Why America Needs Football. Even Its Brutality.
Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills takes a near-fatal hit on January 2. (Photo by Kevin Sabitus via Getty Images)
We can pine for a new kind of human being who doesn’t crave violence. Or we can be happy we have the NFL.
I knew this guy in college—soft spoken, smart, kind. He joined the military, and there wasn’t much his Berkeley Hills parents could do about it. And they tried. Desperately.
His choice to enlist wasn’t about 9/11 or Iraq. He didn’t have any fantasies about saving innocent lives or raising the American flag atop Iwo Jima. He didn’t think much about wheth…
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