Obama not sure if he would let son play football
Lately, President Barack Obama has been questioning the safety of football. In an interview with “The New Republic”, Obama said that while he is a fan of the sport, he doesn’t think he would let his son play the game (if he had one) considering the impact injuries in the game have on players.
“You read some of these stories about college players who undergo some of these same problems with concussions and so forth and then have nothing to fall back on. That’s something that I’d like to see the NCAA think about,” said Obama.
The President admitted, however, that if there were changes to make football safer, it would be “a bit less exciting” to watch.
“I think that those of us who love the sport are going to have to wrestle with the fact that it will probably change gradually to try to reduce some of the violence. In some cases, that may make it a little bit less exciting, but it will be a whole lot better for the players, and those of us who are fans maybe won’t have to examine our consciences quite as much,” explained Obama.
Obama said he worries more about college players than those in the NFL because the pros have a union, are well-paid and are grown men.
“They can make some of these decisions on their own, and most of them are well-compensated for the violence they do to their bodies,” Obama said of NFL players. “You read some of these stories about college players who undergo some of these same problems with concussions and so forth and then have nothing to fall back on. That’s something that I’d like to see the NCAA think about.”
The full interview will appear in the Feb. 11 issue of The New Republic.
