I blog about a lot of controversial things and receive my share of flak for it, but I anticipate today’s article will top them all. Today we are diving deep into the heart of America to shine some light on the one and only:
Football.
You would be hard pressed to find a bigger fan of football than me during the first 33 years of my life. I was born into a Packer and Badger family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While as a youngster I always pulled for these teams, my independence sprouted at age 5 when my family moved to Kentucky and I started liking the teams that were on TV, namely the Philadelphia Eagles and the Michigan Wolverines. I’ve owned an extensive wardrobe of Eagle and Wolverine garb throughout my life and can pretty much name you every player and stat line from these teams from the past 25 years.
I started playing John Madden Football for Super Nintendo when it came out in 1991
, with steady doses of Tecmo Bowl and Tecmo Super Bowl prior to that–and I’ll still whip any of your tails at any of the above.
We moved to Ohio when I was in 3rd grade. I soon began idolizing Troy High School football, as most of my town did. I played at Troy from grades 7-12, my sophomore year getting to be on the roster with the 1998 Mr. Ohio Football (best player in Ohio) Ryan Brewer, who went on to be Outback Bowl MVP at the University of South Carolina, and Kris Dielman, a 2x NFL All-Pro and 4x NFL Pro-Bowler with the Chargers.
After high school, I played as much flag football as I could, continued my Madden addiction, and dominated* my friends in fantasy football (which I began playing in 8th grade).
*ok, the dominated memory is a little foggy…
In 2012 I took a summer work sabbatical and strapped the pads on one last time, playing for Lansing’s semi-pro team, the Capital City Stealth. I played safety, was a team-captain and had 7 interceptions prior to re-tearing my ACL.
I was a man completely in love with football.
Another important point I need to make at this time is that, naturally, many of my friendships are from football connections. As I write on, I want to particularly acknowledge my former teammates and coaches from the Stealth, many of whom I still have strong bonds with. Football is such a unique sport in how it bonds teammates together. I’m not writing this to criticize anyone who played or is still playing football at any level. Football is a magical game to play. Some continue to play because they don’t know, some know and are taking their chances, some know and don’t care because the moment and its benefits are needed and worth it.
In early 2013 as I rehabbed my 3rd torn ACL, preparing myself for season 2 with the Stealth, I read an article in ESPN Magazine that was the beginning of the end of football for me. I’ve tracked down that exact article and encourage you to read it: “Football is Dead. Long Live Football.” by J.R. Moehringer.
Things I remember from the article:
- The brain is like an egg yolk, you aren’t supposed to jiggle it. No helmet will protect the brain from smashing into the skull during football. You’d have to add protection in-between the brain and the skull to accomplish this. Good luck with that.
- Football is a multi-billion dollar industry so the NFL and NCAA have tons of interest in lying about what’s actually happening to players’ brains, which they’ve done very effectively for a long time.
- There’s a bizarre class and racial component to what’s happening in football. As more white middle & upper class families stop allowing their kids to play football because of the brain damage it causes, professional players are becoming predominantly poorer people of color. But as football becomes a bigger and bigger business due to fans’ obsession with it (and tickets get more expensive), the stands are predominantly filled with middle & upper class white people who can afford these high ticket prices. Wealthy white people cheering on black and brown people who are getting brain damage which will eventually kill them. Strange. Moehringer compares this to the Roman Coliseum where elite Roman citizens would gather to to be entertained as the enslaved gladiators killed one another. Now that’s some strong coffee.
- Football causes brain damage, which often causes players to go crazy and many times kill themselves. Period. When we cheer for football, we cheer for this.
Talk about a glass of cold water to the face! This article had power to it for me. Enough power that I retired from football. I didn’t want this type of brain damage, and began to be legitimately scared about what kind of brain damage I might already have, thinking about the previous concussions I’d sustained throughout my life and recently with the Stealth, and all the scientists saying it’s not just the concussions, but the accumulation of all of the smaller hits piled up over time. Every time I can’t remember something, I began to worry if it’s from CTE.
Next for me was the PBS documentary League of Denial. You need to watch it. It’s essentially the factual account that Will Smith’s Concussion movie is based on. Here’s the trailer:
The final nail in the coffin was Will Smith’s Concussion movie. It took the story lines, deception and suicides that were chronicled in League of Denial and put them into gripping drama:
So many of the players I grew up collecting football cards of were now shooting themselves (often in the heart, so their brains could be studied for CTE). Others simply can’t remember much of anything and fear the worst.
