seen in the next 20 years.

[Nick Marinucci]

12:11 PM on 05/25/2012

I think you could be right....people seem to think the NFL is invincible, and it isn't. PR will dictate their success, and the more public these brain injuries are, the more reluctant parents will be to allow their kids to play, or even watch.

[TXfemmom]

02:33 PM on 05/24/2012

I was an RN, Advanced Nurse Practitioner and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist for almost thirty years and had a great deal of training in head injuries and concussions. I thought I understood the impact of a concussion. I can assure you I did not. I had an automobile accident where our minivan was struck from behind while we were stopped at a traffic light. We were hit by a big 4 X 4 dually truck going 45 miles an hour and then knocked into a large truck in front of us. It broke the drivers' and passengers' seats and the airbags did not deploy, supposedly because the sensors were located under where the vehicles hit us. It threw me into the side window and the T bar between the doors. I saw gray, distorted vision, then nothing, and then an extreme, intense burning sensation to my head and the entire right side of my body...it felt as though I had been dropped into a french fryer on hot. It left me with extreme short-term memory loss and even long-term imbalances. I could not type, I couldn't remember whether I had eaten breakfast, or taken my medications, or what I was talking about, couldn't remember words, could not deal with numbers, couldn't keep up with what day of the week it was, couldn't remember instructions, couldn't remember how to operate the remote control, couldn't type, and had severe, and I mean severe migraines. I am still having them twenty months later when I ride in the car from the least bumpiness or from bright lights or from nothing at all. My neck stiffens and I cannot turn it. It has had a devastating effect on me. It took testing my a neuro psychologist to pinpoint exactly what happened and to know how to rehab the problems. I had to do grueling exercises to rebuild the pathways to relearn words, to relearn how to type, to learn to deal with numbers, learn how to establish new pathways for memory, and it was grueling and have only regained what we think is 75% of my losses and am unlikely to further advance. The rehab was grueling and frustrating and brought on the headaches and fatigue and irritation. I don't want my grandchildren to play football but my son will not listen to me. He permits the "I want to play" to get in the way of using better judgement for the children, but I now fully comprehend what one concussion can do, and playing football just isn't worth it. Life presents challenges and things where one can be injured, but football for just playing, especially for the hundreds of thousands who will not play beyond high school or even junior high just makes the risk, or that taken in college and pro football something which warrants intense consideration.

[chiodo08]

02:43 PM on 05/24/2012

zzzzzz

[cybolt]

09:50 AM on 05/25/2012

ifyouwouldconsiderputtingparagraphbreaksintoyourcommentpeoplemightactuallybetemptedtoreadthem.

[bbgeez03]

02:19 PM on 05/24/2012

This pretty much confirmed everything I have already done with my son. He plays basketball and baseball, but football is not going to happen any time soon no matter how much he asks. I told him that if he really wants to play in high school, I would let him. I am hoping he doesn't.

Yes, you can get hurt playing any sport, or riding a bike, or hopping on a pogo stick, but hitting is the main part of football. I just don't think kids' developing bodies and brains are ready for that. Many adults destroy their bodies playing.

[rkrone4520]

02:17 PM on 05/24/2012

We all take a risk when we head off to work. For some the risk factor is much greater. I love football, but as I have got much older and every day is even more important I watch much less. My reason is every time I see a young person go down and they do not move I feel as others must is that real feeling of total helplesness. All four of my boys played as well as 6 grand boys. Three have had a concussion.Thank you Lord for looking over them.

[TXconfidnz]

02:16 PM on 05/24/2012

Despite any opinions one way or another, Tom Sr. certainly seems like a concerned, loving father.

[TXfemmom]

02:19 PM on 05/24/2012

That he does and I applaud him.

[TXconfidnz]

02:25 PM on 05/24/2012

Absolutely! Many other fathers in this country, whether their kid excelled in football or not, probably would have scoffed at the notion and would have turned it into a masculinity or "occupational hazard" issue...

[blisster]

02:00 PM on 05/24/2012

I'm glad my son preferred physics and Mark Twain.

[Osbaldiston]

01:59 PM on 05/24/2012

It's very scary to think that even one hit to the head can give you brain damage for life. This fellow makes a lot of sense to me.

[mfitz11]

01:57 PM on 05/24/2012

This concussion thing in football is ridiculous.
EVERYONE who plays football or other dangerous sports knows the risk involved. It's simply part of the sport.
That's like seeing a race car driver die in an accident and another driver's father saying "well, if I know my son could die in an accident I would have never let him race cars."
Absurd.
Football is a violent game and participants take on a certain level of risk. That's just the way it is.

[TheSocialCapitalist]

02:02 PM on 05/24/2012

Except they don't.

Nobody knew how damaging even repetitive small hits were to our brains. People thought only the big, knock-out hits were bad.

[newworldman777]

02:24 PM on 05/24/2012

Your analogy is hopelessly flawed. Most race car drivers, who have raced for years, have never been involved in a serious accident and retire healthy. Most football players, who have played for years, have endured countless brain-jarring collisions with other players, and retire with some brain damage, at the very least.

[lifepanels]

01:55 PM on 05/24/2012

I would have not allowed my son to play football if I knew about concussions and other injuries that can rack up by playing this sport. He was chosen as the starting quarterback for his high school and broke his throwing hand just before his first freshman game. They treated him like he was dirt because he couldn't grip the ball. I don't like the fact that coaches say they are concerned with players health, but act totally the opposite when they do get hurt. I grew up in a family of football players and always loved the game. I don't like it as much any more not only because of the threat of severe injury, but because, like in politics, unless you're number one, you don't matter. That's not what coaches say to kids, but their actions speak way louder than words.

[YLS2007a]

01:53 PM on 05/24/2012

Speculative talk after the fact has always been and will always be pointless. Tom played, he succeeded, he's wealthy and has n@iled Giselle. It seems things worked out after all...

[MtnGeek]

02:57 PM on 05/24/2012

Sure, just look at Junior Seau ... oh yeah.

[YLS2007a]

03:22 PM on 05/24/2012

You have irrefutable medical proof that cites a specific cause of what led to Seau's final action? Let's have it then...

[dmdd1320]

02:22 PM on 05/25/2012

Every one is saying head trauma playing football is
the cause of Seau's suicide. I say depression was the cause he did himself. How
many boxers have taken themselves out? or any other sport that takes a lot of head shots. how many wrestlers did themselves in unless it was due to steroids. Has every one who commits suicide been hit in the head? I don't think
so.

[Jason Ungar]

01:52 PM on 05/24/2012

obviously you can get hurt in all sports. particularly sports where the other players are trying to injure you on purpose and big hits are part of the game.