Football may come at too high a price

When Colts quarterback Andrew Luck walked off the field for a final time on Aug. 24 — multiple injuries having convinced him that retirement from professional football at age 29 was the only sensible option — Colts fans booed. It was a stunning display given the quarterback’s past heroics on behalf of Indianapolis.

This was the 2018 NFL Comeback Player of the Year who had previously overcome damage to his throwing shoulder as well as a concussion, leg injuries, a lacerated kidney and on and on.

But the fans at Lucas Oil Stadium didn’t see a man facing a lifetime of pain after 86 NFL games, they saw only a competitive disadvantage in losing a top-rated signal-caller so late in preparations for the season. And so they booed.

Such indifference shocked even veteran NFL players. Well, perhaps only a little.

The mythology of the gritty football player who shakes off blown knees, broken bones, chronic pain and hits to the head so damaging they cause temporary unconsciousness — and perhaps a lifetime of impaired cognitive function — through sheer courage and willpower is as much a part of football as touchdowns and cheerleaders. Never mind that it’s pure bunk.

Football players are all too human, and if there’s one thing medical science has discovered in recent years, it’s that chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative disease of the brain, is highly prevalent among former NFL players and incurable. That’s a scary circumstance given that CTE has been linked to severe depression, suicide, Parkinson’s disease and progressive dementia.

One suspects that reality won’t receive top billing as the National Football League kicks off its 100th season. But it’s hard to believe it won’t be in the back of the minds of fans.

Attendance at NFL games was down last year, but television viewing was up. More telling is that America’s moms and dads aren’t too wild about their sons taking up football. Youth football participation rates are down nationwide and have been for years.

As fans gather around their television sets, the question remains: Are they cheering for the American team sport they grew up with or a gladiatorial competition where serious injury is a given? Do they view NFL players as fellow humans or something else — perhaps doomed participants in a Faustian bargain where for millions of dollars they have agreed to put a functioning brain on the auction block?

To its credit, the NFL has been upgrading equipment and making minor rule changes to help prevent serious injury, but it’s not clear whether it’s been nearly enough. Some of the league’s biggest stars invariably land on the disabled list.

The day football is once again seen as a wholesome activity is the day that youth participation rates are back on the rise. Until then, the NFL is perhaps best described as a guilty pleasure.

It’s all very well to be thrilled by the heroics and athletic skills displayed each week on the gridiron, but do such competitions come at far too high a price?

— The Baltimore Sun