This is one of those days when my mind just won’t let me be. I can usually turn it off by opening one of the many mindless slam bang adventure reads I have laying about all the time for just that purpose. I got side tracked this morning first by reading some of the opinion in the Times. First was the piece by David Brooks expertly analyzing the phenomenon of sports in our culture and sadly, in it all, there was not discussion of the money involved. Without the money that is there to be made sports as we know it would go away. I am not saying it should but it is a thought. Enough money and the thought will go away I am sure.

Then there was this piece by Deborah Blum about brain concussions sustained in sports. As we all know, the NFL has recently acknowledged that there could be a connection between head injuries sustained in football and serious debilitating conditions like dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s later in life. This information has been around 80 + years in places like the Journal of the American Medical Association. This is not new news. Why has it taken so long for some kind of concession from the NFL that repeated blows to the head could cause permanent brain damage? Money. Oh I’ll admit to the culpability of the fans – we the Freeborn the high seats clamoring for the blood of the slaves who are about to die. Money. Blood lust.

The argument is about greater protectiveness. This is an argument? I love this one: Republican Ted Poe of Texas said that football as we know it could be destroyed if we move toward greater protectiveness. Oh jeeze I never thought of it like that. Thanks Ted for enlightening us. Money and blood lust are an unbeatable combination in this country, and possibly the world.

There is enough blame to go around here, but the greatest blame would come to those who fail to take action to protect players from the youth leagues to the pro ranks. I don’t know, they are talking about this in Congress now. It might be easier to revive a belief in the Tooth Fairy.