Some of us dislike the continuing efforts to make football safer, although we’re resigned to the fact that the NFL has to weave grand hypocrisies to allay fan discomfort that threatens both audience and the talent pipeline. From an intellectual standpoint, this is the position I have painstakingly carved out, tenuous and conflicted though it may be.

I will never allow my son to play football, and think that those parents who do let their kids play are doing something reckless and irresponsible with their son’s brain, unless his lot in life is so awful that football is his best and only chance for improvement. But as a fan, I need these bad parents and difficult existences to keep providing the sport with people willing to break each other in pieces for my amusement.

It’s not a particularly humane stance, I’m well aware, but it’s honest.