I’m a devoted "60 Minutes" watcher and had two strong impressions from the last two weeks.
1, Last week LaDainian Tomlinson, the Chargers’ incredible running back, said that he spends the day before a game in fear of injury. Playing a game of football is like being in a car wreck, he said, and he worries whether that day is going to bring a season- or career-ending injury. Let alone concussions. The Times’ Alan Schwartz has done passionate, important reporting on this issue. I hope the comments on "60," by one of the league’s top performers, mean that things might change… 2, Tonight in a report from New Guinea on rarely-seen bird species, Robert Simon, who spent 10 days in the bush, kept cooing over the fact that no one had caught these scenes on film before. With the suggestion that no one had seen these birds doing their mating dances before. I think this is somewhat racist. 3 years ago I was in New Guinea and on a trek through the mountains, my guides brought me to a village for a Tolai fire dance. The thing went on all night long, men jumping in and out of the fire. Well, they were all wearing amazing, outlandish bird costumes. Strange wire-and-paper headdresses and tail feathers. Birds are revered in New Guinea, and the people who live there have been observing them for eons.
Re: L.T.,
Running backs in the NFL typically enter the league at 21 or 22 years old, and are considered to have 'lost a step' by about 27 or 28. Tiki Barber, who played with the Giants, was a rare case of an RB playing (starting) into his 30s. He retired at 31, citing his desire to be able to still walk when he was 40.
They get paid a lot, but then one would have to, to be willing to give up ones' knees, feet, ankles, shoulders, lower back, etc.
Another rarely mentioned danger of playing in the NFL is substance abuse, particularly painkillers. Several NFLers have retired due to prescription (or worse) addictions.
Simon’s racist comment reminded me of a Chicago reporter who a few years ago did a story on the "Golden Lady" sculpture (a smaller version of Daniel Chester French's Statue of the Republic) located in Jackson Park on the city’s south side. He said that “no one” ever saw this sculpture, completely disregarding the thousands of mostly African-Americans who pass the Golden Lady on a daily basis on their way to work and who enjoy the park in which it is situated.
both those segments were dope though. Tomilson was inspiring and the crazy gothic bird of paradise was sick. and the funky other one was cool too. he was doing a crazy sideways dance.
It was on 60 minutes not long ago that the head of the Ultimate Fighting leage made the point that virtually no one there had ever suffered a life threatening injury and the guys careers go well into their thirties. football is way more dangerous statisticly.