Jerry Jones remains skeptical of football's link to brain trauma
The Cowboys owner says his own recent CAT scan proves his point
By
Ryan Wilson
•
2 min read
Stop us if you've heard this before, but Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones remains unconvinced of a definitive link between playing football and head trauma.
"We're at about the same place with brain medicine as we were about 50 years ago with heart medicine," Jones told SI.com's Greg Bishop and Michael McKnight. "I believe we're drawing conclusions so far out in front of the facts. Now, I can live with that, as long as we understand: I've seen milk and red meat [debated] for the last 30 years in terms of whether they're good for you or not. Growing up, taking aspirin was [regarded as] just like taking a drug. Now look where we are today. One a day."
Jones continued: "We're way out in front of the implications of brain health, relative to concussions. Way out front. Now, should we be very proactive in trying to get as much information as possible, doing as many studies as possible? Should [the NFL] join with the military [in those studies]? The automobile industry? The umpteen others? Should other sports put some emphasis on studying this? Yes. But to say that it's a reason not to participate in a sport."
The 74-year-old owner also offered up his recent CAT scan as an example that football may not have the impact doctors and researchers suspect on brain health.
"I recently I had a CAT scan done at MD Anderson Cancer Center [in Houston], under an assumed name," Jones said. "Afterward, the radiologist said, 'I noticed your age. The reason I came down - and here he called me by my assumed name; he didn't know who I was - was that you have the brain of a 40-year-old.' My other doctors were in the room; so was my wife. I've got some witnesses. The point is: I was a fullback and a pulling guard [at Arkansas]. I used my head all the time, and I played football a long time. And that had no impact."
While this makes for a good story, it's also anecdotal evidence. It's also worth noting that earlier this year, for the first time ever, the NFL admitted that football is linked to brain damage.
Still, Jones thinks football is unfairly targeted when it comes to discussions of head trauma and CTE.
"I'm going to carefully choose my words here," Jones continued. "The game of football is convenient to involve in the discussion of head injuries. Anybody who stops and thinks for a few minutes will realize that many other sports involve contact with athletes' heads. Many other occupations do, as well. . . . I don't become unduly alarmed. We don't have the answers. There is no such thing as the answer."
Back in March, a week after the NFL conceded a relationship between CTE and football, Jones said this:
"No, that's absurd. There's no data that in any way creates a knowledge. There's no way that you could have made a comment that there is an association and some type of assertion. In most things, you have to back it up by studies. And in this particular case, we all know how medicine is. Medicine is evolving. ...
"We have millions of people that have played this game, have millions of people that are at various ages right now that have no issues at all. None at all. So that's where we are. That didn't alter at all what we're doing about it. We're gonna do everything we can to understand it better and make it safer."