Most recently it was Rashaan Salaam, the 1994 Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Colorado and NFL 1st round draft pick. I was in middle school during his hey day–busy being Salaam in video games and watching him and his teammates Kordell Stewart and Michael Westbrook beat my Wolverines with the famous “Miracle at Michigan” hail mary. Cheering on football and pouring out my money to the economic football machine as Salaam’s brain got beat to bits, leading to his 2016 suicide in a Boulder, Colorado park.
Jovan Belcher (25-years-old!)
Tyler Sash (27-years-old)
Ray Easterling
Junior Seau
Andre Waters
Dave Duerson
Shane Dronett
These are just a handful of the NFL who have committed suicide because of CTE, along with Salaam. Not to mention Cullen Finnerty, the 3-time national champion quarterback for Division II Grand Valley State University who, at age 30 and married with kids, randomly killed himself in the woods a couple hours from where I live. He was the quarterback for Curt Wright, co-pastor with me at Crossroads. This is real stuff. This is scary stuff.
We shouldn’t be rooting for this stuff.
In 2015, 87 of 91 former NFL players who have been tested have CTE (brain damage). That’s 95%. A new list released in November 2016 mentions CTE in 90 of 94 brains of former and deceased NFL players.[2] This includes 33 out of 34 clear cases in deceased players tested (97%).
Ken Stabler, Bubba Smith, Frank Gifford, Justin Strzelczyk, Mike Webster, Adrian Robinson.
The following living players have publicly acknowledged either having been diagnosed with likely CTE or having suffered symptoms, such as dementia or unusual memory loss, consistent with CTE. (No definitive CTE test is available for living persons.):
Brett Favre, Mark Duper, Dorsey Levens, Jamal Lewis, Bernie Kosar, Tony Dorsett, Jim McMahon, Antwaan Randle El, Darryl Talley, Kyle Turley, Frank Wycheck, Sean Morey, Ricardo McDonald, and many more.[3]
Check out Colts’ Super Bowl winning TE Ben Utecht’s (with Mark Tabb) book Counting the Days While My Mind Slips Away: A Love Letter to My Family. (New York Times article on the book)
They never told us this. We all thought helmets would protect us. If you got your bell rung, you didn’t dare tell your coach because he’d put someone else in your place and label you as soft. You just sucked it up and played through the headache. Do you really think that has changed or will change? Do you really believe the NFL’s propaganda about how safe football is, so its elite can continue to rake in billions?
But now we know. If you don’t know, read the Moehringer article, watch League of Denial and Concussion and you’ll know. Even Bo knows.
And if you know, how can you honestly support football anymore? How can you look at it the same as you once did?
I couldn’t.
With the exception of supporting a personal friend who was a senior on Michigan State’s team this year, I did not watch a down of football this entire season. I did not click on a single NFL or NCAA football web link, and I won’t ever again.
I never set out to evangelize against football, I just want to make you think. I can’t help thinking about it, praising God I still have the ability to do so.
Is your favorite team’s next touchdown really worth another suicide (and/or dementia, memory loss, depression) to you?
It wasn’t for me.
Related posts:
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Author of Beyond the Battle: A man's guide to his identity in Christ in an oversexualized world
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- Ep. 107: Mark & Beth Denison on Betrayal Trauma - November 4, 2024
- When “I follow the Lamb, not the Donkey or the Elephant” falls short - October 31, 2024
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Oh yes, you are going to get criticized after this one. Football is a religion. Football is at the heart of what many men think makes them men. I doubt that most men, even if they’re convinced by what you’ve presented, would give up football because it is one of the roots of their identity.
Hi Jim, could you elaborate further on your post? Because I am a so-called ‘football widow’, especially right now during playoffs. Perhaps if I understand more of what’s going on with him, why he enjoys this so much, it will help me cope better. This situation does hurt quite badly plus, before you suggest I watch with him, try to be his ‘football buddy’, I do that. I can only take 1 game a week tho for various reasons (time, kids, work etc). He on the other hand, must watch every game of his favorite team plus several others, college and pro. Honestly it’s annoying!
Thought you’d like the comment I got from Jack Gresko, a man I have never met. Now there’s a man for ya!
