How many of you are conflicted over your football fandom?
I am. Football is king in Madison, and I have such great memories--formative experiences--related to the football program. Nonetheless, I wouldn't let my kids play football and in every game I watch now I have moments that I cringe and think, "this isn't right." But I'm still watching, though consistently less than I was...
Curious to know if any of you are in that boat?
Completely. As I said in the post above yours, we're fans. We love the big hits. It's part of what football is. If there weren't big hits, we might as well watch rugby.
And clearly we're all involved enough in college sports (yeah, we talk basketball, but it's primarily football driving everything) that we've built this community together and held it over many years... Through the various iterations I know it's been well over a decade now for me. Due to my location, I've only met one person from the board (
@jhetfield99 ), but that gave me someone to go together with to root for a Purdue @ Northwestern basketball game and he was gracious enough to host my wife and I at their pregame tailgate for the Foster Farms Bowl. I know many of you have MUCH closer relationships as you have more opportunity for board meetings, tailgates, and such.
But yes, I'm conflicted. I realize that every one of those Purdue players on the field except probably the kickers are inviting permanent brain injury by being out there. And not just the ones with concussions. CTE is no joke.
I also would never let my sons play football. Everything I've achieved in my life has come from the gray matter between my ears being functional (maybe not
normal, but functional). I wouldn't want them to screw up theirs over some dream of stardom on Sundays that has effectively zero chance of being fulfilled.