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Fans are Complicit in the Injuries of Tony Dorsett and OthersTuesday, 19 November 2013 14:38

(NNPA) The recent news about NFL Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett was more than unsettling.

Having been diagnosed with the early stages of chronic encephalopathy (CTE), an illness

directly related to head traumas, he feels his life slipping away from him. At the age of 59 he

faces an uncertain future, yet it is a future that has confronted many football players, past and

present.

Dorsett was part of the group of former football players who settled with the NFL recently for

$765 million in connection with conditions such as CTE that have resulted from their footballyears. The settlement itself was highly controversial since it underestimates the extent of

damage done to football players and, in effect, lets the NFL off the hook. Nevertheless, many

former players were desperate for a settlement in order to address their on-going medical

problems.

Dorsett was a star among stars, someone who seemed nearly invincible in his greatness.

Nevertheless, careers end and the physical damage inflicted on the players over the years

takes its toll, resulting in conditions such as CTE and a shortened life-span for thesemodern-day gladiators.

When we hear the news about former players, such as Dorsett, most of us shake our heads in

both sadness and frustrationand then we turn on the next football game. We create a

peculiar sort of disconnect between the reality of the injuries faced by these players, and the

activity that so many of us watch on any given Sunday. We do not stop and think about the

sorts of demands that we, the fans of professional football, need to place on the football industry

in its entirety. The issue of safety is not one exclusive to the NFL. It really is a matter that mustbe addressed when high schoolers start playing and then when they work their way to college.

The injuries start early and there is no scientific certainty as to how many injuries ultimately

result in conditions such as CTE, not to mention countless other challenges, such as injuries to

bones and joints.

There comes a time when shaking our heads, as those watching the gladiators competing on

Sundays, makes us complicit in the misery that many of these players face upon the end of their

careers. Perhaps it is time to join with the NFL Players Association in demanding greater stepsto address safety, but also appropriate medical care and long-term assistance for the players

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Fans are Complicit in the Injuries of Tony Dorsett and OthersTuesday, 19 November 2013 14:38

when they have moved on. To do otherwise feels no different than the equivalent of watching

the gladiators do battle in the ancient Roman coliseums. The only difference seems to be that

death was quicker in the coliseum. Today, we allow our modern day gladiators to end their lives

slowly in misery and absent dignity.

Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past

president of TransAfrica Forum, and the author of Theyre Bankrupting Us And Twenty Other

Myths about Unions. Follow him on Facebook and at www.billfletcherjr.com.

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