WASHINGTON
(AP) -- President Barack Obama is a big football fan with two daughters,
but if he had a son, he says he'd "have to think long and hard" before
letting him play because of the physical toll the game takes.
"I
think that those of us who love the sport are going to have to wrestle
with the fact that it will probably change gradually to try to reduce
some of the violence," Obama tells The New Republic.
"In
some cases, that may make it a little bit less exciting, but it will be
a whole lot better for the players, and those of us who are fans maybe
won't have to examine our consciences quite as much."
In
an interview in the magazine's Feb. 11 issue, Obama said he worries
more about college players than he does about those in the NFL.
"The
NFL players have a union, they're grown men, they can make some of
these decisions on their own, and most of them are well-compensated for
the violence they do to their bodies," Obama said. "You read some of
these stories about college players who undergo some of these same
problems with concussions and so forth and then have nothing to fall
back on. That's something that I'd like to see the NCAA think about."
NFL
spokesman Greg Aiello responded Sunday, "We have no higher priority
than player health and safety at all levels of the game."
Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
