The NFL has been taking its lumps lately, with regards to player safety and the link between the game and serious head trauma. One of the league’s most visible coaches, Arizona Cardinals lead man, Bruce Arians took to the offensive. In a video interview with MMQB’s Peter King, Arians says:
This is the greatest game in the world. I think it teaches more values than any other game that you play. You have things that happen in your life that aren’t going to be good. If you play football, you know how to handle them. It doesn’t necessarily equate in track and other things.
I understand where he is going with that statement but by the time you’re in college and the pros, what values are you learning? And, do those values outweigh the long term physical and mental damage being inflicted on the player? Particularly the players that don’t make it? Arians goes on to say:
We have this fear of concussion that is real, but not all of those statistics, I think, can prove anything.
Really coach? He rambles on in the interview about women’s soccer being the #2 cause of concussions, but explains:
nobody says we gotta stop playing soccer!
Arians goes off the rails and is clearly a football lifer witnessing his livelihood and the game that gave him everything coming under heavy attack. I understand his need and willingness to defend. But, perhaps he should heed some of the life lessons he claims football teaches. They say football teaches toughness and promotes an inner strength and resiliency, maybe Bruce and others should man up and admit the game has serious issues and they need to be resolved.