Lowell Cohn: NFL players willingly take the risk of brain injuries

Do you feel guilty when you watch NFL games, guilty about enjoying games with injuries including brain trauma?

I don't. Not even close.

I bring this up because The New York Review of Books just published an article about the problems with football. The author admits — proclaims — his guilty feelings about liking the sport. With the Super Bowl a week and a half away, even an intellectual rag like The NY Review is getting in on the action.

The author is someone who proclaims his standing as a bleeding heart, one of those people who wants you to know his feelings are correct, one of those folks who broadcasts, 'Look at me suffer for the downtrodden football players.' Or something like that. Public sufferers are some of the most moral people you'll ever encounter.

Here is what the author wrote: 'But my attachment to football has been loosened by an increasing sense of guilt about whether I am complicit in supporting an unacceptably debilitating and duplicitous enterprise.'

Oh, God, what a tremendous burden this poor man carries — carries for all of us sinners.

Before moving on, let me define my scope. I am not writing about youth football. Thousands of kids play youth football and high school football. They bang their heads and that sets the stage for the serious condition called CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy.) It is between parents and their children if those kids play football. I did not allow my son to play football in high school.

And I am not writing about college football, although I assume most young men who play in college are old enough to make an informed decision.

As a side note, I do have moral objections to college football. Not because of potential CTE. Because a so-called amateur sport has gone totally professional and is a sellout to the amateur ideals of college sports. I'm saying college football is one of the phoniest, most sanctimonious things going. It's more corrupt than the NFL — at least the NFL is upfront about its greed and corruption. See Super Bowl Week coming to a city very near you.

I am limiting this column to the NFL, the crux of the issue. We have heard about CTE in that league. Scare/bleeding heart articles have proclaimed the impending death of the NFL because it is so violent. It sure is violent. Reformers have proclaimed the death of the NFL because it can't 'fix' its problem — brain damage. And let's be clear, an estimated 30 percent of current players will suffer some form of dementia by age 65. That's what it said in The New York Review article.

Thirty percent is a scary number and I wish football weren't so violent. I still cover it, make my living writing about it among other less violent sports. Write about it without a pang of bad conscience. Why is that?

Because men who play in the NFL are grownups who know the risks. Years ago, they may not have known. They sure do now. Everyone knows the risks of playing in the NFL. I would not condescend to football players to say I worry about them or feel bad for them. I believe grown men have the right to make a life decision after considering the risks — even if it's a decision you don't approve of. It's their lives and I defend free choice as long as the activity is legal.

Men who play in the NFL earn lots of money, drive cars you can't believe, have a lifestyle you'll never have. They have calculated the equation and choose to play and embrace the lifestyle in spite of the risks. Who are you and I to tell them they're wrong? It's not like the NFL is running out of players. Every time a player goes down, someone else wants his spot. Men are lining up to play in the NFL.

Linebacker Chris Borland walked away from football — from the 49ers — after one season. He made an informed decision to leave. Linebacker NaVorro Bowman is making an informed decision to stay. Bowman is intelligent and well-spoken. I respect Borland's decision but I respect Bowman's just as much. Bowman doesn't need sports do-gooders or sports bleeding hearts to protect him from himself.

My favorite sport to cover is boxing — was boxing before it became a niche hobby. Just as violent as football. Hazardous to one's health. Fighters know the risks. Choose to fight anyway. Their choice. I'd be an awful hypocrite to dump on football the way I love fighting, the way I keep watching old Rocky Marciano fights and Floyd Patterson fights and Ray Robinson fights on YouTube. At least football players get to wear helmets.

You'll be relieved to know The New York Review article has a happy ending. 'I could not yet bring myself to stop watching (football),' the writer confessed, 'even though that made me feel less than virtuous.'

Oh, let's let the poor guilt-ridden guy off the hook. Hey, you, it's not about your virtue. Never was. Peyton Manning can take care of himself. Wouldn't want it any other way. Doesn't need your moral dilemma. Or your concern. So enjoy the Broncos vs. the Panthers. Could be a great game.

All of you enjoy it with a clear conscience.

For more on the world of sports in general and the Bay Area in particular, go to the Cohn Zohn at cohn.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.