controversy? it overlaps politics. but it s a football issue. washington was playing dallas on our air that night. i was asked by nbc i didn t just walk in there and go, i m going to do this. it doesn t work that way. many conservatives, tony dungy, civil musnic, a sports writer who often writes about issues and is perceived as conservative, tom cole, a long list happened to agree with me on this. and i made a decision between political correctness which is generally stupid and gets in the way of a reasonable conversation. i went out of my way in the first half of it to say this isn t political correctness, unless some of the requiredals were snuting. perhaps your most explosive
story, the n word rearing it s ugly head once again in a massachusetts town where the rest of the high school football team season was cancelled after racist graffiti was spray painted on the home of a 13-year-old player there are disturbing charges of racist behavior and bullying. joining me the parents of 13-year-old isaac phillips. welcome to both of you. thank you very much for joining the show tonight. let me start with you, anthony phillips. what has gone on here? was the graffiti and why do you think it was sprayed in the way it was against your son? well, it said night stone need the n word on the side of my foundation. my son was having issues with the football team. that s why we feel it s a football issue. it s not our town, racist thing. police have been working hard to try to find the coward that has did this. but with everything that s going on with the town, i think, you
racist graffiti was spray painted on the home of a 13-year-old player there are disturbing charges of racist behavior and bullying. joining me the parents of 13-year-old isaac phillips. welcome to both of you. thank you very much for joining the show tonight. let me start with you anthony pill f phillips, what has gone on here? was the graffiti and why do you think it was sprayed in the way it was against your son? well, it said night stone need the n word on the side of my foundation. my son was having issues with the football team. that s why we feel it s a football issue. it s not our town, racist thing. police have been working hard to try to find the coward that has did this. but with everything that s going on with the town, i think, you know, that person is not going
we are all allowed to have our opinion on this show. yes, he is allowed to go there. that is what he does at halftime. bob costas is a brilliant sportscaster and jason whitlock is right, if there is no gun here, nobody is dead. i don t know what the issue is to take issue with. we just had a presidential campaign, martha and not one time did gun control and gun issues come up. i know they probably don t want to take on these lobbies and they re very powerful and very strong but we just had a kid go into a theater in aurora, colorado, with semiautomatic weapons and start blowing everybody up. if you don t have them it doesn t happen. nobody who possessed a gun in colorado was there to take him down at the time. these are difficult, difficult issues that need to be addressed and as far as this football issue right here, if he doesn t have a gun they re both alive. i don t have a problem with what he said. martha: jim, thank you. and i would ask everybody at home, send me a tweet on this
i m not saying do away with the sport. i m saying change the way it s played. in particular, take hits to the head out of it. from the moment you start playing a contact sport, you are risking concussion. for years the treatment of choice was, shake it off and get back out there kid. now driven by reporting from the new york times and espn and our next guest, concussions and the way to treat them are finally getting some attention. right in and out the nfl is faces 140 lawsuits from former players alleging the nfl intentionally hid the dangers of concussions. it s not just a football issue or elite athletes at risk. according to our guests, youth hockey and soccer and football put the long-term health of children on the line every day, and for some reason feels like nobody cares. joining us now is steve james