Joe Namath Wouldn't Play Football If He Could Do It All Over AgainJoe Namath

[Stuart G]

Last edited Fri May 1, 2015, 03:26 PM - Edit history (2)

Source: Huff Post

The Huffington Post -

Football legend Joe Namath has decided that if he could live his life over again, he wouldn’t play football.

In a recent sit-down interview with WPBF-TV, an ABC affiliate in West Palm Beach, Florida, the Hall of Fame quarterback was asked by Tiffany Kenney whether he would play football again knowing what he now knows about the dangers of the game.

"No, I hate to say that because if I had a child that wanted to play [football] I'd let them play,” he said. “But I'd wait until later on, you know, when he’s developed a little more."

"This instrument [the brain] that we have that we have been blessed with, it's not designed for the kind of contact or physical abuse that your body gets playing this sport,” he said.


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What do you know? Say it ain't so...Joe, ... One more quote from the story...

"By coming out against football, Namath joins a growing swath of parents and former members of the NFL family who question whether the sport is worth the health risks, including Mike Ditka, Troy Aikman, Adrian Peterson, Terry Bradshaw, Brett Favre and Barack Obama. "

[hlthe2b]

1. Even if they manage to avoid head injury, the wear and tear on the body, not unsurpriisingly

has most of them coming to this conclusion after they leave the game. Yet, it won't likely change the minds of too many boys and young men...

[TexasBushwhacker]

37. Yeah, Earl Campbell often has to use a wheelchair

All the hits he got as a running back hamaged his knees and back, and he's only 60'

[Orrex]

2. That means he'd have missed out on guest-starring on The Brady Bunch

If that's your idea of living.

[malthaussen]

3. Don't forget the pantyhose ads. n/t

[Yavin4]

6. And he co-starred with Racquel Welch in a movie

Racquel Welch.

[Orrex]

7. Yowza!

[NobodyHere]

26. She was great in Naked Gun 3

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

4. Sure , after you've made millions, now come out against it.

I respect him for the sentiment, but darn it, I love football. Maybe we will need to pay them more to make up for the last painful years of their shortened lives.

[roguevalley]

8. no one has known of the dangers until now. Joe is an iconoclast. he would have said

so back when too. Lurve me some joe.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

10. He's not an iconoclast. All he did was make a crazy prediction. He was as surprised as anyone.

I love the guy too, but this is the same guy who was drunk and slobbering all over Suzy Kolber from ESPN begging for a kiss on national live TV.

[awoke_in_2003]

12. Yes...

and he went for treatment shortly after that. It wasn't right what he did, but he was sick.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

16. Totally. I respect him for that. I like the guy.

[awoke_in_2003]

17. Joe was always fun on camera...

(well, except that one time) and I am glad he got his life turned around.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

19. You forgot the panty hose.

[awoke_in_2003]

22. Yes, I try...

to block that image

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

30. Yes, that was disgraceful ...

... nobody, but NOBODY, likes pantyhose. Or is that "liked"? Does that tortuous garment still exist in stores? Maybe in the same aisle as girdles?

He would have known better, if his brain wasn't addled by football.

[roguevalley]

20. if you say so. whatever

[donco]

5. Lotta stuff

that i wouldn't do if there was a do over in life.

But like the Garth Brooks song called "The Dance"I could have missed the pain but i had to miss the dance.

[Joe Chi Minh]

9. I wouldn't want a son of mine to play rugby. Boxing, yes, rugby, no.

I believe pretty much all sportsmen - apart from, possibly, darts players (!) - end up with chronic joint problems, probably among a host of others after a life-time playing rugby or grid-iron. I believe I read a few years ago that there were something like 64 men who were crippled, in Wales, playing rugby, and the country only has a population of 3 million.

[eggplant]

11. The dart players end up with chronic drinking problem. :-) n/t

[awoke_in_2003]

14. I can't throw a decent game...

until I have at least a six pack in me.

[Joe Chi Minh]

25. You got it !

[awoke_in_2003]

13. Does rugby have the concussion problem that football does?

When these guys are wearing the helmets, they tend to think of their head as a weapon. I wonder if anyone has ever compared the two sports in this regard.

[Joe Chi Minh]

33. I wouldn't know the relative percentages even roughly, awoke_in_2003. I just know

that some terrible injuries are sustained, as well as many concussions and broken bones. After a concussion, they must stay off the field for a certain length of time, in case it's worse than is first apparent.

NZ is a pretty small country with a pretty small population, being largely rural. However, they have an outstanding, historic reputation as the top rugby nation in the world, second to none, despite Australia's more recent rise to the top. However, some players in any such team can end up feeling they have a right, even a duty, to win at any cost, so the Irish captain O'Driscoll was 'speared' by an All Black(Kiwi); that is, upended and sort of pile-driven, head first onto the ground, and can be catastrophic.

O'Driscoll, Ireland's most gifted player, with a touch of genius, was out for the championship, however, with a dislocated shoulder, I think.. It's a very serious offence, and the culprit ought to have been banned from playing far more substantially, possibly for life.

The French have played some great rugby in recent World Cups, saving themselves for the final heats, as much as they could. I believe they've been beaten twice in the semi-final recent by the All Blacks, but the matches were so punishing that the winner would never have had a chance in the final, won I think by the Aussies (Wallabies) - for whom rugby is the big game in the eastern states.

The other great sporting side in rugby and cricket, historically are the South Africans (Springboks).

[awoke_in_2003]

36. Thanks Joe

I haven't watched much rugby.

[Buzz Clik]

28. Boxing is a great, safe sport. Injury free.

[Joe Chi Minh]

34. Sure! Apart from peeing blood, brain damage, etc.

But you've more chance to protect yourself.

[MADem]

15. I am in favor of retooling the game in the same way as this version of an established sport:

These uniforms will protect anyone!!!!

They'll simply need to put arms on these bubbles--maybe make 'em pear shaped! Problem solved!!!!!

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

18. That was great!

[valerief]

24. Brilliant!

[Dawson Leery]

21. Football, Rugby, Wrestling, certain martial arts, etc...

are extremely rough. The human body cannot tolerate the stresses in these sports on a regular basis.

[valerief]

23. Football is gross. nt

[Buzz Clik]

27. There can be more money in gambling..

... but not if you don't have inside info.

[FLPanhandle]

29. There are dangers in most sports

Cheer-leading, cross country, rugby, snow skiing, mountain biking, wake-boarding, scuba diving...

As a society we are becoming more and more risk adverse. Probably because most Americans sit on their asses and just watch TV or play on their computers instead of actually participating in something.

Eventually everything except sitting around in your own personal safety bubble will be frowned upon.

[BeyondGeography]

31. The question wasn't properly phrased

It should have been, "Would you be Joe Namath in NYC in the late 60s and early 70s if you had to do it all over again?"

In seriousness, American football is a sport that more and more people are staying away from. Even in the improbable event that you make money off of it, careers are much shorter than in other sports and the long-term costs are incomparably high. Mike Ditka said basically the same thing as Namath a few months ago. When you've lost Ditka...

[hughee99]

32. Adrian Peterson? The guy who got caught

Beating his OWN son is concerned about the health risks football poses to other people's children?

[yurbud]

35. Ditka?! almost time to put a fork in football