Ed Cunningham Abruptly Resigns From ESPN

BIG ERN said:
No kid should be playing padded football before they get into 7th grade. There is such a major gap of maturity before that age, and with the progress of brain growth occurring. They would learn a lot more and have way better movement and understanding playing flag football.

 With that said, CTE is way misunderstood IMO. Those same signs can show up from people who never even played sports, or ones who didn't play football, but basketball, soccer, tennis etc. I know football for sure can lead to injuries and head trauma, but this whole issue is way overblown. 
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I respectfully  disagree. The size/maturity gap INCREASES starting in 7th grade. When the kids were in 4,5

grades they all just about looked the same and were nearly all the same speed give or take. Now we have kids in 7th grade that weigh 178 lbs. 5 kids who weigh over 160. And let me tell you, these kids can MOVE. I feel like kids who try and join our team with zero coaching up to this point are at a far far greater danger for injuries everywhere not just head, because they have no technique, no fundamentals, and are scared. We move kids down to the B and C teams who can't play. 

I've coached my sons team since 4th grade. We've had one kid miss one practice because of a possible head injury in 5 years. 

We teach rugby rugby style tackling, there are weight limits for ball carriers, rules on kickoffs for running starts, etc etc that greatly reduce injuries. And we embrace them. 

I feel like kids should start in 3rd or 4th grade when impacts are slower, kids are the same size /speed and you can coach them for 5-6 years according to ability. 

Kids who come to play in 7th grade are way behind. 

 
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307husker said:
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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With all things, there are boom and bust cycles, and American football is probably entering a bust cycle. But until the NCAA gets their act together, the current era of college football champions (and more specifically, SEC dominance) will eventually be asterisked and looked upon with disdain, not unlike the steroid era of baseball. 

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Back on topic, Head trauma was supposedly going to kill off boxing, and not only did boxing rebound, it's bust cycle helped spawn MMA and Kickboxing growth domestically and internationally, respectively, before boxing came back. 

There needs to be more discussion and investment in finding a way to play the sport while trying to limit the head trauma experienced. If that's space-aged helmets, going back to leather helmets/no helmets, or what...

...bottom line, the NFL should be at the forefront of figuring this s*** out, not sweeping it under the carpet and trying to blackball/silence those who speak out on the issue. 

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
It's hard to imagine that offer being anywhere near the salary he got from ESPN.

Who would pay it, and why? 
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ESPN salaries aren't what they used to be, especially since they've been cutting costs by low-balling or completely jettisoning name/face talent. Deadspin has been keeping tabs on a lot of the talent ESPN has cut over the years. 

And considering Fox Sports 1/2 has been picking up discarded ESPN talent like a ravenous dumpster diver, I wouldn't be shocked if he shows his ugly mug over there. 

 
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The thing that always upset me about Cunningham's commentary on that particular play is he never took into account the way Gabbert tucked and slightly lowered his body. Could Osborne have gone lower on Gabbert? Absolutely. There are just a lot of factors in the play that make it easy to sit up in a booth and say something should've been done a certain way, but it's a lot different down on the field in the moment.

The biggest issue that bugged me about Cunningham and his targeting commentary was he often not-so-subtly suggested the offending player was a dirty player. More often than not, particularly when targeting started to get called, players were just doing what they'd done for years. Change is difficult no matter how often you try to hammer a point home, yet Cunningham had almost no slack for it. I guess it's an admirable position but you don't have to victimize some of the players for it.

 
knapplc said:
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
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The CTE revelations are pretty recent. Considering that virtually all players college and above are developing this should cause alarm for anyone.

 
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