Noted writer Malcolm Gladwell tried to compare America’s thirst for pro football to Michael Vick’s penchant for dogfighting…or something. Gladwell takes the angle that a typical offensive lineman, like former NFL lineman Kyle Turley, is left as battered and as physically damaged as a fighting dog from Vick’s former Bad Newz Kennels.

Turley says he was once in the training room after a game with a young linebacker who had suffered a vicious hit on a kickoff return. “We were in the cold tub, which is, like, forty-five degrees, and he starts passing out. In the cold tub. I don’t know anyone who has ever passed out in the cold tub. That’s supposed to wake you up. And I’m, like, slapping his face. ‘Richie! Wake up!’ He said, ‘What, what? I’m cool.’ I said, ‘You’ve got a concussion. You have to go to the hospital.’ He said, ‘You know, man, I’m fine.’ ” He wasn’t fine, though.

That moment in the cold tub represented a betrayal of trust. He had taken the hit on behalf of his team. He was then left to pass out in the cold tub, and to deal—ten and twenty years down the road—with the consequences. No amount of money or assurances about risk freely assumed can change the fact that, in this moment, an essential bond had been broken. What football must confront, in the end, is not just the problem of injuries or scientific findings. It is the fact that there is something profoundly awry in the relationship between the players and the game. via.

People get hurt playing football? Really? Don’t worry, Malcom. Some day, all the drunk driving mothers will get together and ban pro football, too. But for now, we’ll just have to settle for the rational exchange of tens of thousands of players looking to make pro and college teams and the tens of thousands of fans looking to cheer them on–and essentially forget about them once their playing days are over.

The game’s disdain for those who can no longer perform is, for better and for worse, part of its appeal. But those that participate in the football experience–fans that overpay for tickets, cities raked for stadium revenue, athletes left in a dying heap once their bodies have quit on them–all do so willingly. And while there may be some fans that aren’t aware of the bodily harm to which football players subject themselves each fall, to suggest that the institution dissolve what barbarian roots it has left seems equally so.

ASYLUM POLL: Playing In The NFL Is Worth Getting Dementia And Early Death, Right?

Three active NFL players have agreed to donate their brains to concussion research at Boston University, which will be noteworthy until each of them retires and in turn becomes totally irrelevant to the public at large.

Even though dozens of former NFL players have agreed to donate their brains after death, center Matt Birk of the Baltimore Ravens, linebacker Lofa Tatupu of the Seattle Seahawks and receiver Sean Morey of the Arizona Cardinals are the first active players to do so.

The goal of the university’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy is to better understand the long-term effects of repeated concussions.

I don’t think any of us really want to know the full physical extent to which these guys are beating the hell out of each other every week. Typically, it’s more fun to scream at our TVs every time a player drops a pass or misses a block, but the physical toll has been–until now, I guess–immeasurable. I’m not really sure how you prevent guys from hurting each other in a sport where the objective is to hurt each other. But good for Boston U, I guess. After the research is completed, I’m sure Matt Birk’s brain will fetch a pretty penny on eBay. If only he could autograph it…