Kurt Warner Causes Slight Stir With Comments on Kids and Football

In the wake of NFL great Junior Seau's suicide earlier this week, there has been a run of football legends appearing on national radio and television shows to talk about the tragedy. As you could imagine, much of that discussion has revolved around head trauma in sports, mainly football.

We don't know that head trauma had anything to do with the end of Seau's life. I think it's being largely assumed that whoever ends up studying Seau's brain will find some sort of damage that can be traced to his football career, but it's a dangerous card to play until the findings are announced in a few months.

That said, it has launched a pretty wide-ranging discussion on head injuries. On Thursday's Dan Patrick Show, future Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner was a guest. He told Patrick that he wasn't necessarily keen on the idea of his sons playing football.

“They both have the dream, like dad, to play in the NFL,” Warner said. “That’s their goal. And when you hear things like the bounties, when you know certain things having played the game, and then obviously when you understand the size, the speed, the violence of the game, and then you couple that with situations like Junior Seau — was that a ramification of all the years playing? And things that go with that. It scares me as a dad. I just wonder — I wonder what the league’s going to be like. I love that the commissioner is doing a lot of things to try to clean up the game from that standpoint and improve player safety, which helps, in my mind, a lot. But it’s a scary thing for me.”

Asked if he would prefer that his sons not play football, Warner answered, “Yes, I would. Can’t make that choice for them if they want to, but there’s no question in my mind.”

Warner's comments caused a firestorm of response from all over the map. One of the more notable reactions came from former Giants receiver Amani Toomer on NBC Sports Talk (completely underrated show, by the way):

"I'd definitely have my son to play football," Toomer said. "That's what the Toomer family does. We all play football. But what this reminds me of is the guy at the basketball court, who once he gets done playing takes the ball and ruins the game for everybody else. I think Kurt Warner needs to keep his opinions to himself when it comes to this. Everything that he's gotten in his life has come from playing football. He works at the NFL Network right now. For him to try and trash the game, it seems to me that it's just a little disingenuous to me."

I'd like to think Toomer knows now that he overreacted a little bit here. The fact that Warner made a lot of money and gained a lot of notoriety playing football doesn't disqualify him from having an opinion that may not make football look totally rosy. In fact, Warner is fully qualified to say what he said, and we are in a better place because he had the guts to say what was on his mind, even though he had to know he might take some heat for saying it.

ESPN commentator Merril Hoge -- a well-known advocate for concussion awareness, largely because of his own experiences -- jumped on Warner, too.

“I think it’s irresponsible and unacceptable,” Hoge said of Warner suggesting that football is a dangerous game for children. “He has thrown the game that has been so good to him under the bus. He sounds extremely uneducated.

... “Head trauma is not the issue here — it’s how head trauma is treated,” Hoge said. “The game is safer than it has ever been because we’re being proactive with head trauma. That is the biggest issue.

... “The biggest problem in our society today with our youth is obesity,” Hoge said. “You will do more damage to your son or daughter by allowing them to sit on the couch, play XBox and eat a donut, health-wise, than you will ever do if you put them on a football field and it’s in the right structure. You think of obesity and all the things that come from that — diabetes and lung and heart and joint issues, we can go on and on — the last thing we should do is discourage children from activity.”

Like Toomer, I'll give Hoge the benefit of the doubt to an extent. Guys who play football are naturally protective of the sport. It's not any different than hockey players last summer amid the Boogaard-Rypien-Belak tragedies. This might not be an easy time to be a die-hard NFL fan, but there will be productive discussions that come out of all of this.

Warner, by the way, did try to clarify his national radio comments. He appeared on ESPN Radio later Thursday.

“I agree from my standpoint that everything I have gotten, and I love the game and I wouldn’t change a thing about my career,” Warner said in response to Toomer’s remarks.  “I’ve enjoyed every bit of it.  I continue to love it.  I continue to watch it, and am a big fan of the game.  But at the end of the day, you know, I’ve seen how my wife looks at this game when I’m out there getting hit.  And it’s different when you put on a parent’s hat.  And, yeah, I want my kids to play and I want them to be healthy and I’d love them to have a great long career whether that’s collegiate, whether that’s professional.  I’d love all that.  But as a parent I can’t avoid the fact that it’s a dangerous sport, and it’s a violent sport.

