image by: John McStravick

HWN Suggests

Thank heaven Damar Hamlin survived. We’re not so sure about the NFL

This is a sport that fits hand in glove with a nation awash in violence. It proudly presents a brutal, three-hour, highly commodified spectacle for popular consumption. The players have their faces and bodies hidden under a mountain of equipment and a helmet. The league delivers — with the tagline “football is family” — an image of violence without consequence, or at least violence suffered by largely anonymous, overwhelmingly Black athletes who sacrifice their bodies and minds week after week.

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Featured

 Football Is Deadly, but Not for the Reasons You Think

I hope the football safety conversation that Damar Hamlin has inspired makes the game safer for young players who consider him a hero and want to follow in his footsteps. I also hope the public will focus on what we can influence, including how we manage risk factors for heart disease and when we introduce our children to tackle football.

 We’re All Complicit in the N.F.L.’s Violent Spectacle

The appetite for football has never been higher, even as viewers look past the toll the sport takes on players’ lives. Damar Hamlin’s collapse during a prime-time game should force a reconsideration.

Articles of Interest

Former NFL players die at a faster rate than other professional athletes, study finds

“There is so much press and buzz around the neurocognitive stuff, and that was one of the important things to come out of this,” said Marc Weisskopf, an environmental epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a study co-author. “But for cardiovascular disease, the number was higher, and since it’s more common, let’s not lose sight of the fact that it’s a very important issue.”

I Quit The NFL But Have Hope For Football’s Future

I’ve come to realize my experiences may enable me to help others find solutions to the game’s safety issues. Still, I’ve struggled to find my place in the ongoing debate as someone who appreciates nuance, but lives in a binary “anti” or “pro” football world. Folks who blithely disregard the benefits of football likely haven’t played or are being intellectually dishonest.

NFL Players Die Young. Or Maybe They Live Long Lives

The leaders of the NFL have behaved atrociously, and they’ve been worse than inattentive to the safety of players and their families. But the sport they represent isn’t killing its employees. It’s not abusing women. It isn’t adding to the sum total of human suffering. If you have a chance to play in the NFL, you should probably take it.

People Don’t Abuse Children. Switches Do

Most of us disciplined our kids a little more than we meant sometimes. But we were only trying to prepare them for the real world - Bonita Jackson, Adrian Peterson's mother.

The Facts and Fictions Surrounding a Culture of Violence in the NFL

Does the violence of NFL culture predispose the league to a higher rate of criminal activity compared to normal society?

The NFL Says “No More” Violence Against Women. Seriously?

Call me skeptical, but after the series of horrific scandals the NFL has been dealing with this year I think these PSA’s, are just a pathetic attempt to salvage their badly tarnished image.

The NFL Stops Pretending to Care About Violence Against Women

An argument could made that, in a macro sense, this reversion is an improvement. After all, there is something inherently weird about league management investigating and doling out its own judgment outside the legal system — judgment that is more answerable to the whims of the public than necessarily what is just.

The NFL's Helmet Tests Are Brainless

Current testing on helmets ignores the kinds of impacts that cause most of the concussions. It’s time for football to wise up.

Violence in the N.F.L.

In professional football, danger is at the root of any given play.

We have no idea how dangerous football really is

Is there a scientific case for banning the sport?

Resources

NFL Foundation

We believe that education is essential to improve the game, and keep youth football players safe. For these reasons we support opportunities for youth football coaches to receive proper education and industry-leading health and safety resources that will help them protect their players on the field.