Safe Youth Football?
Outside the Lines (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, ESPN)
As millions begin another season of football, there is a heightened awareness about the health risks involved – even at the youth football level. While Pop Warner Football is now promoting safer tackling technique and limited contact in practices, how will these changes be applied on the actual field of play? Tom Farrey reports on Pop Warner star Donnovan Hill, who suffered a spinal fracture while making the type of head-first tackle he says was encouraged by his youth coaches, and the questions raised from a catastrophic injury that changed lives forever. Jon Butler, Executive Director of Pop Warner Football, will discuss the issue.
“I told the coaches, ‘I’m going to get hurt like this. I don’t want to … this is not the right thing to do.’ And they just told me to like stop whining, and they sent me to the back.” – Donnovan Hill, former Pop Warner football player, on the tackling methods he says coaches taught him
“I’ve been taught and, like I said, I think it’s the right way. It’s the right way to do it because I’ve never been injured, and I’ve played my whole life.” – Manny Martinez, former Pop Warner assistant coach on how he can teach tackling despite never having taken youth football coaching classes
Urban’s Ironclad Deal
College Gameday (10 a.m., Saturday, ESPN)
https://youtu.be/PF_Dpty5UYY
A piece of pink notebook paper was all that stood between Urban Meyer and the head coaching job at Ohio State. During his last coaching stint at Florida, Meyer became obsessed with perfection and often put football before his own health. Before he could take the new job, he signed a contract with his family, drawn up on pink notebook paper by his daughter Nicki that listed 10 conditions he must maintain before he could sign with the Buckeyes. Gene Wojciechowski reports.
“I think I became an extremist in a profession where that happens to a lot of people.” — Urban Meyer, on his obsession with coaching
“My initial reaction was, really? Is this job really killing him?” — Shelley Meyer, Urban’s wife, on the health problems he suffered while coaching at Florida
“He looked at me in the eyes and he was like, ‘I swear things are going to be OK,things are going to work.’ And that’s when I wrote that contract.” — Nicki Meyer, on writing the contract for her father
Munich 1972
SportsCenter (10 a.m., Sunday, ESPN)
Outside the Lines (3 p.m. Wednesday, ESPN)
https://youtu.be/gpDOQfN569M
On September 5th, 1972, 11 Israeli athletes were taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists at the Summer Olympics in Munich and were later killed during a botched rescue attempt at a nearby airport. With live, satellite broadcasts still in their infancy, the Munich massacre became one of the first overseas news stories to unfold on American television in real time. Forty years later, hostage family members and those who participated in the rescue efforts recount the events of this tragic day. Jeremy Schaap reports.
“I’ve just gotten final word. You know, when I was a kid, my father used to say, ‘Our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized.’ Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They have now said that there were 11 hostages. Two were killed in their rooms, yesterday morning. Nine were killed at the airport tonight. They’re all gone.” – Jim McKay, ABC broadcaster, giving his final report on the hostage situation
“This story is not about 11 Israelis that were murdered. It’s about 11 athletes who came in hope for friendship and fair play, and in the name of sport, and came back in coffins. That’s not the Olympic idea. That’s not the Olympic dream, and it should never happen again.” – Anouk Spitzer, daughter of Israeli fencing coach Andre Spitzer, who was taken hostage and killed
E:60 Special Wednesday Day/Time Next Week: Sept. 5, 7:30 p.m. ET
ESPN’s award-winning news magazine, E:60, is in the midst of an 11-week run with most shows airing 7-8 p.m. Tuesdays at 7-8 p.m. The exception is next week when it be aired 7:30-8 p.m. Wednesday (September 5). Next week’s show will present an in-depth look at one of Eli Manning’s personal passions, chronicle how Aaron Rodgers’s self-confidence sustained and strengthened him on his journey to stardom, have Keith Jackson narrate the story that consults many legends – including Bill Parcells, Nick Saban and Mike Ditka – on the origins of the Gatorade shower.