Obama would not let his son play football
Washington (CNN) - As the Patriots, Broncos, Seahawks and 49ers prepare to battle for two spots in the Super Bowl, President Barack Obama says if he had a son, he wouldn’t let him play pro football.
With an ever-growing amount of evidence linking the brutal sport with serious head and brain trauma, the President, who has two daughters, told New Yorker editor David Remnick he would bar his son from playing the sport.
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"I would not let my son play pro football," Obama reportedly said.
In the wide-ranging interview, covering a range of subjects about his presidency - from the controversy over the National Security Agency's bulk collection of metadata from American citizens, to the potential legalization of marijuana - Obama said the athletes who play pro football know the risk of injury is part of the bargain. But it's a risk he would not take with his son's future.
"There's a little bit of caveat emptor," Obama told Remnick. "These guys, they know what they're doing. They know what they're buying into. It is no longer a secret. It's sort of the feeling I have about smokers, you know?" he added.
Obama is an avid sports fan and self-professed "SportsCenter" addict who roots for the Chicago Bears. But he said football has entered the same "realm" as boxing, another sport plagued by seeing its stars suffer through the afterlife of their careers beset by crippling injuries related to the punishment they took in the ring.
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I don't think Hannity, Beck, and Limbaugh played football. Although they seem to have taken too many blows to their heads.
"...he would bar his son...". Pro football players are adults, and get to make their own decisions. Is Barrack a Dictator to his family too?
By the time a child is old enough to play pro football, daddy will have no hand in the decision. if you let you son play peewee football, middle school football, etc you will have a football player. Don't let them play when they are young.
He's got that right....and he goes on to imply that people who are hurt doing knowingly dangerous activities have nothing to complain about. Kinda sided with the NFL on injuries ... Obama the hidden conservative...
One, The President does not have a son. Two, he said the same thing last year and before that too. So what... He's a basketball guy... Why does it matter? Is it just to promote a negative because that's what makes readers read?
He son would be old enough to make his own choice to play in the NFL
I don't blame him: if he had a son, he wouldn't be playing for the money. So then you look at it as what does the average player get out of his 4 year career, versus the risk of permanent injury. When you take the money out of the equation, you really have to question the wisdom. And I love pro football.
And most people wouldn't let their sons enter politics, as there is growing evidence that it causes loss of good sense and brings about the inability to play well with others. Clinical studies show that this malady affects one's sense of balance and results in excessive leaning to either the right or the left. A reliable antidote is available, but only in Canada, and Big Pharma will not market it into the US, which suits the ABA as they foresee a rich vein of malpractice lawsuits resulting from doctors prescribing the drug to anyone who might be rendered sensible and willing to compromise for the good of the country.
Obama is right. I personally think these kind of extreme sports should be banned. The risk involved is too much.
Really? Could you be more petty?
Leave the posing to Putin. BO throws like a girl.
So, when his son turned 18, Mr President would continue to control his life like he wants to control America. Gee. What a great man.
Dear Mr President...If your son was old enough to play pro football, he wouldn't need your permission, so your view is invalid.
Obama seems to answer every question except ones that relate to his job. He really is proving to be nothing more than a celebrity fundraiser. It is amazing how he thinks he could tell "his son" not to play pro football. Since when do adults need their parents permission to do anything. This guy is a control freak.
If only this guy would stick his nose where a president is supposed to.
Yeah, right. We know who makes the decisions in that family.
In a Monty Python sketch,.originally considered for "Quest of the Holy Grail", a young man is asked to donate his head for a decapitated boxer. He objects, saying "that's the bit that gets hit !" (No, I'm not on some drugs ! That was the sketch !!"
So does he like ANYTHING about America culture?
If he's as skinny as you mr pres. I wouldn't let him either !
When the winners of the Super Bowl arrive at the WH, I hope he repeats this statement.
Good think he and Michelle only made daughters then.
I agree with just about everything Obama says philosophically. I just wish he had built a better team that could manage the government better. His administration has more or less sucked.
Makes one wonder what our so called leader did sportswise while getting an education. Maybe checkers? I thought about darts but then that is very dangerous not to mention you would be seen in all sorts of pubs. How about a bubble gum chewing contest? I do believe that they are held in all 57 states.
I wonder if the President would allow his son to join a branch of Armed Forces?
I'm looking at this piece and thinking three things:
1) Why is this news? Of all the issues addressed in the interview, they write about this?
2) The president doesn't have a son, so it's a moot point anyway.
3) Even if the president did have a son, it wouldn't be his place to "let" or "not let" this hypothetical son play a sport. He could express disapproval but the son's career path would ultimately be the son's choice. Would he attempt to choose his daughters' careers for them. Keep in mind that I would say this no matter who the president or any other public official would be.