Mama, don’t let your babies grow up to be football players.
Don’t let them turn into Dave Duerson.
He was a Pro Bowl safety, part of the 1985 Chicago Bears Super Bowl team. A year ago, he shot himself at the age of 50, asking in his suicide note that his brain be studied. Researchers found he suffered from a brain disease connected to concussions.
Mama, don’t let your babies grow up to be football players.
NFL players are dying before their time, and like with Duerson, doctors are finding evidence of brain damage.
Research shows that one of every 10 high school football players has suffered a concussion.
Mama, don’t let your babies grow up to be football players.
Check out the CNN documentary “Big Hits, Broken Dreams” about high school football players and concussions. Did you see the story about 16-year-old Jaquan Waller, who died after suffering a concussion on the field?
Mama, maybe your babies should be baseball players instead.
For anyone in the business of baseball — from the major leagues down to Little League — this is your sales pitch to mothers — and fathers:
Do you want to risk the future of your babies on such a violent sport?
It may be distasteful. But if baseball wants to grab some of the young athletes it has lost over the years to football, this is the message those in the game should send out to American families.
For nearly 20 years, kids playing Little League or other organized youth baseball have dropped nearly 25 percent, according to a sporting goods industry trade group. At the same time, youth football participation has grown about 20 percent over the same period of time.
But the mounting evidence that concussions suffered in football can cause long-term brain damage would seem to be an opportunity for baseball to get into the hearts and minds of parents and regain some ground.
Little League International president Stephen Keener isn’t exactly embracing the idea of using that as a recruiting tool.
“My belief is that we should promote and encourage kids to participate in our program,” Keener said. “We’re not interested in attempting to keep kids from playing other sports.”
Still, he acknowledged, “Our sport is among the safer alternatives.”
It’s not an all-you-can-eat buffet of youth sports for most parents these days given the time and financial commitments of participation. Choices are made for a variety of reasons. Why not the future well being of a child?
“Today you would have to take that into consideration in participation,” Keener said. “There is so much more information out there about brain trauma and brain injuries. If you are a parent, you have to think twice with what we know about concussions. You try to get as much information as you can and then make an informed decision about what you allow your kids to participate in.”
Mama, don’t let your babies grow up to be football players.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
