Daughter 2 asked to play football this fall. I said no. I didn’t say no because she’s a girl. I didn’t say no because she’s too pretty and too precious to play with stinky boys. I said no mainly because they start when it’s hot out and play on Saturdays. I’m not ready to give up my weekends for her to invoke Title IX in our tiny town. I also said no because it’s dangerous.
While I’ve never played football myself, it doesn’t take an ESPN commentator to tell me that when a player is tackled, he (or she!) will be hurt. With each tackle, there’s a risk for possible serious injury. This wasn’t an announcement. I didn’t read an in-depth report on this. I just know it.
You know who didn’t know this? The 75 former NFL players (and their wives) who are now suing the NFL for withholding this information from them! In their suit, they claim that the NFL has known since at least 1920 that football can cause concussions yet didn’t share this information with their players (at least these 75 players). Now, in retirement, they’re feeling slighted.
Not to sound calloused, but maybe they took one too many hits.
Maybe as children they missed out on the first cause-and-effect lesson for every child: Fire! Hot! Burn Baby! It takes one touch of the oven (or one almost-touch) for even the smallest of toddlers to learn this lesson. It seems to me that it would take one tackle for even the densest of football players to learn: Tackle! Hurt! Ouch!
To what extent were the players coerced into playing football? Were they fresh out of college and putting out applications for accounting when the NFL called them up one day and said, “Let me tell ya about an opportunity I have for ya?” Did they have loans to pay off and their bookie told them that if they played a few games he’d take care of it for them? (Strike that… that may have happened!)
I just don’t get that an NFL player would be this clueless: When the coaches told them to sack the quarterback, were they left on the field, scratching their heads wondering where they’d get such a big bag in which to place the nice young man wielding the football? How can they take their athletic career all the way from pee-wee football, through their varsity high school team and a college career eventually landing in the NFL and not know the risk of injuries?
Maybe the players did receive concussions. Maybe the NFL didn’t expressly say, “You may get a concussion.” Or maybe they suffer from a pre-existing condition that keeps them from being aware of the glaringly obvious. I just hope they know to look both ways before crossing the street while walking to the courthouse!