“And it’s not just football I’m talking about.  Any time my kids are put in harm’s way, as a parent I say, ‘I don’t want them to do that.  I don’t want them to take that chance.’  Can I protect them from anything?  No.  Am I gonna sit here and say, ‘You can’t do this.  You can’t do that, you can’t drive in a car, you can’t do all the things that are risky in life.’  Of course not.

“But my point being is that as a parent, do you think about that?  Do you think about the violence of the game when your kids play?  And, yeah, my kids are 13 years old and my son has already suffered a concussion.  Do I think about that?  Of course I think about that.  And the bottom line for me as a parent, is as much as I love the game and what it’s all about and what it’s done for me, the most important thing for me is the safety of my kids.  And so that’s my point, is that I consider it.  And it’s in my thought process.  And when they play and when they wanna play and when they talk about playing professionally, I’m very conscious of that.

“And, you know, at the end of the day, I’d love for them to play football.  If they don’t play football and never suffer an injury doing anything, I’m going to be an extremely parent as they move into the rest of their life and take care of their family and their kids.   So I don’t know why I would have to keep my comments to myself.  I’m speaking as a father.  But I love the game of football and I’ll always love it and I’m so appreciate of what it did for me.”

It might not put the toothpaste back in the tube, because he still said what he said on Dan Patrick's show.

But Warner has every right to be worried about the future of the game. When I broached the subject on Twitter Friday evening, he was kind enough to respond.

@BruceCiskie Simply being honest w/ my concerns & hope we continue 2 make strides 2 protect those playing the greatest team sport out there
— Kurt Warner (@kurt13warner) May 5, 2012

I'm not going to act like Warner's above everyone else for any reason, but he's a smart and articulate football lifer who wants this game to be great while also protecting those who choose to play it.

As a long-time football fan, I can tell you that no level of play is worth risking the long-term health of the athletes involved. Simply put, we have to work to make sure the game is as safe as it possibly can be. There are inherent risks involved in any sport -- especially those that involve contact -- but those risks should be minimized whenever possible ... even if it's at the risk of alienating some fans who believe the sport is being "wussified" or whatever you want to call it.

There are ways to make football safer without turning it into flag football. If we can focus on that, progress will be made, and conscientious people like Warner will feel better about their children taking up the game.

Junior Seau's Death Comes With No Immediate Answers

The video of Junior Seau's distraught mother -- not long after learning of her son's death by suicide -- pretty much says it all.

(This isn't graphic in any way, but it is extremely emotional, so keep that in mind before you hit the play button.)



It's a mother who now has to bury a son. And in front of the world, she's trying to come to grips with that and find some reason why.

So are the rest of us.

Junior Seau, a feared linebacker and one of the all-time greats in the NFL, died Wednesday of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 43, and leaves behind three kids and an ex-wife to go along with his poor, grief-stricken mother.

Seau is the latest in a line way too long. A line of pro athletes who have lost their lives too soon. He's the eighth member of the Chargers' 1994 team that went to the Super Bowl to die.

(He's the first of that group to take his own life. Three of the eight died of heart issues, one of a drug overdose, one from a lightning strike, one in a car accident, and one in a plane crash.)

Cue the speculation, because there are no definitive answers. Seau left no note, and no one has indicated there were any signs of depression.

Seau’s death has fueled speculation that a 20-year pro football career inevitably included head injuries that took a permanent toll.

Recent studies have found higher rates of cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, and depression among former players with a history of concussions.

A 2007 study by the University of North Carolina found a threefold increase of depression among retired NFL players who had three or more concussions.
Getting help

Depression can be treated and relief is within reach. Here's how to get help.

