Longtime blog readers know that I’m a big sports fan, and for most of my life that has heavily involved football. Some of my earliest memories are of rooting for Joe Montana and Jerry Rice and the 49ers dynasty of the 80s, which extended to Steve Young and Jerry Rice in the 90s and beyond.
When I was in college I went to Pasadena to watch Stanford’s Rose Bowl appearance on January 1, 2000, and have since cheered on legends Toby Gerhart and Andrew Luck. Now the 49ers have returned to excellence and I was as excited as anyone.
But over the years it’s gotten a lot harder to watch.
It all started for me later in 2000 when I was standing on the field across from the line of scrimmage when Washington safety Curtis Williams was injured on a running play. I heard the incredible hit and watched the paramedics rush onto the field and then rush back to the ambulance in a panic, saying, “Holy s***, they’re bagging him.” Williams was revived on the field, left paralyzed from the neck down, and eventually died at age 24.
But while that may be chalked up to a freak accident, a huge amount of information has since come to light about the effects football has on players’ brains. The first serious dawning came from Malcolm Gladwell’s influential 2009 article that compared football to dogfighting, which shined a spotlight on the horrific effects football had on former players.
Since then I’ve been grappling with how ethical it really is to watch football. Yes, the players are there willingly. Yes, they’re well-compensated (at least the pros). Yes, the NFL has taken steps to punish helmet to helmet hits, which mollified me some. But should we really be supporting a system that incentivizes people to destroy their brains for our pleasure?
Now comes news that one of the greatest linebackers in history, Junior Seau, was found dead due to an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.
While of course we shouldn’t jump to conclusions until the facts are in and it’s uncertain whether this has anything to do with football, it’s impossible not to draw parallels to the circumstances of another troubled former player, star safety Dave Duerson, who also shot himself in the chest, leaving a note that he wanted his brain donated for study. It was later confirmed that Duerson suffered from a neurodegenerative disease linked to concussions.
Is it really ethical to watch a sport that by its very nature has such a horrific effect on its players? Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates has blogged eloquently about this topic. He now says he’s out.
This past season I cringed as Stanford’s talented wide receiver Chris Owusu endured concussion after horrifying concussion, and now he’s going to give it a go with the 49ers. It’s admirable that he wants to keep playing the sport he loves, and of course these are my two favorite teams.
I just don’t know if I can watch.
I just want to throw something out there – as someone who has suffered several concussions, I think it's nonsense to suggest that Owusu's not at a higher risk for subsequent concussion. I know he is.
I've spent my entire life with horses. I've galloped racehorses, played polo, evented, fox hunted, broken and trained young horses – you name it, I've done it. (For the record, I only drag hunted, which means you just pretend to look for fox – you don't actually kill anything.)
Over the years, I've broken my back and have had several concussions. It used to take a pretty good knock to the head to hurt me, but now it takes very little for me to feel concussion-like symptoms. I also feel I'm not as mentally sharp as I once was, and that my short term memory has suffered. Whether this is natural aging (I'm 35) or a product of injury, I don't know.
But you know, it's tough. Horses taught me how to be a leader, how to be brave, how to be tough, how to handle a crisis. In my opinion, what I've gained far exceeds what I've lost. And I'm still out there doing it, and it's hard to imagine giving it up. Granted, I'm not getting on racehorses anymore, but I'm still the first person to get on young horses here and again, and that's not exactly safe, either.
Recently, one of the stars of our sport – a two-time Olympian, in fact – died in her sleep. Her friends believe she died of a brain injury. She, too, had suffered many concussions, and had a bad fall not long before she died. But having known her, I can tell you that there's nothing else she would have rather done with her life. She lived life to its fullest extent, and she was free to do so.
It's hard for to argue that people shouldn't be free to play the sports they love. At the same time, I hate the the idea of the powers that be exploiting players. At the very least, players need to be made aware of the risks they are taking.
