If your son wanted to . . . So says a poll conducted last weekend by tle field-side cannons fired play tackle football, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED through Marketing & confetti, and commissioner would you let him? Roger Goodell stood tall in (Those without kids Research Resources, Inc. The responses his blue suit as he presented were asked to respond (collected from more than 500 NFL fans, with the Lombardi Trophy to theoretically.) a margin of error of plus/minus 4.33 percentage New York owner . NFL I raced onto the field to in- E FA Said H N points) reflect changing views about the game— terview the victors as one T No P including the author’s own | BY TIM LAYDEN of coach ’s O

L grandchildren made snow

L On the third night of February in 2008, little- angels in a pile of pastel-colored paper. Writing Said Yes used Giants receiver David Tyree plucked a foot- until dawn, I closed my game story for Sports ball from high in the air, pinned it to his helmet Illustrated with that cuddly image: a little 91% of those who had played tackle and crashed to the ground. Millions gasped in kid in the confetti. Then I fell asleep like much football themselves disbelief. It was not only the signature moment of America had done a few hours earlier—wasted said yes. of the 42nd , not only one of the most yet entertained; exhausted yet naively fulfilled by remarkable plays in the history of the NFL, but a silly game. It had been a good night for football. it was also, in the unreal vacuum of that instant, But in truth the sport was already changing fantastical and life-affirming in the way that beneath my feet. I will never embrace a football sports can be. We caught the ball with Tyree and game in quite the same way I did that night. think he we fought to yank it loose like Patriots safety As you read this, we are nearing the end of one should go . We let our eyes grow wide of the worst months in modern football history, What effect have recent and mouthed a silent Wow, like back judge Scott a month that could someday be remembered studies and news stories Helverson, who signaled that Tyree’s catch was as the period in which the most popular sport about the long-term health good. We all marveled together. in America began sliding from its peak. First It was scarcely different for me. The hours came the Ray Rice video from inside the eleva- risks of head injuries to are football players had on your unsure following the game were a riot of energy. The tor, delivering the reality of domestic violence to Giants had finished off their 17–14 upset of New televisions and laptops in a way that is seldom interest in the NFL? England, which was attempting to complete the seen outside a prosecutor’s office while making first perfect season since the 1972 Dolphins. Lit- a mockery of the running back’s initial pun-

Fans were asked: Over the past two years, are you spending more, less or the same amount of time watching NFL games Of fans who are following the latest news surrounding Roger Goodell think the compared with what you did before that?

NFL commissioner should keep his job based on the events of the past few weeks . . . No Less Not aware More time effect interested of these watching studies / NFL games stories

FROM LEFT: SETH WENIG/AP; MARK J. REBILAS/USA TODAY SPORTS; MATTHEW EMMONS/USA EMMONS/USA MATTHEW TODAY SPORTS; REBILAS/USA J. MARK WENIG/AP; LEFT: SETH FROM Only 38% of Following Very Closely About the of female fans were familiar 50% same amount fans say they with the degenerative of time brain disease CTE— How closely have watched chronic traumatic 40% SANCHEZ/AP JOSE MARCIO DIPACE; TOM EVAN PIKE/CSM; TODAY SPORTS; fans have Less time the NFL more encephalopathy. followed 30% watching often in the each issue, NFL games past two and how it 20% years than has affected 10% they did their opinion NFL interest level: Up or 32% 9% 59% before that. of the NFL: down versus last season? Increased Decreased Same JONATHAN DWYER ADRIAN PETERSON GREG HARDY RAY RICE RAY MCDONALD Allegations of Allegations of Appealing domestic Admission of Allegations of domestic violence child abuse violence conviction domestic violence domestic violence * Of those who follow the story 48% 51% 52% 55% 50% very/somewhat closely Worsened opinion Worsened opinion Worsened opinion Worsened opinion Worsened opinion ILLUSTRATED BECK/SPORTS ROBERT Which of the ishment, a two-game suspension. Then came behavior by NFL players. On Sept. 17, Cardinals OR A long time the game raced forward The reality of brain damage has spilled into Fans think an following ways will outrage over the fact that two defensive linemen running back Jonathan Dwyer was deactivated because so many Americans love it. I’m locker rooms across the country. After playing average of you watch NFL games were still in uniform: the Panthers’ Greg Hardy, after also being charged with domestic violence. one of those Americans. Some of my just one game this season, Connecticut quarter­ this season? who had been found guilty of assault on a female This was a new chapter in football’s decline, F fondest memories center on playing back Casey Cochran retired, citing repeated and communicating threats, and the 49ers’ Ray but it wasn’t new to the larger narrative. Thir- catch in the backyard with my father after concussions. Cochran is the son of a zealous McDonald, who had been arrested for suspicion teen months before the Giants’ victory in Glen- watching NFL and college games together. I was high school coach, a child raised with a football of felony domestic violence. (Carolina later placed dale, Ariz., Alan Schwarz of The New York Times the on a successful small-town high in his hand. Yet he told reporters, “People have 100 Hardy on a paid leave of absence.) reported that neuropathologists had tied the school team, and while I wasn’t good enough to start realizing how much health means. As Even as the league scrambled to formulate suicide of former NFL safety Andre Waters to to make the varsity at Division III Williams, I much as I love football, as many memories as of all active NFL Shield-saving, damage-control responses to brain damage caused by playing football. The played on the freshman team for a memorable I’ve gotten out of it, your health is more impor- players use PEDs. three domestic abuse cases, the news broke on story was significant and chilling, and it played coach and remain friends with grown men who tant. It’s just a game.” A week after Cochran’s 22% of all fans 50 running back Adrian Peterson: charges of reck- like the first wave of an ocean storm, lapping still revel in that experience. There are millions decision, Texas quarterback David Ash, who say they are less less or negligent injury on a child. Again, there ashore far ahead of dangerous winds. like me, with warm feelings about a sport now passed for 2,699 yards and 19 in interested in the NFL was startling visual evidence, and this time the Eight years and much journalism later, there’s proved dangerous and possibly corrupt. When 2012, also quit because of repeated concussions. because of this. perpetrator was one of the game’s biggest stars, no questioning the connection between football I became a journalist, the fairy tales dissolved, If the pervasiveness of concussion research a Sunday-afternoon superhero who whipped and brain damage, only its scope. In what’s left and I no longer cared who won or lost. But I’ve and bad publicity renders these decisions Do you think an his four-year-old son with a tree limb stripped after domestic violence in the NFL and traumatic written more stories about football than any unsurprising, it’s important to consider how NFL player should of leaves. Peterson was deactivated, reactivated brain injury at all levels of the game, I find little other sport, and for a long time it was the one shocking they would have been less than a be suspended if and then put on paid leave by the Vikings, the worthy of embrace. I can’t help but wonder if the game that best connected my soul and my brain. decade ago, when football players still rou- he tests positive latest action coming shortly after megasponsor two are connected, and if the violence between the Now that passion brings me embarrassment tinely played through all forms of pain. Last for any of the Anheuser-Busch publicly harrumphed over bad white lines can’t help but spill into everyday life. NYCRETOUCHER/GETTY IMAGES (MONEY); REBECCA COOK/REUTERS(SUH) because we know so many more truths. week Matt Suarez, a 5' 7", 145-pound freshman following drugs?

