I Excused Football on The Free Press

I chose violence on Super Bowl Sunday

Ethan Strauss

Feb 12, 2023

You can read it over there. The essay hinges on what seems like a paradox: The vast majority of NFL players are injured for life, but the vast majority of NFL players have no regrets about having played.

The Free Press

Why America Needs Football. Even Its Brutality.

I knew this guy in college—soft spoken, smart, kind. He joined the military, and there wasn’t much his Berkeley Hills parents could do about it. And they tried. Desperately. His choice to enlist wasn’t about 9/11 or Iraq. He didn’t have any fa…

10 months ago · 6 likes · 1 comment · Ethan Strauss

8 Comments

Andrew B

Feb 12

Great job essay. It reminds me of this anecdote from Chuck Klosterman, who found himself speaking about football after Malcolm Gladwell predicted its demise:

“After a brief intermission, it was my turn to perform. Sensing a mild degree of bewilderment from the audience, I tried to break the ice by making a joke about Gladwell's closing prediction. “There is no way people will not be playing football or eating meat in 25 years,” I said. “In fact, there is a much higher likelihood that in 25 years, I will literally eat the flesh of all the various football players who've died during whatever game I happened to watch that day.”

Expand full comment

Douglas Marolla

Writes Education Forensics: English Cl…

Hamlin "body slammed"? Huh? That was a mildly routine tackle.

Other than that, great article. Good to see sports journalism still exists.

6 more comments...