I've never been a football fan, but I've been a hockey fan since high school. Back then, the finesse and skill were paramount. People actually booed when a fight broke out because that's not what we paid to see. Only one player on those early St. Louis Blues teams wore a helmet (Red Berenson), and Glenn Hall was experimenting with goalie masks. It was a different game.
Flash forward to 2009. I suffered a concussion in a car accident. It was "mild", but devastating. Had to change careers (a good thing, but…). Still have residual effects and probably always will.
I can't watch hockey anymore, not even on TV. When a player goes down, like Marian Hossa of the Blackhawks recently, it's like PTSD for me. I can feel it all over again.
What I've suffered is nothing compared to what Duerson and Seau and Hossa and Toews and thousands of others have suffered: not just pros, but high school kids, too, boys and girls alike.
All I can do is refuse to watch, refuse to support the culture that glories in this kind of pain. Not enough, I guess, but boy, these stories just tear me apart.
So, I've been thinking about this post for a couple of days, and reading the comments. I thought Bryan's post was especially poignant.
I also want to acknowledge this must be alittle heartbreaking for you, Nathan, to consider giving up football, and I identify. It's really hard to let go of something that gives you so much joy because you see it in a new light.
Although, I do think ethical actions are complicated. Some people may feel they have to completely separate themselves from the sport in protest, others may feel that they can enjoy the sport as long as they actively advocate for change and improvement.
I've been fascinated by ethics, and I've come believe that ethical judgements come down to values. For example, the old ethical question of: "Is it okay for someone to steal a loaf of bread if they are starving?", pits the value of the right to life vs. the right to property and livelihood protection, along with the value of social order. Whether one value is more "right" than another is something that is hard to prove objectively, it can really only be proven by other values.
That's what makes ethical decisions so complex. The decision about football puts several conflicting values out there:
a. The value of protecting players from exploitation.
b. The value of protecting players from dangerous and damaging conditions.
c. The value of not equating cruelty and/or violence with entertainment.
d. The value of self-determination; the right for people to choose their lives if they know the risks.
e. The value of protesting class inequity; not all participants are facing the same choice because of their background.
f. The value of realitively safe ways to channel and contain man's violent and competitive impulses.
g. The value of encouraging and demonstrating courage, honor, intelligence and teamwork.
h. The value of bonding and community through friendly competition.
i. The value of having arenas where people can demostrate the highest of skill and dedication.
j. The value of allowing people to do what they love, despite risks.
k. The value of society protecting people from doing things that may cause them irreversible and irreparable damage, even if they love them.
l. The value of protecting children from life choices that may shorten or diminish their life.
And probably some other ones.
And then – to make it more complicated, we can agree with one or more values that conflict. I think the ultimate decision has to be a weighing and measuring of what values feel most important to you.
Whether there is an objective right answer – I think that's a really interesting question, and one that is currently beyond my ability to answer. 🙂
But I do think there is a right answer for everyone – for themselves.
I hope in the future, technology or game rules can be created to make the game more safe. I'm sure the public pressure right now is a very good thing, and I hope it makes some changes to any sport that is dangerous.
Great question. Personally, I'm totally uninterested in watching sports played like this. Within recent yeas, concussions have increased, in both professional football players and children playing sports. The average life expectancy of an adult male is now 75 years; the average life expectancy of a retired NFL player is now 53 – 59 years. Knowing all this, I find the sport too negative an experience to watch.
I forgot to add that one of the most serious problems with sports today, from children's sports to professional sports, is the valuing of competition over regard for physical health. Sports are played rough, and players are frequently sent back into the game after signs of concussions when they shouldn't be sent back in. I read about a situation in children's baseball in which adult coaches were telling elementary school children to throw the ball hard and aim at the chests of children on the opposite team when they were up at bat because they'd probably jump out of the way and miss hitting the ball, but many young children weren't jumping out of the way in time. Healthy competition is great; but when competition is the be all and end all of life, I think society has taken a turn toward the worst with some very questionable values.
Well obviously Nathan you've broached a subject that has baffled philosophers and learned men. I doubt we'll find answers here.