54% 16% In the past two years, which 18% 14% 13% 8% 63% Marijuana Played Bet on a game Participated in Participated Bet on a game through None NFL activities have you fantasy with a close a Super Bowl in a pick ’em or a bookie, sports book or of participated in for money? football associate boxes pool survivor pool gambling website these 85%

Unprescribed amphetamines, 94% said they will such as Adderall watch most often on TV. Just 5% will choose to watch most often At what point do you believe an NFL player should be Asked whether they think NFL players are better or 85% on mobile devices or on a computer. suspended if he is implicated in a violent crime? worse role models than athletes in other leagues, more fans said “worse” in comparison with all but the NBA. Testosterone or HGH

90% of fans How important is believe that NBA LSD, ecstasy or other hallucinogens it to you that the After being NFL players NFL addresses convicted are not After After being good role 93% each of the all legal formally following issues? appeals charged models. MLB have been Cocaine Issues below are exhausted Ndamukong ordered from most to and still Suh: Fined least important After four times in found being guilty Unsure five seasons. 94% arrested MLS Never Steroids

NHL EXTREMELY IMPORTANT VERY IMPORTANT SOMEWHAT IMPORTANT

Off-field violent Head injuries affecting PED Inadequate/inconsistent Abuse of pain meds or Cost of attending Lack of leadership from Injuries that keep star Contribution to TV blackout Commercialization Lack of parity crimes by players current/retired players usage disciplinary policies other prescription drugs games commissioner’s office players off the field violence in society rules of football among teams

46 / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED / SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED / 47 cornerback at D-III Rensselaer Polytechnic it all. Fans and media embraced the violence of nights in Texas), televisions will not suddenly Institute, was concussed in a midfield collision the game; ESPN even hosted a weekly segment go unwatched. Fantasy lineups will be filled, Counterpoint with a tight end during practice, his fourth called “Jacked Up,” which enjoyed immense suicide pools will be played. Last Thursday eve- One school is bringing back documented concussion since fourth grade. popularity (and seems unconscionably tone-deaf ning I rode my bicycle past a schoolyard where football, and it’s not alone Suarez loves football. “To me, it’s been pretty in hindsight). Domestic abuse was occurring, 22 little boys in oversized pads smashed into one much everything since fourth or fifth grade,” he but it was mostly out of sight. another while fathers yelled in their ear holes, BY RYAN WHITE says. “I take pride in being the smallest guy on Now that willful blindness is largely gone. On surely just like their fathers had yelled in theirs.

the field.” Now he’s being strongly encouraged Sept. 15, Geoff Gass, 38, shut down a popular ILLUSTRATED TIELEMANS/SPORTS AL LOGO); (REDSKINS NFL OF COURTESY But the game is irretrievably altered. There’s

