Colin Kaepernick taught us all about that. Peacefully protesting got him blackballed out of the league. Does anybody think that the other players could have possibly not noticed this?
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Enraging… it’s one thing if someone gets an easily identifiable injury (a broken bone - but even then it’s fucked up to send players right back out, but we see that a lot in pro/college sports). But those injuries don’t cause LITERAL death… but the guy’s heart ACTUALLY fucking stopped… He had to be fucking revived… The NFL is run by racist ghouls… This shows just how little they care about the human beings playing their game and lining their fucking pockets.
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You don’t speak for “the players” any more than anybody else here does
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This is hardly the first or only time somebody has been taught to love someone or something that is unworthy of that love
Football is not a person. It can’t learn from its mistakes. It can’t apologize for what it did wrong. It can’t repent its sins and be forgiven and see Jesus in Heaven. It does not, and never will, love us back.
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This talk about “players and their families,” I see a parallel with military families. Economically incentivized to join, honor, heritage, all that. Few among us turn our noses up to members of the military: we understand their sacrifices are well-intentioned. But war is hell and needs to be stopped. Just because the NFL isn’t as bad as war doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be stopped (or massively reformed, which several have pointed out is a can’t-get-there-from-here situation).
Ugh, despite all the uncertainties about our future, I am somehow resigned that I could possibly live to see Superbowl 100. That’s good, cause it means the US hasn’t crumbled under its own weight; it’s bad cause it means we’re still doing the same stupid shit.
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… and fundamentally there is supposed to be some kind of point to a war, other than to amuse spectators who are getting off on the violence
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I remember a bill was introduced last February to address the whole “new stadium, huge tax breaks and civic funding” issue but can’t remember if it passed. It’s such a fucking scam. The NFL and MLB generate billions in revenue. There’s no reason we should be subsidizing their infrastructure with tax dollars (either spent or not collected).
We had a much smaller incidence locally a few years ago (in the hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars wasted versus millions) that still pisses me off. Where we used to have a nice meadow, now there’s an ice arena and parking lot that some developers made bank on, and now sits mostly empty, and we have to pay a city staff person to try to make it worthwhile. I preferred the meadow.
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Funny you should mention that; I brought up the relevant correlation of military exploitation of poor POC very recently to someone in passing conversation.
Like the endless gun argument, some people simply don’t give a fuck that their ‘favored entertainment’ is actively harmful to others…
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Yeah, I just noticed a nice chunk of change in the news for another stadium project to support the Philadelphia Union. Ugh.
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My little brother played football in high school and during a drill where they sprinted and turned on a dime and sprinted back, he hurt himself. I got called out of class to go see him and the coach and the trainer were all trying to tell me that my little brother just sprained his knee. I told them that it was a lot more serious than that. I knew my little brother and I knew how much pain he was in. He wasn’t screaming because that’s not how he deals with pain.
We eventually got in touch with my parents and they gave permission for me to put my brother in my car and take him to the hospital. Turns out he didn’t sprain his knee. He broke his kneecap in half.
I will never forget how the coach and the trainer kept trying to tell me that he wasn’t that hurt. Because he was good. He was one of their best players. He was 15 and they cared more about winning games than him. They didn’t want to believe he was seriously injured because then he couldn’t play. And this was a white boy, not a Black boy.
After the panic of the day itself and supporting my brother through his grief and his pain from the surgery, all I was left with was relief. He wasn’t ever going to play again and I was so god damned relieved.
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I’m sorry to hear that. And also grateful for the shared story, and glad to hear he got out early.
I too know some people brutally injured by playing this game. Yes people love it, yes it’s a route to riches for some lucky (few of whom actually retain and enjoy that wealth), and yes its ongoing popularity seems inevitable, but the game should somehow die out. We can all help just by not watching it. And by reminding those who do how childishly, heartlessly stupid they’re being when they support it by watching it.
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It doesn’t even need to die out, really. It just needs to adapt to a modern understanding of where the line between sport and unnecessary harm lies. Other sports have done so - most notably ice hockey - and are much better for it. Hey, there are hockey players who have long, successful careers who retire with all of their teeth!
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Maybe, but it’s tough to imagine many people liking football in a form that’s “watered down” enough
to be safe for the players. 
I guess if it dies down to weekend warroirs and those who like playing flag football, that wouldn’t exactly amount to “dying out.”
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Professional flag football would be so much fun to watch. Much faster, more action, less time between plays (the amount of time it takes in current NFL football, just picking up all the 6’5”, 310 lb players every play is ridiculous) adds up to a more modern version of football that loses most of the inherent risk. It would be more on par (or even lower risk than) with soccer.
The NFL will lose the most hardcore bloodlust fans to MMA (but that’s already happening). Good riddance. But they could pick up a lot of new fans who are into the faster pace and regain fans who have left because of the violence and harm.
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Fatball?
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Bubble ball? 
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But why didn’t you let him play his precious sportsball!!! /s
What an awful story, though. I’m sorry.
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Thanks, @anon15383236 and @anon61221983.
This string reminded me of that event because of the preceeding discussion of the NFL’s exploitation of football players and their high injury rates. That culture has trickled down into games involving kids too. Football is a brutal sport and the NFL has definitely worked to make it even more brutal.
I’d also like to point out that in addition to the racism, player exploitation, unconscionable injury rates, issues with college ball players, and issues with taking tax money for a private and very profitable enterprise, the NFL and college football system are also rife with misogyny and sexual harassment. The congressional report on the Commanders was just the latest. It really seems like the entire sport is tainted beyond redemption.
Edit for autoincorrect
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And those rates generally just reflect the people who’ve made it to the elite level. Like your story shows, by the time someone gets to the major league, there is a trail of several more who’ve been injured out of the game along the way. I knew a family in DC, and one son had made it all the way to try outs for the majors and got injured during the actual tryouts, and a daughter had a similar experience related to cheering for the majors.
My point is, as egregious as the reported injury rates are from the major league, they’re literally the tip of the iceberg for the injuries this sport is responsible for.
I’m so glad you were there to advocate for your little brother! Good sibling. 
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