Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones continues to dispute the link between football and brain injury, despite significant evidence to the contrary.
Jones’s latest defense is that he hasn’t suffered any long-term brain trauma despite playing football.
“I recently I had a CAT scan done at MD Anderson Cancer Center, under an assumed name,” Jones told Greg Bishop and Michael McKnight of SI. “Afterward, the radiologist said, ‘I noticed your age. The reason I came down – and here he called me by my assumed name; he didn’t know who I was – was that you have the brain of a 40-year-old.’ My other doctors were in the room; so was my wife. I’ve got some witnesses. The point is, I was a fullback and a pulling guard. I used my head all the time, and I played football a long time. And that had no impact.”
Jones scoffed at those who choose not to participate in the sport due to the risks.
“We’re way out in front of the implications of brain health, relative to concussions. Way out front,” Jones said. “Now, should we be very proactive in trying to get as much information as possible, doing as many studies as possible? Should [the NFL] join with the military [in those studies]? The automobile industry? The umpteen others? Should other sports put some emphasis on studying this? Yes. But to say that it’s a reason not to participate in a sport…”
Jones added that there is risk in many sports and occupations.
“I’m going to carefully choose my words here: The game of football is convenient to involve in the discussion of head injuries. Anybody who stops and thinks for a few minutes will realize that many other sports involve contact with athletes’ heads. Many sports do. Many other occupations do, as well.”
The problem for Jones is that even league employees have admitted there is a real link between football and brain injury. Jones is fighting against the tide. It is okay to love football and talk about how meaningful it is to you while also admitting it’s a dangerous game.
