Look. The simple fact is that football is dangerous. It always has been. But we didn't previously know about what it does to the brain.
They are trying to protect players.
But you cannot begin to do so while preserving the game that Football Nation loves.
I see no way to mediate between those opposed agendas.
Nor do I see a way to choose between them. The game cannot survive by compromising what its fans love. (See this thread.) But the truth of the game's affect on people's brains cannot be unseen, and the consequences of ignoring it will become greater and greater. Legal issues? Yes. But much more than that. I think that inevitably fewer and fewer parents will let their sons play football, withering the game's roots: player pool and eventual fans.
I don't know of a solution. And, I feel a lot of ambivalence about being a fan.
Sam Shields is a really good CB and we really need him. Signing him for depth was brilliant.
But I cannot celebrate him. With his concussion history he has no business on an NFL field. And I cannot as a Ram fan silence my concern for him and just happily watch him make hits for us.
I know. Every player is vulnerable to the same threat on every play. How do I remain a fan of a game that destroys so many young men's brains?
I have no answer for myself or for the game. The nature of the game is destructive. There's no way for rules to change that. Yet we love the game. Increasingly, it is becoming my guiltiest pleasure.
