Rethinking football

I am a football fan... you all should know this by now. Today, I read an article about a former Chicago Bears football player, whose family is suing the NFL.  From WLSAM:

The family of late Bears Super Bowl champ Dave Duerson has filed a wrongful death suit against the NFL, claiming it concealed the harmful effects of concussions from Duerson, leading to brain damage.

The former Bears safety died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest in February 2011 at his Florida home. He was 50.

A post-mortem study of his brain revealed he was suffering from progressive, advanced brain damage, referred to as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, which caused or contributed to Duerson’s death, according to the lawsuit.

Honestly, it made me think more about why I enjoy football so much, and how playing the sport could cause irreparable damage.  When I was a little girl, I wanted to play football. My dad said girls couldn't play, which just made me want to play even more.  (I always wanted to do stuff people told me I couldn't do...ha!)

Anyway, I finally gave into the fact that I would not be allowed to play organized football.  But I still loved the game.  My guy friends growing up all played, my brothers played, heck football was a constant in my life.

When I went to college, I lived in the dorm where most of the football players lived. My best friend aka lil brother was a safety on our college team.  Heck, some guys I dated played as well... So I've always enjoyed everything about football.  The plays intrigued me as much as the players.  The earth shattering hits would have me screaming "HIT 'EM HARDER!!!"

I used to watch the Bears, Redksins, and 49ers play when I was growing up. Cheering hard for the 49ers, as they were always my favorite team.  Now I root for my hometown Panthers too because they are the local team. My dad's favorite team has always been the Steelers.  I remember a few years back, there was a special on about Jerome "the bus" Bettis.  The man could barely walk, after years of punishing blows sustained playing football.

But now? I don't know how I feel about it all.  I was on Voxer with my bestie Noa who played football in college too (for my school's arch rival).  I asked him if he had a son would he allow him to play football, because now that I've thought about it, I wouldn't.

Noa said when you're playing you just don't realize how violent and damaging it is... now when he watches he's like Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnngggggg....that's just crazy... lol.

In all seriousness, football players place themselves in grave danger each time they take the field. Concussions and other life threatening injuries are REAL.  Think about that when you watch and root for the harder hits.