Indianapolis Colts rookie coach Jim Caldwell drew flak recently for sitting his starters in the second half of a loss to the New York Jets. It was their first loss of the season after starting 14-0.
The Colts had already clinched the number one seed in the conference, including home-field advantage until the Super Bowl. However, no team has ever gone undefeated through the playoffs since the Miami Dolphins in 1972, and that was before the NFL expanded to the current 16-game schedule.
Caldwell’s reasoning was that he did not want to risk injury to his best players in a game that was essentially meaningless. Many fans, especially those of the Colts, disagreed with his decision, seeing the record as worthy of the risk.
Even Colts players themselves, while remaining loyal to their coach’s decision, nonetheless expressed their desire to go for the record. The question that will live on: is a historical record worth the risk of serious injury that could derail an eventual championship run?
Lost in the conversation, however, is perhaps a bigger question: is a sport worth playing if the risk of serious injury is so great that it is safer to sit out than to play the game?
Now, it’s worth saying that with any sport there will be the risk of injury. And the higher the level of play, the more the danger, at least theoretically, because bigger and stronger athletes are clashing with each other.
This isn’t to say that sports should be outlawed because of the risk involved. But there is certainly a difference between an athlete being hurt because something went wrong in the sport and an athlete being hurt because something went right.
For example, a basketball player risks injury when he plays the game. But the injuries come from something going wrong: a knee twisting the wrong way during landing, or a ball caroming off a finger and dislocating it.
However, football players are injured on a regular basis because of something that went right: a player who makes a “great” hit over the middle could be praised for his technique, courage, and timing, while at the same time seriously injuring the player he hit.
Injuries are as much a part of the game of football as anything else. An “injury report” is required from every team before every game. Team trainers, it seems, are equal parts coaches as they are first responders, prepared for treating anything from broken bones to concussions to punctured lungs.
In the NFL, injuries aren’t so much possible as they are inevitable. And there is growing research that shows that they are much more debilitating than they seem.
The average lifespan of an NFL player is alarmingly shorter than the average man, and former players have early dementia up to 19 times as often . The extensive damage done to the brain for every concussion is only now being understood, and for every concussion that is diagnosed, many more are hid or not recognized.
In fact, the majority of NFL players will suffer a concussion in their careers. National media members as well as doctors are calling for mandatory regulations regarding concussion treatment, including an obligatory suspension of full-contact activities.
Meanwhile, NFL players as a whole are among the least-compensated athletes in professional sports, especially in the event of career-threatening injuries. Most contracts are not guaranteed, meaning if a player suffers an injury, they can be given a pink slip without further pay.
Now, the comparison to the gladiators of ancient Roman culture is not perfect, as many of them were forced into competition against their will, and there was certainly much more bloodshed.
However, the element that is more relevant is the fact that the athletes put their physical well-being on the line for a reward that is passing, as millions of spectators stand by unscathed and, for many, unsympathetic to the physical toll it takes on the participants.
Consider again the example of the Indianapolis Colts’ dilemma for the chance at a perfect season. Fans clamored for the participation of the Colts’ starters, considering the injury risk a necessary evil on the way to a relatively meaningless accomplishment that merits no trophy, only fame and the accompanying satisfaction.
Some NFL fans become so callous as to see injury timeouts as annoying interruptions to their own entertainment. How dare they presume to lay on the field while they receive medical attention and hold up the rest of the show!
No, pro football players are not forced to hit each other for others’ entertainment. In fact, many of them will make millions more than the average worker to play a game many of them would play for free.
However, is any amount of money enough to allow people to debilitate each other for sport and entertainment? Is there a price being put on human life?
Like it or not, it seems American culture has carried on the ancient tradition of sending warriors into the ring to battle at their own risk. And while pro football doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon, perhaps it is time for the NFL to work harder to protect its greatest assets: the players themselves.
Indianapolis Colts rookie coach Jim Caldwell drew flak recently for sitting his starters in the second half of a loss to the New York Jets. It was their first loss of the season after starting 14-0.
The Colts had already clinched the number one seed in the conference, including home-field advantage until the Super Bowl. However, no team has ever gone undefeated through the playoffs since the Miami Dolphins in 1972, and that was before the NFL expanded to the current 16-game schedule.
Caldwell’s reasoning was that he did not want to risk injury to his best players in a game that was essentially meaningless. Many fans, especially those of the Colts, disagreed with his decision, seeing the record as worthy of the risk.
Even Colts players themselves, while remaining loyal to their coach’s decision, nonetheless expressed their desire to go for the record. The question that will live on: is a historical record worth the risk of serious injury that could derail an eventual championship run?
Lost in the conversation, however, is perhaps a bigger question: is a sport worth playing if the risk of serious injury is so great that it is safer to sit out than to play the game?
Now, it’s worth saying that with any sport there will be the risk of injury. And the higher the level of play, the more the danger, at least theoretically, because bigger and stronger athletes are clashing with each other.
This isn’t to say that sports should be outlawed because of the risk involved. But there is certainly a difference between an athlete being hurt because something went wrong in the sport and an athlete being hurt because something went right.
For example, a basketball player risks injury when he plays the game. But the injuries come from something going wrong: a knee twisting the wrong way during landing, or a ball caroming off a finger and dislocating it.
However, football players are injured on a regular basis because of something that went right: a player who makes a “great” hit over the middle could be praised for his technique, courage, and timing, while at the same time seriously injuring the player he hit.
Injuries are as much a part of the game of football as anything else. An “injury report” is required from every team before every game. Team trainers, it seems, are equal parts coaches as they are first responders, prepared for treating anything from broken bones to concussions to punctured lungs.
In the NFL, injuries aren’t so much possible as they are inevitable. And there is growing research that shows that they are much more debilitating than they seem.
The average lifespan of an NFL player is alarmingly shorter than the average man, and former players have early dementia up to 19 times as often . The extensive damage done to the brain for every concussion is only now being understood, and for every concussion that is diagnosed, many more are hid or not recognized.
In fact, the majority of NFL players will suffer a concussion in their careers. National media members as well as doctors are calling for mandatory regulations regarding concussion treatment, including an obligatory suspension of full-contact activities.
Meanwhile, NFL players as a whole are among the least-compensated athletes in professional sports, especially in the event of career-threatening injuries. Most contracts are not guaranteed, meaning if a player suffers an injury, they can be given a pink slip without further pay.
Now, the comparison to the gladiators of ancient Roman culture is not perfect, as many of them were forced into competition against their will, and there was certainly much more bloodshed.
However, the element that is more relevant is the fact that the athletes put their physical well-being on the line for a reward that is passing, as millions of spectators stand by unscathed and, for many, unsympathetic to the physical toll it takes on the participants.
Consider again the example of the Indianapolis Colts’ dilemma for the chance at a perfect season. Fans clamored for the participation of the Colts’ starters, considering the injury risk a necessary evil on the way to a relatively meaningless accomplishment that merits no trophy, only fame and the accompanying satisfaction.
Some NFL fans become so callous as to see injury timeouts as annoying interruptions to their own entertainment. How dare they presume to lay on the field while they receive medical attention and hold up the rest of the show!
No, pro football players are not forced to hit each other for others’ entertainment. In fact, many of them will make millions more than the average worker to play a game many of them would play for free.
However, is any amount of money enough to allow people to debilitate each other for sport and entertainment? Is there a price being put on human life?
Like it or not, it seems American culture has carried on the ancient tradition of sending warriors into the ring to battle at their own risk. And while pro football doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon, perhaps it is time for the NFL to work harder to protect its greatest assets: the players themselves.
