SKI REPORT: Using your head

 

Opinion by WILLIAM “SKI” WILCZEWSKI

It’s no big surprise that Mark Gastineau and Bo Jackson have had differing views in the last week or so.

One gave the licks.

One took them.

One was a defensive end.

The other a running back.

Make no mistake about it, though, both were about as close to being gladiators in the Roman Coliseum that the modern era can handle—except maybe boxers and mixed martial artists.

That may be the reason why so many people were shocked-and-awed that Jackson was quoted in a recent USA Today article, saying: “If I knew back then what I know now, I would have never played football. Never. I wish I had known about all of those head injuries, but no one knew that. And the people that did know that, they wouldn’t tell anybody.”

This ignited a firestorm that Jackson was quick to defend with no apologies.

Coincidentally—or maybe not—Gastineau came out within days of that with an announcement that his battles with dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are traced back to his football days, but here’s the difference.

Gastineau said: “I know that there’s techniques out there that if I would have had ‘em, if I would have had the techniques out there that I’m teaching now to these kids, I know I would not be probably...I know I wouldn’t have the results that I have now.”

He also went on to explain how he’s now promoting USAFootball.com and the Heads Up Football program designed to improve the safety of the youth game.

Who’s right?

They both are.

It’s a complex issue.

It’s also one that won’t go away.

Nor should it.

The key now, though, is to forge into the future—unlike a proper football tackle—by using our heads.

Will the Heads Up Football program—which teaches players the proper tackling technique of not using their noggins—completely cure the concussion conundrum?

No, not completely.

Will new helmet technologies void the risk factor of playing a brutal contact sport?

Certainly not—at least not yet.

In fact, some subscribe to the notion that a better helmet gives players the mindset that they can take more risks in the face of such dangers.

But, let’s not forget, it’s a brutal contact sport. Period.

But, like walking across a busy intersection, the goal should be to manage that risk as best we can, and decide for ourselves how many times we want to get to the other side of the road.

Sure, I can respect any person’s or parent’s decision to stay off that path completely. That’s the way my mom wanted it until finally convinced otherwise just in time for my sophomore year in high school.

We didn’t have the Heads Up Football program back then.

I wish we had.

I am glad, though, that today’s youth athletes do, because football remains a rite of passage, of sorts, that every young man should at least have the opportunity to experience.

At the end of the day, though, sailors get wet, firemen get burned and chefs get hot in the kitchen.

Smart ones, though, use their heads and manage those risks accordingly.

Wilczewski can be reached at wwilczewski@havasunews.com.