Virtually every news publication, including this one, has headlines today that former Detroit Lions great Lem Barney has apologized for telling a group of young people, with Michigan and Michigan State football coaches Brady Hoke and Mark Dantonio in attendance, that football is so dangerous that it will be "gone" in 15-20 years.
Don't believe those headlines.
The headlines are technically accurate. Barney did apologize--for making his comments in that venue. Barney isn't backing away from his harsh assessment about the game's safety.
“The other day, at the Sound Mind and Body Camp, I was asked about my thoughts on football and safety,” Barney said in a statement. “While I made comments I believe to be truthful it is apparent to me now that the camp was not the forum for those comments. These are the same comments I have made for years before Congress, under oath and at numerous events for retired players and it’s become second nature.”
By hyping his apology for the time and place of his remarks and ignoring Barney's willingness to stand behind the substance of his remarks, we're not telling you the bigger and more important story.
Barney is a seven-time all-pro and NFL hall of famer. Just as Jeffrey Wigand's testimony was so dangerous for the tobacco industry, the Lem Barneys of the world pose a great risk to all those who profit from football. That includes Roger Goodell, who earns roughly $25 million annually as commissioner of the tax-exempt "non profit" National Football League.
No reasonable person can look at the state of pro football and disagree that something is rotten in the game that has become a national obsession.
All the thrills and treasure generated by the game somehow don't seem worth it when weighed against the human cost. The Junior Seau and Dave Duerson suicides forced the epidemic of brain injuries among ex-football players into the national consciousness, but there exists among fans and especially league officials that the concern over the game's safety will pass.
That attitude isn't far-fetched considering that sports fans seem seem concerned that Jhonny Peralta maybe took a pill to increase his bat speed and that may or may not have long-term negative health effects but they don't seem upset that football is very likely killing football players.
There is a real human toll paid for our football fandom and attention must be paid. When football legends like Lem Barney say the game isn't going to survive as it's currently constituted, perhaps football will finally give the issue it deserves instead of empty PR-driven gestures like the "Heads Up" campaign. Otherwise, the carnage will become too great to ignore. And then Barney's prediction of football's demise will prove prescient than football fans currently want to admit.
