Ed Cunningham walks away from announcing |
Former ESPN broadcaster Ed Cunningham has been in a television analyst role for nearly 20 years with ABC and ESPN but most notably working with his partner Mike Patrick for the last decade announcing college football games.
Cunningham has decided that he will walk away from announcing football games because he doesn't feel right about promoting it. "I take full ownership of my alignment with the sport," Cunningham told the New York Times. “I can just no longer be in that cheerleader’s spot." Cunningham thinks that brain injuries are becoming too commonplace in the sport. "In its current state, there are some real dangers: broken limbs, wear and tear," Cunningham said. “But the real crux of this is that I just don’t think the game is safe for the brain. To me, it’s unacceptable." Cunningham's former NFL teammate Dave Duerson's death has impacted his view of brain injuries. “I know a lot of people who say: ‘I just can’t cheer for the big hits anymore. I used to go nuts, and now I’m like, I hope he gets up,’” Cunningham said. “It’s changing for all of us. I don’t currently think the game is safe for the brain. And, oh, by the way, I’ve had teammates who have killed themselves. Dave Duerson put a shotgun to his chest so we could study his brain.” Cunningham left a six-figure salary at ESPN as he was not one of the on-air personalities that the company laid off back in April.
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