Joe Namath Says He Wouldn't Play Football Again

ABC News ^ | 2015-04-30 | DEAN SCHABNER

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Joe Namath, one of the most charismatic players in NFL history and one of the game's greatest quarterbacks, said today that if he'd known then what he knows now about concussions, he would never have played football.

Namath, who has recently undergone treatment for brain injuries, was asked in an interview with Tiffany Kenney of ABC's West Palm Beach, Florida, affiliate WPBF-TV whether would still play the game, given all he has learned about the effects of concussions.

"No," he said. "I hate to say that because if I had a child who wanted to play I'd let them play ... but I'd wait 'til he developed a little more.

[Jim from C-Town]

He couldn’t be worse than the rest of the team!

[Jim from C-Town]

I believe they have come to an agreement with players on head injuries.

All future contracts will contain language relieving the league in perpetuity for any associated injuries incurred while playing or because of playing the game.

All members of the league are adults who are free to enter into contracts. They are free to put their lives and health on the line for immediate gratification, IE: MONEY. No different than a release signed by a person who participates in other dangerous sports like Sky Diving.

[o-n-money]

Without football, Namath would be a total unknown.

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So would 99.999% of all football players.

[Jim from C-Town]

That is OK. No matter how good a quarterback is he has a hard time completing passes while lying under a 350# defensive lineman or running for his life from a linebacker.

The Browns have needed an offensive line since they re entered the league.

[TangibleDisgust]

If not for that one game in Super Bowl III when he predicted a victory and beat the Baltimore Orioles 16-7, would we even remember who Joe Namath was?

it's easy to guarantee a victory when you know the mob has the game bought and paid for. Bubba Smith, to his dying days, was convinced that something about SB III was not on the up and up. on paper, the Colts weren't just better than the Jets... they were FAR better than the Jets. this was back in the day when most football players and coaches had offseason jobs to make ends meet. they were not getting the sort of money pro players get now. i was too young to remember the game, but Bubba Smith went on the record publicly several times expressing his beliefs.

[lowbridge]

But would he do the brady bunch again?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?t=145&v=n9wQcCIN3lw

[Stand Watch Listen]

[Rome2000]

The whores and booze take a toll too.

[Mark17]

Yep, that is the picture.

[MaxMax]

Maybe there’s a senior league forming we don’t know about.

[Alberta's Child]

Good points, but sports in general is a meritocracy ... so I don’t know why the NFL would be treated any differently.

[Alberta's Child]

It's hard to assess Namath's place in history as a quarterback because he played most of his career pretty banged-up, and because the game has changed so much over the years that numbers don't mean much anymore. But if you really want to get a sense of how good he was, leave aside that Super Bowl III game and look at his entire 1967 season.

Namath threw for 4,007 yards that season, and that was in an era when QBs simply didn't do that. That was almost 700 yards more than the second-highest total in the NFL, and it would be twelve years before anyone would do it again (Dan Fouts in 1979, I think).

[Bender2]

Re: Joe Namath-- said today that if he'd known then what he knows now about concussions, he would never have played football.

And if he'd know about the effects of long term alcohol consumption... he have never, ever drank all those million or two highballs--

Gadzooks! Did any ever tell Joe about the long term effects of banging groupies... and sideline reporters?

Guess... not--

http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/1101/joe-namath-rare-photos/images/joe-Namath-79163974_10.jpg and http://media.salon.com/2006/11/broadway_joes_lowest_moment.jpg

[trebb]

Amazing how so many can't wait to get in a slap "just because". I see others jumped in with uneducated emotional "tidbits" because they didn't want to be left out.

Freakin' amazing that we have even the pieces of the nation left when these folks are the "warriors trying to restore Constitutional law/Freedoms to the U-S-A".

[boycott]

The whores and booze take a toll too.

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It beats concussions.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“The Browns have needed an offensive line...”

Agreed. I am ok with their picks in the 1st round.

[Rummyfan]

Earl Morrall throwing three picks - in the first half! - may have had something to do with the loss. And still it was only a 16 - 7 game....

[Rummyfan]

19. Donovan McNabb

I wouldn't have McNabb in my top fifty.

[ohioman]

In a way you are right, the liberal scum in this country will eventually kill football. Without bread and CIRCUSES, the only thing left to do will be to fight or decay from within. (probably both)

[ohioman]

That is true. To me, this would be like an old rocker saying that he wouldn’t play music again. However, you know he likes the money and fame and would be nothing without it..