Quote:This NFL season has been defined by people talking about "the injury issue" — pundits, columnists, league officials. The one voice you haven't heard — until now — belongs to the players. BY TOM JUNOD http://www.esquire.com/features/nfl-injuries-0213

This is a truly interesting article for the football fan. Football players are modern day gladiators.

(01-22-2013 07:59 PM)chess Wrote:  

Quote:This NFL season has been defined by people talking about "the injury issue" — pundits, columnists, league officials. The one voice you haven't heard — until now — belongs to the players. BY TOM JUNOD http://www.esquire.com/features/nfl-injuries-0213

This is a truly interesting article for the football fan. Football players are modern day gladiators.

That is an interesting article about a very serious issue and I hope it will be widely read.

People who have been paying attention have been talking about the "gladiator" aspect of pro-football since the 1970s. That's one of the main themes of the novels North Dallas Forty and Semi-Tough, which were both published in that era. NDF was written by a guy who played college basketball at Michigan State and then 5 years with the Dallas Cowboys. Also "Everybody's All-American" a novel by Sports Illustrated writer Frank Deford touched on it, and then the movie-version with Dennis Quaid as the (fictional) pro trying hang on for 1 more season with the Denver Broncos. Quaid later played the veteran QB in Oliver Stone's pro-football movie "Any Given Sunday" which emphasized the violence/gladiator issue to an extreme.

I'd also recommend reading this one about Jason Taylor. It's a disturbing read and certainly makes you feel bad for calling these guys p*ssies (as I often have re: Tuck, phillips, etc.).

Yesterday Les Carpenter published an article about how hated Goodell is in New Orleans after the bounty scandal. It was crap journalism by Carpenter, he and his manipulative cohorts are just stoking the embers of discontent, but it's still sad that the NO fans don't appreciate this issue and realize that it's coming to the forefront in the NFL. Goodell has to deal with it, and he has to prepare to deal with it.