Ed Cunningham Abruptly Resigns From ESPN

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International Man of Mystery
ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

LONG BEACH, Calif. — If Ed Cunningham had not already seen enough, he would be back in a broadcast booth on Saturday afternoon, serving as the color analyst for another top college football game televised on ABC or ESPN. It is the work he has done each fall for nearly 20 years.

But Cunningham, 48, resigned from one of the top jobs in sports broadcasting because of his growing discomfort with the damage being inflicted on the players he was watching each week. The hits kept coming, right in front of him, until Cunningham could not, in good conscience, continue his supporting role in football’s multibillion dollar apparatus.

“I take full ownership of my alignment with the sport,” he said. “I can just no longer be in that cheerleader’s spot.”

Football has seen high-profile N.F.L. players retire early, even pre-emptively, out of concern about their long-term health, with particular worry for the brain. But Cunningham may be the first leading broadcaster to step away from football for a related reason — because it felt wrong to be such a close witness to the carnage, profiting from a sport that he knows is killing some of its participants.

“In its current state, there are some real dangers — broken limbs, wear and tear,” Cunningham said. “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.”
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I'll give Ed credit for sticking to his principles, but the fact is that football is an inherently dangerous sport. Ed knew that since he was a little kid, and yet he chose to play and to profit from the sport in the booth.  Having an epiphany is fine. Continuing to profit off what you consider to be a blood sport for years and years is a problem.

I applaud Ed for having the conviction to step away.  Problem is, he should have done it years ago, and not inflicted his inner demons on the viewing audience for so long. 

Now maybe the rest of us can get back to watching our favorite sport without Ed's constant nagging.  It's about time.

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I respect his stance to follow his convictions, but the dude's been going off the rails for half a decade. The number of times he got on a "target" tangent was staggering. The one that sticks in my head is against Mizzou in 2010, when Ciante Evans sacked Gabbert, and their helmets touched. Gabbert was like 4 inches taller, and he started ducking when he got hit. It was simple physics, not a dirty hit.

I won't miss that.

 
After 20 years of accepting a whole lot of money, i'm sure he's just fine stepping away and retiring from broadcasting football.  Had this been a newcomer who was probably not a millionaire I think it would hold more weight.  As it stands, he collected a nice sum of cash prior to this and then he quit.  Good on him for bringing it into the light, but after so many years and so many millions, iI don't think it sends the message he wants it to.

 
zoogs said:
This is a strong move by Ed. I know he's not our favorite commentator, but this is about more than his bad commenting of Nebraska football. Bravo.
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It's not Ed's bad commenting about Nebraska football, it's Ed's bad commenting about football.  Ed ruins every game he broadcasts with his diatribes over helmet-to-helmet contact.  The worst part about it is, too often Ed's calling for a player to be ejected and he's wrong.  Ed went from a regular football viewer to someone who wants to cover every player in bubble wrap.

 
He's also had every injury know to mankind.  That kind of first-hand knowledge will be tough to replace.

 
StPaulHusker said:
To add to HuskerInLostWages' comment, it will be interesting to see if he just goes away or if all of a sudden he becomes an "advocate or spokesman" about concussions.
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I'm betting he just goes away.  I doubt we will hear anymore from him.  I always thought him to be a lazy broadcaster and spent too much time talking about hits rather than broadcasting the game, he had his agenda and stuck to it and we had to listen to his point of view the rest of the game.  He'll sit at home and now yell at his TV while watching the game because he longer has a soap box to stand on.

 
saunders45 said:
I respect his stance to follow his convictions, but the dude's been going off the rails for half a decade. The number of times he got on a "target" tangent was staggering. The one that sticks in my head is against Mizzou in 2010, when Ciante Evans sacked Gabbert, and their helmets touched. Gabbert was like 4 inches taller, and he started ducking when he got hit. It was simple physics, not a dirty hit.

I won't miss that.
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Wasn't that Courtney Osbourne?

 
With all of the new information about brain injury, I think we will see more and more of these situations.  I, personally, am for the first time in my 40 years a little uneasy that the sport I enjoy so very much, causes such a significant amount of damage to its participants.

I do not have any sons, but I'm quite convinced I would heavily discourage participation in football if I did.  I know that there are a lot more people making that decision today than even 5-10 years ago.  Where will this lead football in another couple of decades?  

I think we have seen/are seeing the golden era of American football and it will decline quickly in the near future.

 
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