[Mick]

I'm pretty sure if we dig deep enough we can conclude anything we ever do is unethical.

Nah, that feels too facile to me. The writing's on the wall for football. It will be hit hard in the coming decades by increasing lack of participation at every youth level, including h.s. How many of us would encourage our sons to play h.s. football today, let alone allow them if they wanted to? How many of us would even blink if they instead wanted to play tennis, water polo, volleyball, baseball?

My dad put immense pressure on me to play football in high school.  Having skipped a grade, I was a year younger than the other kids.  I went to a small school that didn't have a frosh team, so we played junior varsity.  I was the lightest kid on the team by 20 pounds, and 40 pounds lighter than the average player.  I broke my arm on the third day of practice.

I skipped two years of football, then played my senior year.  Received two concussions, and I gave out two.  In general, the thing I remember most was that the coaches and referees alike let a lot of savage behavior slide, between plays, during plays, after plays both during games and practices.

But here's the thing I remember most: In 1983, a few years after I'd started college, I watched my alma mater's football jamboree.  This was an exhibition in which each team played each other for a short quarter.  Points were given for regular scoring and first downs.

On the first play of the jamboree, the sophomore son of the head football coach at a high school in Santa Clara County dove headlong into three players blocking for the runner.  Instantly, he became a quadriplegic.

Dangerous, dangerous game.

[Mick]

I'm pretty sure if we dig deep enough we can conclude anything we ever do is unethical.

Nah, that feels too facile to me. The writing's on the wall for football. It will be hit hard in the coming decades by increasing lack of participation at every youth level, including h.s. How many of us would encourage our sons to play h.s. football today, let alone allow them if they wanted to? How many of us would even blink if they instead wanted to play tennis, water polo, volleyball, baseball?

My dad put immense pressure on me to play football in high school.  Having skipped a grade, I was a year younger than the other kids.  I went to a small school that didn't have a frosh team, so we played junior varsity.  I was the lightest kid on the team by 20 pounds, and 40 pounds lighter than the average player.  I broke my arm on the third day of practice.

I skipped two years of football, then played my senior year.  Received two concussions, and I gave out two.  In general, the thing I remember most was that the coaches and referees alike let a lot of savage behavior slide, between plays, during plays, after plays both during games and practices.

But here's the thing I remember most: In 1983, a few years after I'd started college, I watched my alma mater's football jamboree.  This was an exhibition in which each team played each other for a short quarter.  Points were given for regular scoring and first downs.

On the first play of the jamboree, the sophomore son of the head football coach at a high school in Santa Clara County dove headlong into three players blocking for the runner.  Instantly, he became a quadriplegic.

Dangerous, dangerous game.