BRAIN DAMAGE

Trump Calls NFL ‘Soft Like Our Country’

Blasts rise in penalties for head-on-head collisions.

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump added the National Football League to his target list Sunday, calling the league “soft” at a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada. Trump said that although he loves his friend and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, “Football has become soft like our country has become soft.” The candidate said he doesn’t watch “crummy” NFL games as much anymore and lamented that referees are tossing flags to impress their wives. Trump added that the rise in penalties for head-to-head collisions doesn’t compare with the game when players such as Dick Butkus, Lawrence Taylor, and Ray Nitschke regularly delivered such tackles. “Now they tackle. ‘Oh, head-on-head collision, 15 yards,’” he said. “The whole game is all screwed up.”