“There is an association between TBI (traumatic brain injury) and mood disorders, depression being one version of that,” said Dr. John Reed, chief executive of the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in La Jolla, which is researching the mechanisms and possible treatments of traumatic brain injury.

“It’s important to remember that it’s also entirely possible he could have had an unrelated mood disorder,” Reed said. “One in four Americans sometime in their life will develop clinical depression.”

We may never know anything definitive. Because Seau shot himself in the chest, there is at least a lingering hope that his family will allow CTE researchers to look at his brain, searching for the signs of CTE, a concussion-related brain disease that is still a mystery to many. To this point, it can only be discovered after death by an examination of a person's brain.

In a piece for Esquire, Chris Jones examines this part of the issue.

Because Seau apparently shot himself in the chest, his death will be inevitably compared to Dave Duerson's, the former Chicago Bear who also shot himself in the chest last year, better to preserve his brain for science and lawsuits. There is no doubt that over his twenty brutal seasons in the NFL, Seau suffered his share of brain damage. There will be dark shadows found inside of him. And everyone will talk about how something has to change and how terrible this all is and, gee, is it really worth all this for a game? And then everyone will buy their tickets and popcorn and get ready for some subtly altered version of football.


... Why do football players kill themselves? On the surface, at least, they do it for the same reason hockey players like Rick Rypien and Wade Belak do. And for the same reason taxi drivers and ballet dancers and poets and construction workers and janitors and teachers and doctors do: They do it because they are depressed, because they are in such a dark place that they choose death. It's a hard thing to think about, but if you do anything in the memory of Junior Seau today, please think about this for a moment: How bad would your life have to be for you to put a gun to your chest and put a bullet into your heart? How deep would be that despair?

And he's right. It's not a fun thing to think about, but just ponder for a moment how bad you things would need to be before you even consider something like this. And how sickening is the thought?

You can't rationalize suicide, no matter what. Even if researchers declare that Seau was a puddle of a man compared to a "normal" 43-year-old, it doesn't solve everything.

After all, it's easy to ask why someone wouldn't get help in such a situation? And it's a reasonable conclusion. If your life is this bad, your thoughts this irrational, why wouldn't you ask someone for some help?

None of it will answer every question that comes up. At the end of the day, depression is an illness. It can be treated effectively, but someone has to recognize the symptoms and warning signs first. Please don't ignore them in yourself, or the ones you love.

It will be a long summer of discussion about the impact that contact sports have on the people who play them. Seau's death won't be forgotten, and hopefully it can be taken as a sign that depression can happen to anyone, no matter their status in society.

NCAA Northeast Regional: Spencer Abbott a Game Time Decision

WORCESTER, Mass. -- As soon as I heard what happened to Maine senior forward Spencer Abbott -- a Hobey Baker finalist -- I knew this was going to be a story throughout the week.

Abbott sustained a head injury during the Black Bears' 5-3 win over Boston University in last week's Hockey East semifinals in Boston. He has not practiced much this week, but did skate without taking contact during Friday's workout at DCU Center.

Whitehead confirmed the terminology "game-time decision" to me Friday, not that it was really a surprise to anyone.

"Unfortunately, we have got to be patient," Maine head coach Tim Whitehead said Friday. "These are the kind of injuries that you don't mess around with.

"This isn't something that you say 'Hey, he's gonna give it a try,' or see how it feels. He's either cleared or he's not."

Pressed at Friday's press conference for details on the process Abbott must work through to be allowed on the ice Saturday, Whitehead made it abundantly clear that clearance could come in time for Abbott to play, even if it might seem somewhat unlikely.

In a conversation I had with him after the press conference, Whitehead joked that it seems you almost "need a presidential pardon to get cleared from a head injury," but he is fully understanding of the protocol that his star player must pass.

While it isn't clear if Abbott will play on Saturday, Whitehead is confident that his team will be okay if it doesn't work out in the Black Bears' favor.

"It’s been a week now," Whitehead said, "and I thought we handled the situation well against BU. We were able to bounce right back after three minutes and get the game-winning goal. . . I think the BU game was almost a microcosm of our season with our team.

