Bo Jackson: If I knew about head injuries, I wouldn't have played football
Bo Jackson believes he would not have played football if he would have known about the effects of head injuries, he tells USA Today's Bob Nightengale.
“If I knew now what I had known back then,’’ Jackson said. “I would have never played football. Never. I wish I had known about all of those head injuries, but no one knew that. And the people that did know that, they wouldn’t tell anybody.”
Jackson also noted that he would prefer for his kids to play baseball, basketball, soccer, golf or “just about anything but football.”
“The game has gotten so violent, so rough,” he added. “We’re so much more educated on this CTE stuff (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), there’s no way I would ever allow my kids to play football today.”
Jackson doubled as a professional baseball player and NFL star. He was the 1985 Heisman Trophy winner and made a Pro Bowl with the Los Angeles Raiders. Jackson played with the Raiders from 1987 to 1990. One of the contributing factors to his retirement was a hit from Cincinatti Bengals linebacker Kevin Walker in 1991. He suffered a fracture and dislocation in his left him of the playoff game.
Jackson played for the Royals, White Sox and Angels in his MLB career that spanned from 1986 to 1994. He remains the only player to make an MLB All-Star Game and Pro Bowl team.
