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I agree with your interpretation of the NFL’s transition from football to entertainment. But the problem is that all roads lead to the NFL or Canadian League if the talent is available. If you ask even a high school player what they want to be they will say the NFL because of the lure of money and notoriety. The problem is that these youth don’t understand is that only one in thousands ever gets a contract with the pros even for practice squad because of amounts of applicants and prior training and equipment to the so few that have access.

In the meantime, universities and colleges depend hugely on the money generated from the sport to support their overall budget that winning has become a premium. And to do that, the pro game techniques and questionable actions are being used for success.

A few years ago, for instance, my son was trying to make his high school varsity team as a freshman and when I asked him what he had learned that day, he told me they were teaching the lineman how to chop block. Now if you know football, you know that this blocking technique can cripple someone very easily, at any level. And also knowing that 13 to 18 year old kids joints and muscle cature are not near ready for that stress. Even the pros outlawed it with their capacity along with the original crack back.

But even at that level, winning is the only thing. And so the immolation of the pros is spreading that the NFL’s misapplication of their political aspiration is also being “copied.” And if what they are doing is wrong, so what? They don’t care. And they don’t care about their responsibilities to the kids either because of it.

red