This is the way football ends


It’s been a few weeks since this news report came out, and I’ve been wanting to comment on it, but life keeps getting in the way. But here it is: NFL player’s retirement at 24 prompts new debate about football concussions.

Borland was the fourth NFL player age 30 or younger to retire in a week… the article states, and while age 30 is pretty old for a game where players have careers that average 3.2 years (although the NFL disputes that number) that’s a lot of people dropping out in a short time.

And this is the way that football could actually fade away: not by legislative ban, and not by organized activism. It’s by young men who decide that the damage is serious and can’t be ignored, viewers who change the channel, and parents who refuse to let their kids play.