Legendary Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre spoke out this week to warn of the dangers of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), saying that he won’t encourage his own grandsons to play football.
Brett Favre Won’t Encourage Grandsons To Play Football
“If they choose to play I will support them, but I’m not going to encourage them in any way to play. That surprises a lot of people, but I’m just fearful of what concussions can do,” Favre said while appearing on the “Today” show.
“And it only takes one. Maybe I have had a thousand… It’s just too risky. I’m not going to encourage them to play until there’s a treatment,” he added. “The best way to avoid concussions is not to play at all, and of course that’s not going to happen.”
Brett Favre Discusses CTE
In this same interview, Favre talked in-depth about CTE.
“I don’t know what normal feels like. Do I have CTE? I really don’t know,” the legendary athlete said. “Concussions are a very, very serious thing and we’re just scraping the surface of how severe they are.”
Over the nineteen seasons that Favre played in the NFL, he suffered numerous concussions. He said this week that he feels that he has become forgetful, which he does not know is caused by aging or his history of concussions.
“(There’s) no telling how many concussions I’ve had. And what are the repercussions of that, there’s no answer,” Favre said. “I wasn’t the best student, but I still can remember certain things that you would go, ‘Why would you even remember that?’ But I can’t remember someone that I played six years with in Green Bay … but the face looks familiar. Those [are the] type of issues that make me wonder.”
The Hall of Fame quarterback goes so far as to urge parents to wait until 14 to let their kids play tackle football in a new PSA for the Concussion Legacy Foundation.
Today's @620wtmj Scaffidi Show poll… Packers Hall of Famer Brett Favre, in a new public service announcement, says parents should not let their children play tackle football until they are 14 years old. What do you think the right age is?
— Stephen Scaffidi (@WTMJSteve) August 18, 2021
Related: Brett Favre Sparks Outrage With Comments Made About Derek Chauvin During His Podcast
Concussion Legacy Foundation On CTE and Tackle Football
Concussion Legacy Foundation CEO and co-founder Chris Nowinski released a statement saying that younger children who play tackle football are at a higher risk to develop the neurological condition.
“A football player’s odds of developing CTE may be most determined by their parents. Specifically what age the child is allowed to start playing tackle football,” Nowinski said, according to Outsider.
“It’s time to accept that CTE is not just a risk for professional and college football players, but also for high school players,” he continued. “And the best way to prevent CTE among football players is to delay the introduction of tackle football.”
It speaks volumes that an iconic all-star football player like Brett Favre won’t encourage his own family members to follow in his footsteps.
Let’s hope the industry is able to make strides in preventing CTE so that football isn’t wiped from America’s fabric like so much else these days.
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