Truth. Kraft food has the worst ingredients in all its products too. This sounds funny but seriously, everything you buy from Kraft has truly horrible ingredients in it, and these are not only the people who own football teams, but run the country. There is no integrity.
NFL players are essentially being exploited for money starting in HS in some cases and as freshman's in college in most cases. The NFL has surrounded players with their own medical staff who at best have a conflict of interest between the players actual health and the teams need to have them on the field. We humans have a mechanism called denial. Most people couldn't make it through the day if they really understood what living a good portion of their life as an invalid meant let alone the reality of our own mortality. Now many people would take the proverbial deal with the devil, a life of burning hell for a few moments of fame and fortune but that's only because they are in denial about the burning in hell part. The real question is should football be banned as to dangerous or is the league going to have to substantially change the game.
Why would that be a question that even warrants a debate? There are other bloodsports that are much more barbaric in nature and don't even get talked about(boxing,MMA,etc.). Your right that these players get exploited from an early age but at least the NFL compensates its players financially and nowadays has the best medical care available for its players and their families. The NCAA on the other hand barely even gets a mention when talking about concussions and CTE even though the average NFL career is shorter than playing in college until your a senior, and they don't even get compensated.
Agreed Boxing and MMA should be outlawed. The NCAA is going to be a target of huge lawsuits at some point. Don't be surprised when the game is radically changed. The cigarette industry has set the legal precedent on where this is going. As the evidence becomes clear so even Juries can understand it huge class action suits will become the norm.
As someone explained earlier, the problem for the NFL is that the feeder system for players is going to dry up. The argument that grown men are being paid and making a free choice to accept the risks of brain injury only works in the NFL, and look how much it cost them. It's also big business for the NCAA, and one could argue that the promise of a college education (cough cough) is a substantial quid pro quo for players even though they aren't paid, but that argument will go out the window when the next class action lawsuit gets filed. Given the number of players, the lack of player income, and the age of the players making this "free choice", the settlement number/jury award is going to be a lot higher. Many college programs will just suspend operations. Faced with multi-million dollar lawsuits, I think the decision is also an easy one for most school districts with high school programs - no more football unless it's flag football or two hand touch. Insuring clubs and youth leagues will also become prohibitively expensive unless they institute non-contact rules. I haven't even mentioned parents who forbid their kids from playing because it's too dangerous (Troy Aikman being one). A lot of people have their head in the sand over this issue, and they tend to be the ones who whine about the hit on a defenseless receiver. They don't understand that it really does pose a very real threat to the NFL as we know it. There are some serious changes coming.
