Has football become too dangerous for growing boys?

All of a sudden it seems, America has discovered that our football is a very dangerous game. The talk of concussions and the reports of how the sport permanently damages its gladiators has mostly centered around professionals. But what has happened recently at two high schools suggests, perhaps, that the risks of football will now be more seriously evaluated with regard to ordinary schoolboys.

In successive weeks, two schools forfeited their games to the Red Lion Christian Academy of Bear, Del. -- a private school that didn't even field a football team until 2002, but has now become something of a powerhouse. Then last week, in a New England league which includes some of the finest old boarding schools in the country, St. George's canceled its game against Lawrence Academy. In both cases, officials of the schools that pulled out of the games were simply worried that their young, small players were overmatched and would get hurt.

The Lawrence offensive line, for example, averages almost 290 pounds, while St. George's has few players who even weigh so much as 200. So Eric Peterson, the head of St. George's, a former player and coach himself, made the decision because, he said, simply, "we have an ethical and moral obligation" to protect our students. It had nothing to do, he said, with losing a game. Nonetheless, the cancellations prompted some predictable accusations of "cowardice" and "quitting." After all, this sort of thing strikes a spark. Football has always been a touchstone for American boys. It's the only major team sport which, barring the rarest exceptions, is played only by males. It's often viewed as a test of manhood -- which is not an attribute, for example, normally associated with baseball or basketball.

Moreover, football has a more recognized place in school culture than all other sports. It's scheduled at the start of the school year, and as such it has a more prominent part in the scholastic rhythm. Back to school -- readin', 'ritin', 'rithmatic ... and football. To criticize football is not just to denigrate the sport, but to mess around with a lot of the fond symbolism about growing up in America and growing up strong.

These cancellations, isolated though they may be, may, however, augur a trend. As the recognition of football's dangers grow, as you hear more worried middle-class parents saying "I don't want my son to play football," you have to wonder if we're coming to a point where schools, even whole leagues, will decide that as much as football is embedded into our national pysche and into our school structure, the sport has become so physical that, for growing boys, the game may be no longer worth the price of admission to manhood.

Published Oct 13, 2010

FRANK DEFORD

Frank Deford is among the most versatile of American writers. His work has appeared in virtually every medium, including print, where he has written eloquently for Sports Illustrated since 1962. Deford is currently the magazine's Senior Contributing Writer and contributes a weekly column to SI.com. Deford can be heard as a commentator each week on Morning Edition. On television he is a regular correspondent on the HBO show Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel. He is the author of 15 books, and his latest,The Enitled, a novel about celebrity, sex and baseball, was published in 2007 to exceptional reviews. He and Red Smith are the only writers with multiple features in The Best American Sports Writing of the Century. Editor David Halberstam selected Deford's 1981 Sports Illustrated profile on Bobby Knight (The Rabbit Hunter) and his 1985 SI profile of boxer Billy Conn (The Boxer and the Blonde) for that prestigious anthology. For Deford the comparison is meaningful. "Red Smith was the finest columnist, and I mean not just sports columnist," Deford told Powell's Books in 2007. "I've always said that Red is like Vermeer, with those tiny, priceless pieces. Five hundred words, perfectly chosen, crafted. Best literary columnist, in any newspaper, that I've ever seen." Deford was elected to the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. Six times at Sports Illustrated Deford was voted by his peers as U.S. Sportswriter of The Year. The American Journalism Review has likewise cited him as the nation's finest sportswriter, and twice he was voted Magazine Writer of The Year by the Washington Journalism Review. Deford has also been presented with the National Magazine Award for profiles; a Christopher Award; and journalism honor awards from the University of Missouri and Northeastern University; and he has received many honorary degrees. The Sporting News has described Deford as "the most influential sports voice among members of the print media," and the magazine GQ has called him, simply, "The world's greatest sportswriter." In broadcast, Deford has won a Cable Ace award, an Emmy and a George Foster Peabody Award for his television work. In 2005 ESPN presented a television biography of Deford's life and work, You Write Better Than You Play. Deford has spoken at well over a hundred colleges, as well as at forums, conventions and on cruise ships around the world. He served as the editor-in-chief of The National Sports Daily in its brief but celebrated existence. Deford also wrote Sports Illustrated's first Point After column, in 1986. Two of Deford's books, the novel, Everybody's All-American, and Alex: The Life Of A Child, his memoir about his daughter who died of cystic fibrosis, have been made into movies. Two of his original screenplays have also been filmed. For 16 years Deford served as national chairman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and he remains chairman emeritus. He resides in Westport, CT, with his wife, Carol. They have two grown children – a son, Christian, and a daughter, Scarlet. A native of Baltimore, Deford is a graduate of Princeton University, where he has taught American Studies.

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