Excellent column. I think, however,rather than simply eliminate the sport, it's rules could be changed, not token changes, and be made a lot safer sport.

can't help but to think that ryan being mr.hoops loves seeing football having this strife.never has. no matter what he writes cares even a little bit about football. the patriots rise has been a bitter pill for ryan.

WOW - this is huge! I think it's simplistic to say that Bob Ryan is a hoops guy so he has an ulterior motive to proffer this opinion. His motivation may have been a fondness for Junior Seau but whatever the motivation, the column is factually accurate and I agree completely with its premise. Someone should do a study of brain related issues of former athletes, comparing the sports: football, baseball, basketball, hockey. People then might see how dangerous football is for the players - it reminds me of the gladiatorial games - people want to be entertained at any cost.

Big Congrats on a powerful, well-crafted and entirely irrefutable challenge to a cultural addiction that has become far too much like gladiators killing each other at the colosseum in ancient Rome. The only thing that is conspicuously absent is a wider lens, to include college and high school athlete who are suffering as well. Not only with impact related injuries, but with the effects of obesity. How about 300 pound high schoolers? Some of this could be contained with weight limits. Max out at 280 pounds. People would lie and cheat, but at least a bar would be set. Some of it could be contained with stronger rules. But in the end, the gladiator mentality is feeding the blood lust of our culture.

Gee, Bob, another agenda driven column. What's that 200 in a row? For those of you reading Bob's poorly written and specious diatribe, you might take notice that Bob conveniently leaves out hockey. Yo Know, the sport that is tied to the Globe financially. Hockey, where coaches actually have goons on their team whose sole purpose is to punch other players senseless, ya know by repeated blows to the head. The sport that had 90 concussion related injuries last year, according to the CBC. The sport where you see multiple instances of players pounding defenseless players' heads into the board from behind. The sport where the Bruins best power play man, Savard, will never play again and where Horton, their best sniper, still, according to the last reports I read, has trouble seeing. The sport where the leagues best player Sydney Crosby has admitted to multiple concussions and is made fun of by Mike Milbury as well as other stars like Eric Lindross who retired early because of concussions. The sport where last summer, three NHL enforcers committed suicide. That's three, Bob. And sports related debilitating injuries. Just look at the gretest hockey player ever, the incomperable Bobby Orr. And has hockey put the same amount of money and committment into addressing the problem as the NFL? Please. So Bob, we know how devestated you are that your beloved Sox are so far behind the Patriots in popularity (no $375 seats at Gillette), but writing a one sided piece of yellow journalism, even on a very worthy topic like concussions, that shpould be kept in the forefront of the players, owners and public's mind, just confirms what you have become. Certainly not David.

For Better or Worse: I, a woman, am one of the growing number of female football fans. Why do I love it? I love it because I see men doing things my body never could do even when I was 20! I love the bodily contortions, I love the long forward pass, I love the surprise break-always; moves one did not expect and cannot believe. Man has always loved sport (Romans throwing others to the lions come to mind) and most especially we love a bruising sport like football where one sits in the safety of the room, behind the TV or in a seat at the stadium while others take the bashing and we safely watch it. Someone -- maybe some lefty of the 60's -- said "The personal is political" so excuse me if I wax so. We are a country made up of policy which ROUTINELY goes to war -- read Rachel Maddow's book "Drift" and you will get MY drift. We have gone to war in ALL venues nearly at ALL times in our history. Man has always gone to war, I know, but it is different now. Not only can we watch from our living room but the perpetrators of war can conduct it in depersonalized safety close to home 6000 miles away from the front. We love war most especially when we are so removed from it. War is on the evening news or even on a TV set-up at work shown as entertainment for those who do not have to physically suffer its consequences. War is is nasty and brutal. We sit in the comfort of our living room while newscasters describe the shock, awe and mayhem of battle. It looks like the 4th of July BUT it's not. The camera rarely goes behind the scenes to show just who the bombs hit, the family's limbs exploding or its many dead. Rarely are we shown wars' aftermath or if we are we often do not look. It is the way of war doncha know. War is hell; as if we could not have figured that out. Football IS a type of war. We watch, cheer and feel good in the safety of our living rooms, seats in a bar room or at the game. We gorge on food and drink and merriment while our fellow man has his body crushed, his brain compressed, his bones ruined and sometimes the grim reaper pays a visit. It is the way of the world. War and often sport, especially football, are brutal. I am not exactly sure how after thousands of years of evolution we can change man's hard wired drive but we ought to try. We watch war and sport on the HDTV screen while we swig the next beer or swallow the next piece of pizza. It's in our DNA and it's the way we have been for millennia for better and for worse!

jdc9756, You call Bob Ryan's column poorly written? Reread your comment, then cringe.

