Thursday's health and safety news from the world of sports:
- New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Breestold ESPN.com that he believes concussion awareness is improving in the NFL. He also said he doesn't want his sons playing tackle football until they are teenagers.
- Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman told KDFW-TV on Wednesday he did not retire because of concussions, as had been previously reported.
- Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Ricetold ESPN Radio that he would he let his sons play football.
- The Buffalo Bills will light Niagara Falls pink as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the team's official website reported.
- The San Diego Chargers reported that the organization will be the first NFL team to offer free mammograms.
- The Albuquerque Journal reported that the University of New Mexico and nonprofit organization Mind Research Network announced a concussion-assessment project called Brain Safe, which will regularly work with more than 200 Lobos athletes using MRI exams.
- The Plain Dealer reported that Cuyahoga Community College is interested in working with a local health system to provide baseline concussion testing to athletes as young as 10 years old.
- The Samford Crimson looked at a school panel that is analyzing head injuries.
- The executive director of the Michigan High School Athletic Association has created a committee to look at ways to make football safer, MLive.com reported.
- The Flint Journal reported about a Michigan county's push for faster ambulance response to athletic injuries.
- The Washingtonian profiled a highly rated former prep quarterback who overcame a horrific leg injury and now is a coach-in-training at the University of Virginia.
-- Bill Bradley, contributing editor
