I have been struggling with something since watching, of all things, a "Game of Thrones" episode that has made me decide I can no longer watch football games.
There's an episode of "Game of Thrones" that takes place in the fighting pits, where men fight each other to the death for money. And in the stands, people cheer with every death while our heroes watch, squirming uncomfortably. I couldn't help feeling disgusted by the (fictional) crowd's obvious enjoyment.
But the really troubling thing is, I'm doing the exact same thing when I cheer during a football game.
According to a recent study, 99 percent of former football players suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). This is a degenerative brain condition that at first just causes dizziness and headaches but as it progresses leads to social instability, erratic behavior, dementia and suicide.
Football players are killing each other for our entertainment. Not immediately, but 20 or 30 years down the road. Just look at Junior Seau, Dave Duerson and, most likely, Aaron Hernandez. People whose behavior was radically altered by playing football. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. These people lived through hell after their football careers were over, and some of them did awful things.
I can hear the counterarguments, because I've been making them myself because I love watching football so much. These people made a conscious decision to play football. They knowingly sacrificed their bodies for the potential for fame and money. No one forced them to. They have free will and should be allowed to make this choice themselves.
The thing is, though: The amount of money we spend to watch football creates this choice. We gladly pay $200 to go into a stadium and watch players smash into each other. If we weren't willing to do that — if we refused to watch slow death being inflicted — then young men wouldn't be given the opportunity to destroy their bodies for millions of dollars on national television.
Think of it this way. Say a new sport, "Brickhead," were invented. People go into parking lots, put buckets over their heads and throw bricks at each other's heads. Sure, everyone who plays this game eventually gets hit in the face with a brick, but it's their free choice to play the game, and for winning they get $10 a brick. Do you think anyone coming out of high school would choose to try to make a career out of Brickhead?