I have to say, I think I am done with football and maybe all sports entertainment. The Saints' bounty scandal, the suicides of Mr. Easterling, Mr. Duerson and Mr. Seau, the latter of whom I so so so admired have made me see that I simply cannot continue supporting the sport. Where is Ted Johnson? I heard Jonathan Ogden built an elevator in his Las Vegas house for when he can no longer manage stairs. I read, a year or so ago, Play Their Hearts out and was suckerpunched by the Penn State/Joe Paterno/Jerry Sandusky scandal. Enough.

Prediction: Within 5 years high school football will pretty much have disappeared with soccer the main outdoor school sport. Groups like the Washington conglomerate, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (the Boston Phoenix accussed them of "mission creep" back in 3/11/05) will have found an additional cause and revenue stream. Insurance coverage for schools that offer football will mount with personal injury attorneys waiting to pounce. Manufacturers of sporting goods equipment will fight back to no avail.

Add to this the suspicion that the NBA (and possibly the others) assign officials to "extend" the playoffs between some teams because they make barrels of $$$$ on the extra games.

How about taking the helmets off? Instant end to "head to head" hits because there would be no false security. Ditto for hockey. I played 100 years ago. If your stick rose above your hips then you were looking top lose teeth. Now with the helmets and masks you have kids as well as pros crosschecking to the head, throwing elbows, etc. Maybe the football players should dress the way rugby players do -- and no rule changes. Fewer injuries, more flair, nore fan ID with the players (remember Bobby Hull's flowing mane. picture the dreadlocks streaming behind the runner :)

This is a great article and thought provoking. The thing of it is, football is, and will continue to be America's game. I am an enthusiastic fan and I am eagerly awaiting the start of the NFL season. I have had Patriots season tickets for over twenty years but recently gave them up because i now live 1,700 miles from Foxborough and it'w a bit costly to get to the games. Junior Seau was a great player and greater person. Like all of us, we are susceptible to work place ailments and sometimes these ailments do us in. For many of us, stress from demanding superiors can be fatal. Or black lung disease from toiling in the bowels of the earth. There are myriad examples of hazardous occupations, but rarely do we hear calls for eliminating them. Lets do what we can to improve safety for our players. As we proceed in this life's journey we must strive to keep our players healthy, both short and long term. RRS New Port Richey, FL

Soccer is a nice game but I wouldn't allow my kids to play it without a helmut. These kids are still growing and their bones are not as hard as they will be one day. And North Americans will never cotton to this game in place of American football. Just not gonna happen.

Brecky, just give me an answer to this. Why doesn't Bob also state that he does't know how hockey coaches can send out goons to beat other players senseless. Or how a 6'9" 255 pound defenseman like Zdeno Chara, traveleing at up to 30 MPH and throwing elbows into the faces of 180 pound forwards isn't as dangerous? Or the head shot that Marc Savard suffered isn't as debilitating as a helmet to helmet collision. If you think I'm wrong, write something that someone can actually read and compare with my argument. Of course you won't write anything worth reading, you must be like Bob, you can't write, you can only criticize. And say hello to your uncle Bob Ryan while you are at it.

I am a relatively recent convert to football - the Pats' first Superbowl win of the decade woke me up to the brains behind the violence. Now the death of Junior 55 has me asking if I have to give it up. I might have to give it up, for him and for others. I grant that these guys may be like sled dogs, who want to run till they fall over in their tracks. But I don't have to be part of it. Will have to see where I'm at by fall. But Junior, man. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Bob might also have mentioned the days when fatalities were common in football; the sport was nearly banned by Teddy Roosevelt among others. http://symonsez.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/when-a-president-threatened-to-abolish-football-in-the-united-states/

How can you take seriously a person who cannot even spell their name right? And wasn't it nice of Bob's cousin I B Recky to write in.