Quotes About Concussions

As the story about CTE got more real, it became more clear that players are playing that without a full understanding of the risks they face, and the long-term effects.

I understand the seriousness of concussions.

I went through my entire athletic life as a basketball player with only minimal physical setbacks, the worst being a couple of brain concussions, one in a college game in 1948, the other in 1954 while playing in the Eastern League, from which I recovered without permanent damage.

I've had hundreds and hundreds of concussions, but I don't think that I have any permanent damage. A lot of my peers do.

I wish my memory weren't so bad. They tell me it's from all the football and boxing and the concussions that I got.

I'm learning how to prevent my brain from getting worse than it is after suffering a career worth of concussions playing football.

At the end of the day, concussions are best dealt with between the drivers and their personal physicians.

I had concussions as a kid playing football and basketball, and know what it feels like and to have someone say 'Just rub some dirt on it, and get back in there.'

I wouldn't let my children play football.

They're on the right road, but there's a long way to go on concussions, not only in the NFL, but college football, high school football and all football.

At some point, we're going to have to get to the point where, before you play football, I'm going to test you at some stage in your life to determine if you're susceptible to concussions. We need a test that shows us that your brain is situated a certain way that puts you at risk. If you are susceptible, don't play football.

I was in a lecture about concussions and of the 10 symptoms the guy mentioned, I had eight. The symptoms would be, for example, mood swings, getting angry very fast, forgetting some things, having difficulty sleeping.

Over the course of my 13-year career, I've had a lot of concussions, and yet, because I'm no longer competing or suffering from concussion symptoms, I felt like I was in the clear. The reality, though, is that I get concussions far more easily, and my symptoms last far longer than ever before.

I've had cumulative concussions and realized that's something you carry with you.

I would advise kids not to play any sports, such as tackle football, where they are exposed to repeated blows to the head.

Whenever anybody has talked about concussions, they immediately talk about me and Steve Young.

God, two concussions in a year. Ellery was going to make him wear a helmet to go to the bathroom, and Jackson would totally deserve it.

A lot of people believe that I retired from the game of football because of concussions - that is not accurate. I really retired primarily because of a degenerative back condition that I had.

I'm sure there were concussions galore back when we played, but the doctors would just say, 'Shake it off,' or something like that... or 'Come on, you got to be tough... get back in there.' I see so many guys who played pro football in their 50s now who are so debilitated from having played it.

You always want to see the NFL try to protect the players.

Literally thousands of lawsuits have been filed against the NFL by retired players, many of whom say that information on brain injury in football was withheld from them.

I had two concussions that were of major concern, what I would term very significant. As far as head injury goes, I would say all of the others were pretty minor and inconsequential.

It's the subconcussive hits, the constant bam, bam, bam that linemen like Suh give and receive. Those are the hits scientists say cause the lasting damage to the brain, the kind of injuries that made guys like Mike Webster, Terry Long, and so many others go crazy. The subconcussive hits - every single play.

I forget a lot of things sometimes. I'm not one to sit here and complain. While I did not know the severity of what continuous head traumas could do to an individual and the mind and so forth, I'm not going to sit here and complain.