After hearing too much commentary regarding the recent rule emphasis in the NFL, I think Rick Reilly comes out on top (for now) with his commentary at ESPN. As he mentions, most of these players don’t seem to care enough about what they are doing to others and to themselves.

What I find interesting is the fact that almost everyone agrees that the recent fines and greater emphasis will not fix the problem. So what is the solution? I suppose that can’t be agreed upon until everyone is clear about what the problem actually is.

Maria linked in the comments section a few days ago to Joe Paterno’s idea of removing face masks. That may be a start as it gets to the issue that today’s helmets and face masks actually enable players to take greater risks. But that would change the game a great deal. I think the general idea there is on point though and one few are speaking about.

Although helmets and face masks were introduced to protect players, they may be doing more harm than good, as the players rely on the helmet for protection that they should provide for themselves. Surely if they were using the old-school leather pads on their head, they would not be flying around as they do now. Though I didn’t play a lot of football during my younger years, I played enough to know that I played differently in pads than I did on the playground without them. In my experience at least, I got hurt less when wearing less.

All that being said, one question I have not heard, but that desperately needs to be asked is this: How much are we willing to sacrifice in order to enjoy football the way we do now?

Might not this question cut to the root of the real issue? I think so. All this helmet talk and whatever else is just skimming the surface. For we all should be able to see that most of the current discussion revolves around the fact that we don’t want football to change much (if at all). We enjoy it too much (myself included). We all know that changing the rules or removing helmets or whatever else are only issues to us because if these things change, the game changes. And we aren’t really sure if we are willing to make that sacrifice.

So how much are we willing to sacrifice? Or how much are we willing to watch men risk in order to play the game the way we have come to enjoy it? These are the questions we need to ask and comment upon. For they are the ones that cut right to the root of the real issue.

But might that be precisely why we are so slow to ask and answer them? I think so. Our answers may reveal more about us than we currently want to know.