President Obama not sure he'd let his son play football

President Barack Obama famously enjoys a game of pick-up basketball, and has on multiple occasions displayed his fandom for football, basketball and baseball. However, Obama recently told The New Republic he would be hesitant about letting his son play football.

The father of two girls, Obama's point remains hypothetical, but nevertheless, Obama figures to be the first president to speak out on the supposed dangers of football since Teddy Roosevelt spearheaded changes to the game more than a century ago. 

''I think that those of us who love the sport are going to have to wrestle with the fact that it will probably change gradually to try to reduce some of the violence,'' said Obama. 

''The NFL players have a union, they're grown men, they can make some of these decisions on their own, and most of them are well-compensated for the violence they do to their bodies,'' Obama continued. ''You read some of these stories about college players who undergo some of these same problems with concussions and so forth and then have nothing to fall back on. That's something that I'd like to see the NCAA think about.''

This isn't the first time Obama has called for major change to college football; in fact, he began pushing for a college football playoff before he even took office.

The Big Ten and Ivy League launched a joint study on head injuries over the summer, and the NCAA produced a $400,000 grant to study head injuries last May. 

While Obama did not say anything that hasn't already been stated by numerous other outlets, his comments reinforced a long-held belief I have: whenever possible, politics and sports are best left apart.