Author Chuck Klosterman has a new piece in GQ titled, "Will Violence Save Football?" It's a book excerpt, and it's quite good. Any analysis that prompts you to consider a different way of looking at the topic is valuable.
Klosterman lays out an argument with these basic bullet points:
• Football is an unbelievably popular sport, but even people who love football are having a hard time reconciling the violence and related impact on human brains.
• Many people believe that as a result: 1) It will die off, with the brutality eclipsing the beauty and popularity. 2) It will adapt and continue to thrive as a less-violent version of itself.
Both viewpoints make sense. But Klosterman argues there is a third possibility, which exists outside the realm of pure and reasonable solutions — a more primal yet also political split that might happen: football will survive because it is violent, not in spite of it.
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.