(TACKLE); JED JACOBSOHN FOR SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (LEVI’S STADIUM) (LEVI’S ILLUSTRATED SPORTS FOR JACOBSOHN (TACKLE); JED BACK IN THE 1970S—WHEN a of fans opposed by doctors and coaches to walk away. “I still Vikings message board that he had run for no more viewing an NFL Sunday without feeling concussion was getting your bell expanding want to play,” says Suarez, “but I don’t want 11 years because he was disgusted at posters manipulated by the spectacle and wondering rung, and getting your bell rung the NFL season to be one of those guys that gets carted off.” who supported Peterson’s behavior and brief about the collateral damage to the players and made you tough—Robin­ Baker to 18 games. The breakdown of an entrenched societal reinstatement. The hotel chain Radisson im- their families. (Goodell’s press conference last was a high school quarterback in due to cost and difficulty finding institution such as football doesn’t occur over- mediately pulled out as a team sponsor, and Friday could have turned the tide, but it served Arizona who took one particularly enough players. When Baker moved from school provost to night or even over a few years. TV ratings and three days later Procter and Gamble withdrew only to further embarrass the league.) There’s ­character-building­ hit. “Coach runs out, puts ammonia in front of my president in 2007, bringing back rights fees for the NFL kept rising until the latter its participation in an on-field NFL promotion no more watching a football game at any level football became a “passion.” At reached the current level of roughly $50 billion planned for Breast Cancer Awareness month. without fearing for the brains beneath the hel- nose, asks me if I can count to three,” says Baker, who is now the that point the biggest events on through 2022; fantasy football and other types Yet even with all that’s taken place, much of mets and the overall long-term health of the president of George Fox University the George Fox athletic calendar of gambling provided an entry point for huge America remains addicted to the NFL and to participants. Culture changes glacially, but we in Newberg, Ore. Two plays later were home soccer games on swaths of the population that otherwise lacked football, and like any addiction this one holds are all in a different place. The joy I felt learning the QB was back in the game. When Saturdays. Baker says he loves hard-core interest. The NFL became a runaway a fierce grip. Stadiums will not suddenly sit the game, playing the game, writing the game? friends hear that story, they “look soccer, but he wanted a sport that created more campus atmosphere train, and there was a voracious innocence about empty on Sunday afternoons (or on Friday YARNELL TIM That joy might be damaged beyond repair. ± at me and go, ‘We knew there was something wrong with you,’ ” Baker on fall weekends, providing greater says, laughing. “That may be true.” engagement for current students There’s evidence to support and attracting new ones. the claim. Given the negativity George Fox set a fund-raising surrounding the sport on and off goal of $7.2 million, an ambitious the field at all levels, why would figure, but more than 90% of it of fans said the anyone start a football program has been raised. The school has at in 2014—especially the head of least 120 more men on campus this Washington Redskins fall than it did two years ago (half should change their a Division III school with 2,219 undergraduates and an athletic the team arrived in 2013), which will team name. department budget of $2.2 million? help balance a male-female­ ratio To Baker, the answer is simple. that had grown to 62% female. “Football’s part of the American Concussions? A concern, but said they did not of all fans considered fabric,” he contends. they are for all athletes on campus. 79% consider Redskins an 10% the name Redskins Amateurism? That’s a richer offensive name. “very offensive.” George Fox isn’t alone. Seven schools, from NAIA up to school’s fight. Agents? C’mon. Fans were asked: In general, do you support or oppose Division II, introduced teams this Insurance? “They’re more than using taxpayer dollars to fund building NFL stadiums? year. According to the National willing to cover us,” Taylor says. It of fans were not aware, before Football Foundation, that brings just costs more than volleyball. STRONGLY SUPPORT Back in Baker’s office, talk turns taking this survey, that the NFL is classified the number of college teams across all divisions to 767, an to crisp fall days, to families and SOMEWHAT SUPPORT as a tax-exempt entity (page 28). alltime high. From his bright friends mingling with students and ­alumni—to football. Not the sport UNDECIDED third-floor office overlooking the quad, Baker sees an endearing so hotly debated these days, but SOMEWHAT OPPOSE tableau: college football that the one that makes millions dig of fans said they looks like the idea of college ratty sweatshirts from the closet believe that in STRONGLY OPPOSE football, with ­student-athletes ­ each September. 20 years, the NFL will reading books and pursuing real Why start a football team in not closely resemble 2014? Because the game won’t be today’s game in majors and, maybe, wearing a minor league ATM at George Fox. terms of rules of fans said the events of sweaters. The preferred It’ll be a sepia-toned­ ­ piece of regarding contact 34% the past month regarding nomenclature is “cocurricular,” and player NFL player conduct or the not “extra.” Everything on genuine Americana. Because 3,659 equipment. commissioner’s office have campus is part of the university’s people showed up on Sept. 6 to negatively impacted their stance on watch George Fox lose, 30–27, to public funding for NFL stadiums. educational mission. The Bruins last played in 1969, NAIA start-up Arizona Christian, of fans don’t approve of this. after which football was axed and almost no one left unhappy. ±

SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED / 49