Football

If what he says is true, then he deserved to get yanked because he is repeating junk science claims without perspective. The one quote statistic I saw in the article is the definition of junk science: "... of 111 brains of NFL players examined by a neuropathologist, 110 were found to have CTE." This so-called evidence of CTE has repeatedly been debunked because it does not measure what it purports to measure. It is being held up as proof that football causes CTE. Each of those brains studied were studied because the former owner of the brain or his family suspected brain damage. It is kind of like saying out of 111 suspected shooting victims, 110 had been shot.

Don't get me wrong, repetitive head impacts, from any source, is not good for you. There are many studies that show that. However, There has been no peer reviewed, scientific study, to my knowledge at least, that shows that football in particular is more dangerous that soccer or hockey, for example. Nor have their been any studies that show that recreational football players are more likely to develop CTE than the general population. Similarly, there have been no studies, to my knowledge, that shows that playing football or any other sport recreationally leads to an increased likelihood of developing CTE. Put another way, there is no evidence that football harms our youth. There are starting to be studies that lend evidence to the argument (but do not prove) that CTE MAY be more prevalent in pro football players, but there are none that show that people who did not play pro football (including those that stopped in high school or college) are at greater risk for CTE.

To the contrary, there are dozens of scientific articles that discuss the health benefits of sports, and football in particular. For example, a National Institute of Safety and Health study last updated in 2017 showed that NFL players had a death rate of 46% less than the general population, despite having a disproportionate number of "obese" former lineman that would normally increase the death rate of the whole group.

Another study assessing the long-term neurologic disease incidences of former football players versus members of the chorus, glee club or band. It suggested that high school football players from between 1946 and 1956 were not at an increased risk for dementia, Parkinson’s disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) more than 50 years later.

So folks, do what you think is best for your kids. But if you are going to make wild claims like Costas did, please educate yourself first as to what the science shows. Don't be like the anti-vaxing crowd that clings to an idea without any scientific proof because someone told you a cool story. This is a far more complicated story than the media likes to portray.