Zirin: "The NFL’s highly selective approach to player safety."

Cock-fighting and bear-baiting gradually became socially unacceptable, too.

What Can We Learn from the Opening Game of the NFL Season? Actually A Lot, by Dave Zirin (The Nation)

... How announcers navigate the fact that we are watching an entertainment that is unsafe at any speed will be something to chart throughout the season. As much as the NFL has tried to keep the dangers in the closet, they are now part of the narrative of a sport that bells and whistles aside, has probably began a generational downturn. No amount of seven-touchdown games can obscure what is coming: a mass reassessment of how we view this most American of games.