Contents Join Coca-Cola for the BACK TOSCHOOL SERIES FEATURING FRIDAY NIGHT FIREWORKS Games start at 7:05 p.m. August 17 & August 31 Regions Park www.milb.com Reach For Thrilling Entertainment Naked Birmingham . 5 Science . 9 And the stadium roared: Some other- Mission to Mars: NASA is parachuting wise intelligent people have been another rover onto the surface of the seriously suggesting that college foot- red planet. ball be banned. Books . 12 Feature . 6 All this hysteria about obesity, peanut Let Them Eat Art: Do arts districts, allergies, cholesterol, trans fats, high bohemian enclaves, music festivals, fructose, carcinogens, etc., is nothing and a high “hipster quotient” provide new. Humans have been afraid of cities with the keys to prosperity? food for centuries. Cover: “Rose,” oil on wood by Michelle Prahler. This artist’s work is available at Naked Art, 3831 Clairmont Avenue, www.nakedartusa.com. 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Ofootball season, in certain circles there is an amus- NAKED Bissinger and Gladwell could have specifically argued ing discussion going on about banning college football. that Nick Saban's annual salary of $5 million is ridiculous, Last May, in New York City, that topic was the subject but don't tell that to Alabama fans relishing the Crimson of a formal debate sponsored by the “Intelligence Squared Tide’s two national championships over the past three Debate Series.” Buzz Bissinger, a Pulitzer Prize winner and years. There are others who argue that Saban’s salary is the author of Friday Night Lights (1990), and Malcolm worth every penny, considering the return on investment. Gladwell, author and writer for the New Yorker, squared Revenues from the recently completed football season off against two former football players, Tim Green, an allowed for contributions of $6.5 million to various attorney and author of over two dozen books, and Jason University academic programs; Louisiana State University Whitlock, a sports columnist for FoxSports.com. Bissinger recently donated $8.5 million to University academics. It is and Gladwell argued for the ban; Green and Whitlock estimated that local spending during University of Tennessee were present to defend college football. home games in Knoxville is as much as $8 million per home National Public Radio re-broadcast the debate on game. Multiply that by seven home games. Of the 10 univer- Monday, July 16. Being a huge fan of college football sity football teams on the Forbes richest collegiate programs, myself, and curious about what kind of conversation five are from the Southeastern Conference, including Florida would emerge from a lecture hall 650 miles removed (4), Alabama (6), Georgia (7), Arkansas (8), and Auburn (9). from SEC country, I tuned in. I found the debate inter- In that context, the salaries of Saban, LSU’s Les Miles, and esting but also felt it was ridiculous to argue for banish- BIRMINGHAM others at the top of the list look like a decent investment. ing a 143 year-old American sport. Doing so would There are 120 Division I collegiate football pro- require explaining to thousands of rabid Alabama and BY CHUCK GEISS grams in the United States and another 510 programs Auburn football fans why they'll have to find something from smaller schools. Not all are profitable, but individual else to do the first Saturday in September, during the fall, up to New Year's institutions can evaluate the financial viability and the overall safety of their Day, and every other day for the rest of their lives. football programs on their own. Football is indeed a contact sport, as are Gladwell started the debate by arguing that concussions and brain most others. I broke a collarbone at the age 14 playing four-man touch injuries were prevalent. "Think about driving your car at 25 miles per hour football; broke a shoulder at age 40 playing Ultimate Frisbee, and wrenched into a brick wall and hitting your head on the dashboard. That's the equiv- a knee at age 45 playing tennis. There is a risk playing any sport, but I’ll alent of 100 G's of force rattling your brain. Now think about backing up allow Gladwell this: I’ve never suffered an injury playing Monopoly. and doing that 40 to 100 times, over and over. That's the effect of a foot- “I think it's obvious Buzz Bissinger has bumped his head recently and ball game on someone's brain," he said. "Now consider that happening never made it to the ER,” said local and nationally syndicated sports talk thousands of times in a career." host Paul Finebaum. “Arguing over the abolishment of college football Green, a former collegiate football player at Syracuse University and a ranks among the stupidest ideas since Coke tried to re-brand the most suc- seven-year veteran with the Atlanta Falcons, was a victim of his fair share of cessful soft-drink in history about 25 years ago. It's like saying people hard hits while playing the sport. Green rebutted, "Head injuries are a down- shouldn't drive in cars because there are automobile accidents every day. side, but when you compare injuries and deaths involved in lacrosse, water The game is dangerous, but sports medicine specialists have worked fever- polo, swimming, downhill skiing, equestrian sports, and rowing, there are ishly to find the best and most effective ways of protecting young athletes. more deaths and injuries per capita in those sports than in football. I guess College football is an important part of the college experience and a criti- after we ban college football, we should start getting rid of those sports, too." cal part of a school's ability to attract more students, raise money, do more Bissinger argued that money in collegiate football is totally out of con- vital things, and make the world a better place.'' trol. “[Collegiate] players receive nothing of value except a college scholar- I am reminded that this recent debate took place in the heart of ship of questionable value, given what they are asked to do in return for Manhattan, which is not a hotbed of college football. At the very least, I’d like it,” he claimed “Coaches are horribly overpaid. Colleges should not be set to invite Gladwell to Bryant-Denny or Jordan-Hare stadium on a Saturday up as sports factories disguised as institutions of higher learning. College and see what he thinks. But we won’t be playing board games. & should be about academics." Whitlock fired back: "We live in a democracy; this is America. Ronald McDonald is overpaid; pop stars are overpaid; rappers are overpaid; Charlie Sheen is overpaid. I was willing to take advantage of the currency that colleges were willing to give me to play football, which was an educa- HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABY! tion." Green added that more than 23,000 scholarships were awarded in 2011, some of which amounted to as much as a $250,000 four-year college V E R education.