"We’ve handled adversity within the game and off the ice with anything that’s thrown at us, and the boys have handled it very well. So I think we’re prepared and now we’ve had a week to adjust to it as well. So I think if he’s not playing we’ll certainly be ready, and if he is that’s just a bonus."

UMD is reporting no injuries. Expect a similar lineup to what you have seen so far in the playoffs.

Sidney Crosby Return Lives Up To Hype

If the media had things the way the media would probably have wanted it, this wouldn't have played out the way it did.

Some 29 hours before the opening faceoff of Monday's Pittsburgh Penguins-New York Islanders game in Pittsburgh, the Penguins announced that captain/superstar/hockey lightning rod Sidney Crosby would be returning. Crosby was scheduled to play in a game for the first time since early January, when his MVP season was cut short by a concussion that wouldn't go away (presumptuous, maybe, but Sid had 32 goals and 66 points in 41 games, so saying he was on track for the MVP is probably quite the understatement).

Versus scuttled plans to televise Boston-Montreal (boring!). CBC scuttled plans to televise whatever CBC usually televises on Monday nights. They scrambled to get their broadcasters to Pittsburgh for the game, Versus sending Dave Strader and Pierre McGuire, while CBC went with the "A" team of Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson.

No one knew what to expect. Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma talked of Sid playing 12 minutes. He was going to play between Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz, his linemates last season. But would he have to kick off the rust, or would he quickly return to his old self?

The answer was quick. And it was as emphatic as it was quick.



It took all of 2:20 of ice time for Sidney Crosby to light the lamp.

Before the game, NHL Network's E.J. Hradek boldly predicted Sid would have three points. I was watching, and I wasn't so sure. After all, he wasn't going to have his normal ice time. He hadn't done anything at game speed since January.

The comeback from concussions eventually turns into a mental game. What would happen when Crosby was on the verge of getting hit. What would happen when he got hit hard? Would he shake it off and keep playing, or would there be doubts and questions about whether or not he was okay?

No worries. He took hits. He gave hits. He kept going, and he kept dazzling the home crowd in Pittsburgh.

It was a great show, even from the couch. Crosby did everything that made him the best player in the world before he was hurt. He has speed unlike virtually anyone else. His vision and smarts are second to none, too. But what makes Crosby great is that competitive drive, and it doesn't look like he's lost one bit of that drive.

From Bruce Arthur of The National Post:

And Crosby, once again, was able to soar to the occasion. A little over five minutes into his second hockey life, on his third shift, Crosby gathered a puck at speed in the neutral zone, raced right around defenceman Andrew MacDonald, and sliced a backhand over the glove hand of rookie goaltender Anders Nilsson. The clock froze at 5:24 and Crosby turned in the corner, flexed his arms, roared “F— yeah!” along with the crowd, turning the air a little blue.

He would add an assist on a Brooks Orpik one-timer that made it 2-0, and would pick up a secondary assist on the power-play goal by Evgeni Malkin that made it 3-0. He would win a puck battle, create space, and send a knuckling backhand that deflected off the leg of Islanders defenceman Steve Staios for the game’s final goal. Four points, and he could have had more — twice he set up teammates who hit the post. He kept displaying his old terrifying speed, his drive, his relentlessness. Like old times.

“The first draw — it’s a faceoff and he battles like it’s the last draw of the season,” said Penguins coach Dan Bylsma.

“I felt like I was waiting forever,” said Crosby, who played just 15:54. “And I kind of was, in a way. I’ll have a great memory of this one for a lot of different reasons.”

Sure, the Islanders looked like a team that was a ladder and a bucket of confetti away from playing the Harlem Globetrotters. But it’s easy to forget that as recently as Sept. 7, Crosby didn’t absolutely rule out the possibility of retirement.

It was an incredible night for the sport, one that brought it plenty of attention it wouldn't normally get.

At the tail-end of November, that's hardly a bad thing.