[Football1]

I'm saddened for anyone who experiences any sort of tragedy from playing football, but you know what you're signing up for. There is no need to change the rules. Football is watered down as it is. Within 20 years some PAC will want to strip all contact football, and this is just the first step.

Here is the problem. Football is already under the microscope. Data analytics have already provided insights that connect multiple concussions to serious mental function decline. The evidence will only continue to mount unless drastic change is implemented.

I grew up on the game. Played in college. Coached for years. Nobody has more reason to defend it than me. But I see the writing on the wall - and yes - my son getting a head injury certainly drives my view. But last year I sat at Cleveland Clinic Innovations Summit and listened to the data being presented by leading neuro and ortho clinicians. It was stunning then - and now post what occurred to Casey - it is terrifying.

No matter how much we all love seeing these big hits and the "tradition" of football there is a stark reality that is at the front of the line now. In the past - medical evidence was simply not there to prove the link between what happens on the field and a person's mental state. That is history. Electronic Medical Records capture this data each time a person goes to the ER; has a CT scan; goes to his family doctor; and so on... Which means soon enough the companies that insure football teams will increase premiums and the lawyers who defend the injured will circle like vultures on meat. The game will end as we know it.

The only remedy is to allow the data to prove that changes implemented have had impact. And yes, those changes may mean the game looks totally different that it does today - but it can survive as a great team sport that actually teaches men things that nothing else can. It does not take young men on the field inflicting life long injuries to make it a good game.