The game has changed over hundreds of years, rule changes and precautions are being made to help rectify this. You listed off a handful of thousands of pro athletes that have been affected by CTE. That is like saying because planes have crashed before you should never fly anymore. I understand the odds of those two scenarios are a little different but the point remains the same. Additionally, people should have the option to do what they wish with the knowledge that is available on this topic. Thousands of athletes get full ride scholarships to college (that maybe never would have been able to go) had it not been for their ability to play football. Some athletes such as Chris Borland retire early because of the statistics you shared…I don’t think either one is wrong. I made the decision last year to start eating a plant based diet (watch the documentaries “cowspiracy” and “forks over knives”). Strong research shows meat based diets have significantly increased cancer, heart disease, and land scarcity in the world. Some researchers preach the opposite – high protein meat based diets are the most effective for weight loss. Should I tell you if you are wrong to eat beef?
Hi Danny, thanks for your comment, you bring up some great points. Yes, I think people should know the dangers of eating growth hormone enhanced beef. It’s not a matter of being wrong to eat beef, it’s that they need to know their health is at risk! I think what would be wrong is for the beef industry to cover up these health risks, for their profit, which is closer to what’s happened in football. For years, the NFL covered up the brain damage football does to you, covered it up for their profit (this is what League of Denial chronicles). They still aren’t fully honest about it. Yes, knowledge is available, but the NFL continues to lie about that knowledge and argue against it, so it makes it very hard for a player, or a parent of a player, to hear the truth in the midst of that. It’s a lot more than the handful of names I listed; there were 4500 former players who sued the league in a concussions lawsuit: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000235494/article/nfl-explayers-agree-to-765m-settlement-in-concussions-suit — I only named a few of the dead ones who’s brains have been studied, and a few more household names to my generation who have shown the symptoms.
Pastor Noah,
Thank you so much for this article. My son who is 6 currently plays flag football and already I’m concerned for him during his games. My husband, I feel mildly pushes him to play which I’m not sure is right for him but that is an entirely different article and post! Anyhow, thanks again, you’ve said a lot and I will continue to research this topic, especially if my son continues playing.
You’re welcome Michele! You and your husband should watch Concussion together with Will Smith, your husband would probably be up for that because it’s a popular movie. Then see if you can get him to watch “League of Denial” after that. It’s hard to watch those two movies in tandem and not have your mind changed about football.
I will take your challenge to watch those two movies. I just read the article and I am not persuaded yet. Here are the justifications I have used up to this point for watching football.
Yes, football has a terrible past of ignoring serious brain trauma and sending men and even H.S. kids out to play when it was extremely dangerous to do so. But that was the past, this is the present. At all levels football is working hard to keep people safe and there are protocols for protecting the injured and new rules to prevent more injuries. Coaches from the youth level on up are teaching better safer techniques and in 20 years we will see a much safer game. Also, players are now informed about the risks they are taking and take on those risks willingly.
2. If I had the ability I would play. I played from 3rd grade through 8th grade but switched to a HS that didn’t have it. I still wish that I had been able to play longer. Even with what I know in 2016 I would gladly play HS and college football if I could and I would take the risks in the NFL for a while as well so that I could set my family up financially.
3. I recognize this one is really easy for me to say since I only have daughters but…If I had a son I would allow and even encourage him to play football. I would be vigilante to make sure that his coaches are looking out for his safety. But I believe the rewards outweigh the risks so I would happily sign my son up for football.
I do believe that if you openly say that you would never play or let your kids play then you have some real explaining to do.
If you watch League of Denial you’ll see how shady the NFL has been in hiding what it knew from players. It makes you want to punch Goodell etc in the face. I do think that movie will change the way you view the NFL; they really really really can’t be trusted. I do agree with you on:
The Delanie Walker quotes from the Moehringer speak to that point of yours, as well as #2. Walker was more or less like, “this will set up my kids financially and is my only option to do that, it is worth my health.” The problem when you look at a macro level, and this was a very insightful point Moehringer made–and not just insightful, but the type of truth people hate talking about–is football is presented (he makes the point, like boxing for poor blacks and Latinos) to black kids in poverty as their way out of poverty. “Yes you will get brain damage, but you can set your kids up financially.” So if you zoom out to that macro level, it’s actually a racial oppression / injustice thing. I know many would say that’s really reading into things, but I think Moehringer is making a solid point that is disturbing. And with that, think of all those who got brain damage but never made it to the NFL. They got the brain damage without the payout of setting up their kids financially.
