Before going any further, let me disclose by saying football is my favorite sport. During the fall, my weekend social is made around the college and pro games I want to watch. I have tried to watch every Dallas Cowboys game since 2002, unless of course they do better when I turn off the game, but you get the point. Despite my love for this game, I refuse to let my kids play tackle football due to safety concerns.

During my senior year of high school, I was blindsided on a punt and ended up with a concussion that might still affect me today. It was clear the helmet-to-helmet hit caused my head to bounce off of the ground and stumble. My teammates and coaches responded to this situation by laughing at me and putting it on the team’s highlight tape, so I know how concerned they were. I did not say anything because I was only 17 and did not want to be judged, but this is how it really is in football.

Even in pro football, this is a common occurrence as players lie about the severity of injuries all of the time to keep playing. New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman looked to have gotten a concussion in a Super Bowl, yet did not receive any treatment. He stayed in the game and the Patriots would go on to win, but a game is never more important than your health. If a billion dollar industry like the NFL does not care that much about player health, why high school?

My biggest gripe with football fans is that it seems like many do not seem to care about player safety. Many fans believe their entertainment is somehow more important than the player’s health and the game is getting softer. The funny part about this is if quarterbacks were less protected and more of them got hurt, they would still watch. Fans will tune into a Tom Brady-Ben Roethlisberger battle, but would they also tune in for their backups?

The last thing I want my son or daughter to worry about is having to put themselves at risk to an injury just to impress their peers. Instead, I will hopefully try to steer them towards non-contact events like chess and bowling for their hobbies. And if they ever complain about it, I will just show them this article.