Kurt Warner recently said he would not want his sons playing football because of the health risks involved, and we don’t blame him. As a parent, Warner has a right to express his opinion and choose what he thinks is best for the safety of his children — regardless of his job title. However, his opinion has been met with more than a little opposition. Amani Toomer blasted him for “trashing” the game and Merril Hoge said the comments made Warner sound uneducated. Two-time Super Bowl champion and four-time Pro Bowler Trevor Pryce strongly disagrees.
“What Amani Toomer said is probably the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard,” Pryce said on ROME according to Eye on Football. “And here’s why: the fact that Kurt Warner said he didn’t want his kids playing football should be predicated on one thing — he didn’t want his kids playing NFL football. And that’s a big difference. Little league football? Every kid wants to play little league football.
“But there’s more than one way to play football. You can play flag football, you can play Madden, you can do a lot of things. I think you have to quantify it by saying NFL football is dangerous — more so than middle school football, high school football or even college football. But that adds up. By the time you get to the NFL you’re probably damaged goods.”
Again, I don’t think there’s any debating the physical risks the sport of football poses when compared to something like, say, basketball. Ankle injuries and knee injuries are certainly common in basketball, but head injuries that would stay with you for life are far less likely. It’s one thing to disagree with Warner’s comments in general, but it’s another to do so because you believe his job as an NFL Network analyst is to be a puppet. Toomer and Hoge sound like idiots because of the reasons they gave for their stance.
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