Article content

CALGARY — Bo Levi Mitchell is tired of playing prevent defence when it comes to stereotypes about his chosen profession.

Yes, football is a violent game. And, yes, concussions are a fact of life when grown men tackle one another at full speed.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or 'It's not enough to make me stop playing': CFL players say they understand the risks posed by concussions Back to video

But Mitchell, the CFL’s most outstanding player in 2016, believes the danger is blown out of proportion given the modern rules of the game.

And as he points out, life itself is a high-risk sport.

“As men and guys who are getting paid, we know what we signed up for,” says Mitchell, the starting quarterback for the Calgary Stampeders. “And at some point, you have to understand that you might have to hang up your career as an athlete to protect yourself and protect your life and your future. But as a kid, you can get concussions doing anything … My wife is a cheerleading coach, and there’s probably more concussions in cheerleading than there are in football.”

But Mitchell feels his sport is under siege, especially since the 2015 release of the Hollywood blockbuster Concussion. In the film, Will Smith plays Dr. Bennet Omalu, the Nigerian neuropathologist who discovered chronic traumatic encephalopathy in football players. Omalu studied the brains of troubled NFL greats like Pittsburgh Steelers centre Mike Webster, a four-time Super Bowl champion who ended up sleeping in bus stations before dying at 50.