Interesting article on youth football and the struggles of parents

Not sure how I would react to the wimp v tough guy debates. Never considered any of this when growing up. Then again, we know so much more today. My son never played tackle football but he did letter in water polo and played Rugby during college. I truly understand the argument re you can't take the risks out of growing up or life in general but sometimes the risks outweigh the pluses-and yes there are plenty of pluses in playing football. I would probably error on the side of caution given what little I know of the subject. Having represented injured people I have learned how little it takes for the brain to sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI) I was talking to a neurosurgeon on a case once and he said "don't kid yourself about whether a concussion is serious or not-any concussion by definition means the brain has sustained an injury". The issue is not whether the concussion was minor but how minor or serious the injury was from the concussion. There is always some injury. I've had two: One in college from a skateboard accident and the other this last January in the mountains taking skiis of a car roof and falling backwards onto the ground. The first on was right in the middle of final exams and I didn't even know my name for a few hours. I didn't know about exams the next day either but after about 6 hrs stuff began to come back. The second one I was fine withing a an hr or so with no loss of memory. Nevertheless, I suppose these are the reasons I'm such an irascible curmudgeon '

I know its a football issue but I've never read anything on the other board about kids-whereas we talk about that here often. So take it for what it's worth keeping in mind everyone is different with many different views.

[www.nytimes.com]