Brian Westbrook is at the epicenter of the ongoing discussion about football players and brain injury. He recently suffered his second concussion of the season and is being examined by neurologists today. The reality that isn’t being spoken is that prudence probably dictates that Westbrook’s career is over. Of course, football players deal with getting their bells rung just about every game and while these days players are held out of games when diagnosed with concussions, countless NFL, NCAA and high school players continue to take the field after having sustained head injuries that aren’t detected. It’s part of the culture of football to play through pain but in the case of concussions, science is beginning to make it more and more clear that football players at every level are literally risking their mental health every time they suit up.

Malcolm Gladwell has written a piece for The New Yorker that details the extent of injury of current players as well as the long-term damage done by repeated blows to the head. The inescapable conclusion he draws is that concussions, brain trauma and dementia are an inevitable and devastating side effect of playing football. As more and more medical evidence mounts, the question becomes one of the viability of the game given the emergence of information that shows that players are literally destroying themselves.

Of course, playing football is a calculated risk. Just like boxing and automobile racing. In our society we generally allow for dangerous activities that are considered recreational and competitive to take place because of the assumption of risk on the part of the participants. But what about the damage that is shown to be inflicted beginning in players’ high school years? Are 16-year old kids entitled to make an informed decision about playing a sport that may scar their ability to live a normal life?

I’ve played some football in my day and have had a play or two following a big hit where I didn’t really know what was going on. I don’t think I’ve had any concussions but I don’t really know. It’s obvious when your ankle is broken or when your shoulder has been separated. But unless you’re lying on the ground unconscious or fumbling to get to the sideline, neither you nor those assigned to prevent and diagnose serious injury may actually know if you’ve had a concussion. With the evidence mounting and the uncertainty of concussions, is the game of football headed to its demise?