Brett Favre Would Be ‘Leery’ Of A Son Playing Football
Brett Favre may be gone, but he refuses to be forgotten.
During an interview with Today’s Matt Lauer, retired quarterback Brett Favre made some comments that are sure to anger the Mike Ditkas and Merril Hoges of the world. You know, the former players who respond to legitimate parental concerns with “How dare you? This game gave you everything!”
[Click here to watch the full interview]
Favre said that if he had a son—he doesn’t, just to be clear—he “would be real leery of him playing.” The future Hall-of-Famer expressed some measure of relief that he’s raising all daughters, nothing that a son would more than likely be unfairly judged based if he failed to follow in his father’s footsteps, whether he wanted to or not.
Said Favre:
“In some respects, I’m almost glad I don’t have a son because of the pressures he would face. Also the physical toll that it could possibly take on him, not to mention if he never made it, he’s gonna be a failure in everyone’s eyes. But more the physical toll that it would take.”
Given what he recently revealed about his life after football, this revelation isn’t much of a surprise. In an interview with a DC radio station in October, Favre discussed “scary” memory loss and the toll being sacked 525 times in a career has taken on him, saying, “I think after 20 years, God only knows the toll.”
Expounding on the issue, Favre said:
“I got a pretty good memory, and I have a tendency like we all do to say, ‘Where are my glasses?’ and they’re on your head. This was pretty shocking to me that I couldn’t remember my daughter playing youth soccer, just one summer. So that’s a little bit scary to me. For the first time in 44 years, that put a little fear in me.”
Favre’s most recent statements come just two weeks after a stunning report on ESPN’s Outside The Lines in which Dallas Cowboys legend Tony Dorsett revealed that he had been diagnosed with signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) at the age of 59.
[Click here to watch the interview on ESPN]
The Hall of Fame running back revealed the pain he feels when his daughters say they’re scared of him because of his unpredictable outbursts and uncontrollable emotions. Dorsett has been diagnosed as clinically depressed and admitted that he has, on occasion, contemplated suicide.
Dorsett told OTL, “My quality of life has changed drastically and it deteriorates every day.” A very powerful statement coming from such a beloved player is exactly what’s been missing from the overarching issue about player safety.
Finally we’re starting to link living players with the devastating degenerative disease CTE. It’s too easy for a healthy young man to distance himself from the problems of a dead man. We need to get from “It can’t happen to me” to “If it can happen to Tony Dorsett, it can happen to me.”
It’s only been two years since he retired, but it looks like Brett Favre has already gotten there. Hopefully we’re seeing the beginning of a seismic shift among athletes, because it’s hard to take their health seriously when they refuse to do it themselves.
