To the editor: Sociology professors Nathan Kalman-Lamb and Derek Silva are correct about the hypocrisy of shaming college football players who get into brawls on the field.
When I was a graduate student at the University of Michigan, I taught a science course and was recruited in the summer term to tutor a football player who had to drop out of my fall course because of a football injury. As I worked with him, I discovered that he still could not hold his focus for more than 20 minutes.
While I used to appreciate strategies demonstrated on the field, the experience taught me that the game is chiefly about mindless brute force. Football’s popularity usually overshadows the damage that can last a lifetime.
I am no longer a fan.
Margaret Hamilton, Portland, Ore.
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To the editor: Thanks to The Times for again alerting us to the fact that the devastating statistics concerning brain damage and Parkinson’s disease among former football players have not been a deterrent to participation in the game, except for those parents who are able to dissuade their kids from playing.
But, the authors’ condemnation of football fails in two respects.
First, a blanket condemnation is too facile because it ignores all the good that competitive sports teaches, such as discipline, sportsmanship and camaraderie.
Second, the authors fail to give credit to the National Collegiate Athletic Assn., which has acknowledged the problem, and to all those coaches who take seriously their responsibility as teachers of maturing kids.
Players now know that “targeting,” or making forcible contact beyond what’s necessary to tackle another player, results not simply in the loss of yards, but also ejection. Unsportsmanlike conduct can result in game-changing penalties.
The NCAA cares, most coaches care — and yes, brawling is a disgrace.
Louis Lipofsky, Beverly Hills
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To the editor: Cries of hypocrisy over college football brawls — when the very sport itself is immersed in violence — run a distant second to the more obvious, “What, are you kidding me?”
Considering that every player on the field is clad from head to toe in protective gear designed solely to prevent harm, I highly doubt there has ever been an injury of any sort resulting from a brawl.
News flash: There never will be.
William P. Bekkala, West Hollywood
