Sports Illustrated: Is Football Too Dangerous?

This was a recent article in Sports Illustrated that once again brings up the question whether football is too dangerous for kids.  Because of recent studies this has become a constant question that is being asked each year about whether football is safe.

If we could say without reproach, "Playing football leads to concussions which lead to brain injury which lead to depression, substance abuse and worse'' then we could do more about it than we're doing now. Now, as parents we ask, "Should I let my son play football?''

It's not a new question. It's just more in focus. We're better at recognizing it. "The MRI didn't come into use until the early 1980s,'' said Dr. Francesco Mangano, a neurologist at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati. "Before that, we only had X-rays.'' X-rays don't show an injured brain.

In the next several weeks, tens of thousands of kids in this country will suit up and start football practice. The vast majority never will suffer the same fate as Chris Henry. That doesn't mean that the parents who sign their children's permission slips won't be white-knuckling it when their kids play.

 So does this mean that in the future football is going to be banned?  I know that there are chances of injuries that occur during football.  I just wonder why football is always picked on when it comes to a sport.  Children can get hurt while skateboarding and skating that can lead to injuries to children, should that be banned?  I dunno we do need to be safer with helping preventing kids from suffering injuries but what can we do, lock them in a room so they don't get hurt?  There are a lot of life lessons a child can learn from football, were the sport to be eliminated I fear they would lose out.