Bo Jackson doubles down on dangers of head injuries
Former NFL and MLB great Bo Jackson created a stir last week when he said he never would have become a two-sport athlete if he knew about head injuries and CTE.
"If I knew now what I had known back then, I would have never played football. Never," Jackson told USA TODAY Sports' Bob Nightengale.
Jackson provided more context for his comments this week and fired back at critics who called him unqualified to speak on the issue of head trauma and a hypocrite for offering football training at a sports facility he owns.
"They wanted know why I would try to deface football when I have football training at my facility (Bo Jackson’s Elite Sports in Lockport, Ill.)?" Jackson told Nightengale in a follow-up on Monday. "It's different. We teach proper techniques to all sports, not just football, by people who have played the game at its highest level. We teach kids the proper technique to play the game. Tackling is an art form. It’s not about running into each other as hard as you can.
"I'm also getting people saying I know nothing about concussions and head injuries. Let me tell you this, I speak on concussions because I’ve had a couple. I speak on CTE because I have a tendency to forget little things like where I put my keys five minutes ago. Or I forget what items I came to the grocery store for. I had my bell rung a couple of times while I was with the Raiders. One time I got up off the field, came to the other sideline, and actually sat on the wrong bench."
Jackson said he likely still would have played high school football had he known about the risks of head trauma, but would have bowed out of playing in the pros because "the higher that you go up the ladder the more risks that you are taking because you are dealing with bigger, stronger, faster caliber athletes, and everybody is trying to impress."
Jackson suggested he has a hard time watching the NFL today because he knows about former players who are in chronic pain and without medical insurance.
"The person I love in the NFL like my own son is Cam Newton. I cuss him out like my own son. But every time he takes a hit to his head, that scares me, it scares the hell out of me," Jackson said.
"I witnessed him getting hit hard twice, and both times go to the locker room. I know he can take care of himself, but it still scares me. I care about all of those players playing, I don’t want to see anybody getting hurt."