I’ve just heard way too many independent unbiased doctors say that football will give you brain damage. It’s not just the concussions, but all of the micro hits added up over time. And then you hear the stories from players (you hear a lot of them in League of Denial) where they can’t remember stuff, can’t remember memories of their kids, have Alzheimer’s / dementia way early like in their 40’s and 50’s, and of course the suicides. It’s scary stuff. So I think it’s very logical for someone to not want that for their kids or themselves. What you find from the research is that “safe tackling” is not going to save your brain, neither will helmet technology. The safe tackling is somewhat just propaganda by the NFL. For example, when I played for the Stealth, I always made sure I tackled at the waste, almost like a wrestling take down, but that didn’t stop me from getting a concussion. You can control where your head is, but you can’t control where someone else is going to hit you. The intimidation factor of football is as much a part of the game as the X’s and O’s, and they are never going to be able to remove that from the game. Guys will take the 15 yard penalty if they can put fear in the heart of their opponent. Look at this last weekend of NFL, Matt Moore gets destroyed in the head and comes in a play later. That could literally have taken years off his life. And that happens every week at the highest and most visible levels of the sport, just think what is happening at the lower levels where cameras aren’t running and there aren’t neurologists on the sidelines clearing guys to go back in. Another point about “safe tackling” goes along with the micro-hits that pile up, they say it’s the reason so many offensive lineman are getting CTE–these guys aren’t even tackling, so safe tackling principles would never apply to them, but they are colliding their heads on a smaller-scale almost every single play, which doctors say adds up over time.
I really appreciate your blog comments Lee, you do a great job! Thanks.
I see what you are saying about the fact that there a decent number of big-time college football or professional players who come from very poor backgrounds and wouldn’t have gotten an education or found a lucrative career without football. Sadder still are the countless others who don’t get college scholarships or an NFL payday. But I doubt if any 10 year-old kid signs up to play football as a way to “get out”, they sign up because it’s fun. In West Michigan one of the most successful HS football programs is East Grand Rapids which is an extremely wealthy school district. Just as many kids love football there as anywhere else even though every conceivable door is open to them. 99% of the time people are playing football because they love to play. Yes it can be a way to a better life but people play because they love to play and compete.
This is more anecdotal than a statistic but I took a few minutes to think about the Michigan football team (I’m not really an NFL fan but love the Wolverines). Michigan has three brothers on the team whose mom and dad are both doctors. They have three kids on the team whose dad’s had lengthy (and lucrative) NFL careers. Just off the top of my head I thought of about 20 kids who went to prestigious private high schools (although some may have been on scholarship). Plus I thought of some more who went to public school in generally affluent school districts. I think the generality that only poor kids play football is an overstatement.
In my opinion, when I turn on the Wolverines every Saturday I’m not watching a bunch of poor kids who are playing because they feel they have no choice. I’m watching a bunch of kids, rich, poor and in between who are playing because they love to play and some of them are able to get an education they would not have otherwise been able to get because they are good at football.
That being said, we constantly have to learn, inform and innovate. When people have all of the facts and make their choice accordingly that’s great, I support their choice either way. It sounds like the NFL robbed people of information and therefore essentially robbed people of their choice. If that is the case they should be financially and criminally liable.
Your last paragraph is very well said. Honestly, that’s pretty much my exact take on boxing. While I’ve never been interested in boxing, I’ve never ‘evangelized’ against it either, like I did with football with this column. I think that’s probably because the NFL has been so dishonest about it, and that dishonesty trickled down to all levels of football where we didn’t know what we are risking. Their continued propaganda that “the game is safe” continues to get me fired up.
A trend that is noticeable is decline in youth football participation: And if the NFL was scared of a 10 percent drop, the numbers reported this week, showing a decrease in participation of over 25 percent in the past six years, must have league executives scared in a way that feels quite unfamiliar. –http://www.vocativ.com/298019/youth-football-participation-is-plummeting/ — I’m looking for info on race/class demographics of this, as I know that was the point Moehringer was making, basically that wealthier whites are the ones who aren’t letting their kids play youth football anymore.
Bo Jackson:
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/18465325/bo-jackson-says-never-played-football-had-known-more-head-injuries
Bo Jackson also had the athletic ability to play professional baseball, that changes the financial dilemma.
I don’t think he was playing football to get out of poverty, that’s not the main point I want to make, just one of them. He obviously could have made a lot of money in baseball, he did in fact. The point is, he played football, now likely has brain damage, and wish he hadn’t played because he didn’t realize it was giving him brain damage because the NFL covered this up (even though they knew that it did).
http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/18585718/former-detroit-lions-rb-mel-farr-had-stage-3-cte-died-2015
http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/19029607/billion-dollar-nfl-concussion-settlement-turns-nasty-lawyers-others-vie-pieces-payouts-players
Bob Costas: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2017/11/09/bob-costas-warns-future-football-is-bleak-because-sport-destroys-peoples-brains.html