Dave’s Football Blog

There will be lots of people second-guessing Tedy Bruschi’s decision to play for the Pats this season. These naysayers will tell us he’s risking his life needlessly and should put his wife and kids first.

From the quotes in his press conference, though, it sounds like he is putting them first:

We’ve made sure. We’ve checked and checked and checked and, OK, let’s check another time because we wanted to be sure.

I’m not just doing this just because I just want to play. I mean, come on. I lost my sight. One morning, one day you wake up and you can’t see your sons very clearly anymore because you’ve had a stroke. You can’t walk. You can’t write… There were times, in my mind, I thought I was done. If I could express to you what this means to me, I would, but I don’t know if I really can.

Folks, this is how Bruschi makes his living. He enters the arena and attacks his opponents. Yes, he wants to have a life after football, but if he’s healhty, if the doctors declare him healthy, and if the rest of his family is okay with it, then who are we to say he shouldn’t do it?

And if something bad does happen, does anyone really think an organization like the Patriots would leave Heidi Bruschi and her kids to fend for themselves? These aren’t Red McCombs’ Vikings, people.

Players put their lives at risk in every game. It’s a wonder that we don’t have more devastating injuries on the field than we do. Tedy Bruschi has been checked out multiple times and appears to be ready to play. I wish him well, and I hope he remains healthy when the Pats get knocked out of the playoffs in January.