This is an excerpt from a column that Bill Simmons and Malcolm Gladwell did for ESPN:

To be fair, my piece wasn't the tipping point on this issue. I was just piling on after the brilliant work of Alan Schwarz at The New York Times, who has owned and operated this story from the beginning. (If he doesn't win the Pulitzer, I give up.) But in answer to your question: Yes, football has kind of been ruined for me, I'm afraid. Understand that I live for the game. But I'm increasingly of the opinion that it is screwed up -- on a moral level -- in a way that no other professional sport is.

 

Think about it. The league has a salary cap (which limits players' pay), minimal health insurance for retirees and no guaranteed contracts. In other words, the owners reserve the right to limit the pool of money available to players, to walk away from contracts whenever they please and then hold no long-term responsibility for the health of the players whose contracts they have limited and declined to honor. Coal miners aren't treated this badly. And now we strongly suspect a fourth fact: that some significant percentage of ex-players, as a direct result of playing professional football, will suffer from dementia in their 40s and 50s, in addition to all the known and significant other health risks of the game (severe arthritis, substantially elevated risk of heart disease, etc.).

 

At some point, doesn't it become immoral to watch a sport that treats its players so badly? Most people don't go to boxing matches or dogfights on ethical grounds. So how is football different?

 

 

Thoughts?

I am a big Bill Simmons fan and that excerpt is on point. While I don't think it is immoral to watch football, I think it is sad that the players are treated the way they are. When more journalists begin to talk about these issues and make it more known to the public than the number of Tiger Woods' mistresses, then maybe something will be done.

I am a big Bill Simmons fan and that excerpt is on point. While I don't think it is immoral to watch football, I think it is sad that the players are treated the way they are. When more journalists begin to talk about these issues and make it more known to the public than the number of Tiger Woods' mistresses, then maybe something will be done.

I think I should have clarified that this excerpt is actually Gladwell and not Simmons. But the column as a whole is a continuation of something they've done before where they trade e-mails back and forth.

I think I should have clarified that this excerpt is actually Gladwell and not Simmons. But the column as a whole is a continuation of something they've done before where they trade e-mails back and forth.

 

I knew, I was just stating I liked Bill Simmons.

Most get paid multi-millions...I don't feel bad for them.

I feel just terrible for these guys who make millions of dollars a year to play a game...

Coal miners aren't treated this badly.

 

I really don't see this as a very good way to make his point. I'm quite sure that given the opportunity the overwhelming majority if not all coal miners would gladly change positions with someone on an NFL roster.

I really don't see this as a very good way to make his point. I'm quite sure that given the opportunity the overwhelming majority if not all coal miners would gladly change positions with someone on an NFL roster.

 

:thumb:

Another thing, if the contracts, benefits, working conditions in the NFL are so pitiful, nobody put a gun to the players heads and made them apply for a job. Theres plenty of other options available. Perhaps they should try Monster.com.

Kind of a silly point. No one forced these guys to seek employment with the NFL. If they think they are being treated unfairly they, just like anyone else, can change employment to a job that they feel has better benefits.

 

With an average salary of nearly 1.5 million dollars, its tough to feel sorry for them.

I am a big Bill Simmons fan and that excerpt is on point. While I don't think it is immoral to watch football, I think it is sad that the players are treated the way they are. When more journalists begin to talk about these issues and make it more known to the public than the number of Tiger Woods' mistresses, then maybe something will be done.

 

Right on PP. :thumb:

From this thread I am gathering that there is nothing wrong with enjoying something that causes people to become crippled, suffer from dementia, etc. As long as those people are well paid.

From this thread I am gathering that there is nothing wrong with enjoying something that causes people to become crippled, suffer from dementia, etc. As long as those people are well paid.

 

Does it matter that those people chose the job ?

 

Is watching professional wrestling immoral ? How about hockey, a sport where we allow and encourage grown men to fist fight ?

Player's Union?

From this thread I am gathering that there is nothing wrong with enjoying something that causes people to become crippled, suffer from dementia, etc. As long as those people are well paid.

 

Nobody forces these guys to play professional football. It's not like these guys are Roman gladiators and have no choice whether or not to participate in the sport.

 

If the job isn't attractive than they can always go punch a clock at the local factory, or perhaps they might be able to find something that would allow them to use the free college education that they have received.