The NFL, Greed, and Head Trauma
by Stephanie Cuevas, Class of 2026

Citizens are blinded by their cravings. 

ESPN commentator Ryan Clark shattered the reality of professional football. This sport is simply a killer. Clark said the game “hardens” the players as they are being rewarded for putting their lives on the field at danger, and, in turn, the fans are hardened. Although the citizens are cheering at home eager to see who wins, nobody cares enough to see a young man almost pronounced dead. 

On January 2, 2023, 24-year-old safety Damar Hamlin, was slammed in the chest and suffered commotio cordis, cardiac arrest resulting from a blow to the heart.

The National Football League (NFL) is at the bottom of the morality pyramid. The Dark Knight's Joker was apt when he observed that people are only moral as the world allows them to be. The NFL fits.

The true intentions of the NFL are selfishly brutal. This semi-non-profit organization gives health care breadcrumbs of the $18 billion in yearly profits. After the Hamlin tragedy, ESPN commentator G. Bush of the Cleveland Sport Show explained that the NFL decides if a player is eligible for health benefits with their own doctors. Bush reminded viewers that even if Social Security Administration determines a player is disabled, the NFL may still not cough up money for that player's healthcare. Additionally, the NFL once paid $22,000 a year for a disabled player, and now that figure has dropped to $4,000. 

Is this “savage” game, as G. Bush stated, ethical?