Hall of Fame linebacker Harry Carson speaks during the PBS' "League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis" session at the Television Critics Assn. summer press tour in Los Angeles on Aug. 6. (Rahoul Ghose / Associated Press)
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There are dozens of reasons why the NFL deserves to go away, to be banished from our sight forever. There are at least two reasons why that won't happen.
Tradition and Peyton Manning.
The Oct. 8 PBS show "A League of Denial" was a journalistic masterpiece. If you haven't seen it, find it. It is everywhere on the Internet. It should be.
It was two hours that can be oversimplified in one sentence: For years, the NFL knew its players were suffering head injuries that would bring serious long-term damage, yet it denied that, stonewalled the players seeking help and spent millions to muddy the truth.
Many readers still respond to every written word about this with the predictable: "These guys knew what they were getting into. Why should we feel sorry for them?" That's wrong. They knew they were playing a rough game, that there would be bent fingers in their elder years. They did not know that many serious brain injuries would accompany those bent fingers.
The PBS show was devastating to the NFL, which deserved to be devastated.
When Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Lakewood), questioning Commissioner Roger Goodell during 2009 congressional hearings, likened the NFL to Big Tobacco, we had no idea that she had hit the right keynote. After the PBS show, we know.
What a despicable label to have pinned on you.
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