Letter: Football risks

To the editor:

I am fully aware of Americas love affair with football and, yes, I know that getting out of bed and going to class involves a certain amount of risk. However, the life-changing injuries involved with football are really becoming alarming.

In certain states, football has become almost a religion. I am thinking particularly in Texas, where I once lived. Anyone who tries to warn young people of the hazards along with their parents is quickly discredited and all but burned in effigy. Not just Texas, but in almost every state. The problem is this: the younger they start the higher the risks of cumulative chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

What I propose is that, at every level, those who choose to play the game should be fully informed of the alarming statistics. Some say our national love affair with the NFL is our substitute for the excitement of war. Oddly enough the odds are much better in the military forces than in the NFL against crippling brain injury.

As far as cage fighting is concerned, where the winner continues to pound his opponent on the floor, I can think of no possible excuse for that not being outlawed. Well so much for wishing for a more civilized nation. The very idea of a civilized society requires civilized thought and informed, caring citizens. We as a nation seem very short of both