| JakeF |
08-31-2017 03:40 PM |
ESPN college analyst resigns, cites dangers of football
ESPN analyst Ed Cunningham resigns, cites dangers of football
Brad Crawford - Aug 30, 10:45 AM 15
Ed Cunningham, a longtime college football play-by-play and color commentator for ESPN, has left the company citing dangerous changes to the game, he revealed Wednesday in a special interview with The New York Times.
“In its current state, there are some real dangers — broken limbs, wear and tear,” Cunningham told the newspaper. “But the real crux of this is that I just don’t think the game is safe for the brain. To me, it’s unacceptable.
“I take full ownership of my alignment with the sport. I can just no longer be in that cheerleader’s spot.”
Cunningham, a former captain on the University of Washington's 1991 national championship team, is the first known broadcaster to leave football due to its increasingly violent nature and growing number of head trauma-related injuries.
Cunningham has been paired with Mike Patrick on Saturdays for more than a decade, calling ABC and ESPN's afternoon games.
“The sport is at a crossroads," Patrick told the New York Times. "I love football — college football, pro football, any kind of football. It’s a wonderful sport. But now that I realize what it can do to people, that it can turn 40-, 50-year-old men into walking vegetables, how do you stay silent?
"Ed was in the vanguard of this. I give him all the credit in the world. And I’m going to be outspoken on it, in part because he led me to that drinking hole.”
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ESPN college analyst resigns, cites dangers of football
(https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=309713)