I won't pretend to have a definitive answer, I'll only say that in my mind, the question of whether it is ethical to "incentivize" people taking risks is a moot point.
People incentivize themselves. Since we're talking about football, I'll talk about Peyton Manning. As far as I'm concerned, he's had one of the best careers of any player in history. After failed neck surgeries, I'd hang it up. But see, you don't become Peyton Manning unless you can take that dare. 'I' didn't incentivize him. And I didn't incentivize Junior Seau. Those guys would do it with or without us watching.
And the thing is, I can take this example far beyond sports. How many actors, successful and aspiring, have had the Hollywood life destroy them? Have we judged the ethics of watching movies or TV? I could ask the same question about musicians. Does the fates of Cobain, Winehouse, Jackson, and Houston make us complicit in their deaths and mean we should chuck our playlists?
The entire world watched and cheered the men of Apollo 11; even though a little over two years earlier three other men literally burned to death on the same launchpad.
Consider writing. How many people have lost years and money trying to get published? How many people have been driven to divorce and/or depression as they struggle with their manuscript? Would you discourage your child, or spouse, or friend from writing still?
My point is, whatever your feeling, we have to truly evaluate where our culpability, if any, lies in allowing others to pursue their dreams if we're going to ask about the ethics of being spectators.
-Bill
Bill-
Disagree that professional players, and even many amateurs, would still play football even if no one was watching. We are providing the incentives with eyeballs and tickets. People don't incentivize themselves. I really like my job, but if they stopped paying me I'd stop showing up.
We're also talking about risks that appear to be endemic to the very nature of the sport rather than cases of accidents or mishaps. There is risk in everything, the question is where you draw the line as an unacceptable level of risk. Given the increasing amount of data that football players are at risk merely from repetitive subconcussive and very legal hits I think it's safe to say that it's crossed the threshold for me. But it's up to everyone to make their own choices.
*I* wouldn't stop writing just because I wasn't getting paid. There is no "unacceptable level of risk." They'd have to kill me first.
I think that's the definition between a job and a passion.
First let me say that I adore football to the point that one of my best buds believes I'll be the first female head coach in the NFL. While that's not likely to happen, I do however think that the sheer violence of the game is one of the reasons it is so popular. I have always equated football players to be our present day gladiators. Humans, on some level, need that forceful outlet. If it wasn't football, it would be some other high contact sport that would take its place.
Now as to your question, is it ethical to watch? No. Will that keep me from watching? Probably not. I love the sport too much and not for the violence of it but the beauty of a well played offensive drive. Or watching a 300 pound defensive lineman intercept the football and run it in for a TD.
Players are hurt in professional sports across the board. I remember a Cardinals baseball game where our catcher Yadier Molina was hit by a runner, seeing him facedown across home plate, you could hear a pin drop at Busch Stadium. But he got up, and soldiered on. I think that injuries, potentially life threatening ones on down the line, are part of playing sports.
As unethical as it may be, I don't foresee myself giving up watching my Rams (even as bad as they have been). I know I won't give up watching my STL Cardinals, that's in my blood. My earliest crystal clear memory with my Dad had to do with the Cardinals.
Would I give up writing because of injuries? No. I love it too much. And I think some, not all because some are in it just for the money at least at the NFL level, do it because they love playing the game. Peyton Manning loves the game enough that he's going to continue playing coming off of what should be a career ending injury. One wrong blow could paralyze him or worse but he's doing it anyway. Could you or I stop him? No because even if we don't watch, others will. Does it mean I have to watch? No but I don't watch any of the god awful reality TV shows and they still manage to find an audience. I'm just saying.
Maggie Mae Gallagher
Nathan, I've been reading your blog for quite some time now and you seem a nice person and a gentleman.
A gentleman sport like snooker, might be just the thing for you.
I live in Europe and assume you need a satelite dish to watch it. (BBC and Eurosport)
However there are many clips on youtube; Ronnie O'Sullivan is always a pleasure to watch.