Amani Toomer Says Kurt Warner Trying To Trash NFL

Sensitive Times

A rash of concussions, recent suicides of former NFL players and the BountyGate scandal have Kurt Warner hoping his sons never again play the sport.

But Warner’s opinion is “a little disingenuous,” according to former New York Giants receiver Amani Toomer, who accused Warner of trying to “trash the game.

“What this reminds me of is the guy at the basketball court, who once he gets done playing takes the ball and ruins the game for everybody else,” Toomer said. “I think Kurt Warner needs to keep his opinions to himself when it comes to this. Everything that he’s gotten in his life has come from playing football. He works at the NFL Network right now. For him to try and trash the game, it seems to me that it’s just a little disingenuous to me.”

Warner, the former St. Louis Rams, New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals quarterback, didn’t appear to be trashing the sport when he made his comments earlier Thursday on “The Dan Patrick Show.”He was speaking as a father of sons who love football, and said the idea of them playing an increasingly dangerous sport “scares me.” Asked point blank if he’d prefer they not play the sport, Warner said “Yes, I would.”

“They both have the dream, like dad, to play in the NFL,” Warner said. “That’s their goal. And when you hear things like the bounties, when you know certain things having played the game, and then obviously when you understand the size, the speed, the violence of the game and then you couple that with situations like Junior Seau. Was that a ramification of all the years playing?

“It scares me as a dad. I just wonder. I wonder what the league’s going to be like. I love that the commissioner is doing a lot of things to try to clean up the game from that standpoint and improve player safety, which helps, in my mind, a lot. But it’s a scary thing for me.”

Warner didn’t appear to take Toomer’s criticism personally, though. Via Twitter, Warner later sent a message to Toomer saying “Sorry that u disagree w/ me old friend! But I will always worry about my kids well being . . . Doesn’t affect my love 4 game!”