NFL's Hidden Brutality

When living in New York it is simply unacceptable to show up to work on a Monday morning during football season having not seen the previous day's NY football games.  Watercooler conversation is dead without mention of, "tough loss", or "Manning s****ks".  As a father of three young children Sunday's tend to be family days... and yes... I missed the games on TV.

When I heard about the horrible injury to Kevin Everett I immediately found the nearest TV (already turned to ESPN) and began watching the highlights of Sunday's games.  The Bills were last and I couldn't wait to see what happened.  They ran down the highlights without even a single mention of the injury that will likely keep Everett in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.  Of course there's nothing on YouTube.  NFL's copyright police make sure of that.

Now I know that ESPN did have extensive coverage of last week's injuries, but I only watched SportsCenter for an hour... and I missed it.

With the popularity of the NFL rising, more and more kids getting involved in the NFL's youth programs, and Pop Warner as popular as it's ever been it's vitally important to tell the whole story.  ESPN and other sports journalists are indeed journalists.  News media is a public trust, and we rely on them to give us the truth... the whole truth about the world... including the world of sports.

Chicago Sun Times writer Jay Mariotti says it best...

Well, let's not be so swept up in the fury to ignore the truth. More than ever, the NFL is a savage body-grinder that leaves injury victims in its dust. You can hail the league for its big TV ratings, its attendance records, its glistening new stadiums and an average franchise value of $900 million, more than double the average value of a Major League Baseball club. But never forget the brutal toll behind the NFL shield, the cruel gauntlet that instantly can finish the career of a would-be Hall of Famer such as Brown and leave a Buffalo Bills tight end, Kevin Everett, fighting for his life with a ''catastrophic'' spinal-cord injury and little chance of walking again.

This is the NFL that Chris Berman doesn't show on the halftime highlights. This is the NFL that shoe companies, video-game makers and TV networks don't include in their procession of commercials. This is the NFL that Mike Ditka continues to buck in valiantly crusading for disabled retirees. It doesn't mean we can't enjoy what is fun about Sundays -- and Mondays and Thursdays and Saturdays and eventually maybe every day of week. It's just a mean reminder that unlike most of us, the career of a pro football player can end in a wicked and unnecessary flash, which is a polite way of describing how Brown was horsewhipped to the ground from behind in the fourth quarter Sunday by San Diego fullback Lorenzo Neal. It led to a torn ACL in his left knee, a stunning setback that leaves a layer of gloom over Halas Hall.

Check out his fine article here.