Comments on: Player Dementia and the Fan’s Dilemma: Is Watching N.F.L. Football Unethical?

By: Jack Marshall

Jack Marshall — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 03:20:25 +0000

I never said, nor do I believe, that watching football is “absolutely unethical.” I said that it is unethical to contribute money if it induces other human beings to cripple themselves. I did not say they are forced to play the game…obviously they choose to. Boxers love boxing too, and that love causes a lot of them to be cripples before their time.

I wrote how fans would react; you just illustrated what I predicted. Risk in sport is natural and unavoidable, but the head trauma in the NFL goes far beyond that. I don’t need or want to repeat what I wrote…it’s true, and most physicians would agree that it’s true. What you are saying, bottom line, is that if athletes are willing to entertain you now, for the right price, at the cost of being mentally disabled and a burden on their families prematurely, you’re eager and willing to let them do it. I’m not. You tell me which is the more humane and responsible position.

By: Steve Chapman

Steve Chapman — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 02:41:55 +0000

To call watching football absolutely unethical is a gross exaggeration. Players due not play because they are forced to as you suggest, they love the game. Brett Favre finally retires last year after how long? He did not need money; he loved the game of football. If I could be paid millions to do something that I love the choice would be simple. Of course an immense salary is a great incentive to subject yourself to possible injury but, players understand the risk involved and as such they assume that risk when they step onto the field. Beyond that the NFL has made changes to protect its players. There are rules regarding helmet type and construction as well as a rule against helmet to helmet contact. Is it unethical to support our military because men and women are given a signing bonus to enlist even though that may lead to an early death?

By: Super Sunday Ethics: Tim Tebow’s Pro-Life Superbowl Ad « Ethics Alarms

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:35:40 +0000

[...] honestly: living rooms full of drunken fans, screaming for their team to pulverize the bones and bruise the brains of the opposing team’s players, are such hallowed spaces that it is wrong to momentarily [...]

By: Jack Marshall

Jack Marshall — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:18:51 +0000

That’s fair, Bob. Fair, but futile: as I suggested in the post, the mechanic of the game and the physics of steroid-fed 350 pound young men blocking, tackling, and knocking into each other at high speeds make head trauma inevitable. This is why the NFL has avoided admitting the issue, I think, because there IS no solution short of testing players for head trauma and de-certifying them for play after even one serious concussion. Realistically, do you see a billion dollar indistry permitting that? I agree that it’s fair to wait, except that the end result, in my view is not in doubt.

By: Bob Stone

Bob Stone — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:26:41 +0000

We should distinguish among football, boxing, and hockey. Hockey tolerates physical assaults with the stick, which should be cause for expulsion. Boxing has as its PRIMARY objective brain injury that causes the opponent’s brain to stop working, at least temporarily. Head injuries in football aren’t the point of the game. I’d hope that the NCAA and the NFL will own up to the problem and do what they can to alleviate them.

I’ll give them some time to do this before finally branding the sport as unethical.

By: Jack Marshall

Jack Marshall — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:09:16 +0000

I think the kinds of injuries we are talking about with football related head-trauma is different in kind from most athletics-related maladies. Basketball and tennis wrecks the knees, and baseball pitchers’ arms hurt, but I put this in the category of writers getting carpel tunnel syndrome…job-related injuries that are treatable and that don’t significantly reduce the quality of life, except in extreme cases. Death and brain injury, like steroid-related cancers and heart problems, are something else entirely. It’s wrong to pay money that induces someone to take unreasonable risks.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:13:22 +0000

Unlike Mr. Dorr, I find several things unethical about football (and many other sports).
•To begin with, not admitting the damage it is doing is unethical. The players can’t make an educated decision if they are not told the true risks
• Secondly, anyone play pro football almost certainly played in junior high and high school, when they were a minor (unless they
were some kind of Jeff Foxworthy joke). Submitting children to such a high risk of brain damage can hardly be called ethical. You could argue that if an adult wants to do something that they know can cause long-term disability, it is their right to be stupid, but you would be hard pressed to make that argument for a 12-year old.
•Third, it requires physicians to be unethical. When all the risks come out, it will be impossible for a physician to realistically clear a player with multiple concussions to play again. The NFL isn’t going to say “We don’t care, we make our players play against doctor’s orders”, they will find physicians willing to lie.

By: Neil A. Dorr

Neil A. Dorr — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:08:32 +0000

Jack,
As in most cases, I can’t help but agree with your point that football is indeed barbaric, dangerous, and a general waste of time (at least for me); however, it seems wholly unfair to classify it as “unethical” outright.

Like it or not, sports (and especially dangerous ones) have been with us since the beginning of time. For whatever reason, humans have an innate desire to see great feats of athleticism and skill, even at the detriment of others, and that’s unlikely to change. Moreover, you’d be hard-pressed to find any sport today which doesn’t involve and elevated risk of some kind of injury. Swimmers run increased risks of arthritis, tennis players often suffer from a variety of tendon issues, the list goes on. The sad fact is that to really excel at ANY physical activity, athletes are forced to push themselves and their bodies to extremes.

Idiotic? Maybe; but life itself is a calculated risk and one that each of us takes just by getting out of bed every morning. Is it unethical for someone to take a job in construction, even though he has a higher risk of serious injury? Or for someone else to take a job in waste disposal despite the heightened risk of contracting disease? What about firefighters? While it might be tempting to argue that these are “necessary” jobs while professional football isn’t; except that they’re only necessary because we deem them to be.

Quite simply put, life is a choice (or at least maintaining it is), and it seems wholly unfair to label sports players or their fans as being unethical simply because they’ve chosen a career which you or I may find abhorrent. And, since we’re on the subject, despite years of obfuscation and lies on the part of big tobacco, most people (even smokers) are aware of the health risks associated with long-term tobacco use, and yet they do it anyway. Frankly, I can’t see any feasible way to completely protect people, even from themselves, and still claim that we live in a free society.

Or am I wrong?

-Neil

By: Jack Marshall

Jack Marshall — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:39:20 +0000

The thing is, it’s not all that new. Bryant Gumbel did a heartbreaking profile on the wives of several ex-NFL players who became invalids, insane, abusive or depressed as the result of head injuries. I see no indication that the fans care about the issue, and all the player’s union will do is agitate for better health benefits. Congress wouldn’t dare mess with football. Who will step up to do anything substantive about this?

By: Tim LeVier

Tim LeVier — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:33:20 +0000

Talk about on topic! I was watching my Donkeys with my wife and the topic of concussion came up. I told her that if a player got 1 concussion, they should probably never play again, but they do play again and end up with 4 or 5 or however many they want to have until they can’t perform or someone with a medical degree withholds consent.

This is definitely a hot topic. Chris Nowitzki, of WWE fame, is a Harvard grad and gave up the WWE when he got a concussion. He then started a study of head trauma and dementia. Chris Benoit is one of the prime examples of how head trauma is so much more than amnesia.