Nearly everyone can reminisce on times of either tossing the football with your dad or seeing other people do it.

Football is a national tradition, a lovely time where people get together, eat and drink things that are horrendous for your body, and scream bloody murder at the television set.

What’s not to love about huge men using themselves as human battering rams, obliterating their opponent until small zebra-themed men blow whistles at them to stop?

Well for one thing that’s not to love is the humanistic aspect of it all, or the lack thereof more importantly.

Last Saturday, college football was in every ticker, every headline, and every top ten trending news reports as Tulane safety Devon Walker broke his neck in a collision with his own teammate while trying to make a tackle.

He wasn’t doing anything wrong, he wasn’t spearing an opponent with an illegal head to head hit. He was just trying to make sure an opponent was completely down, and he collided with his own teammate who was doing the same thing.

Even when players decide to make the safe and correct play, they can suffer a life-chaning injury.

There were other injuries that day as well, though they went with less media attention. Wyoming quarterback Brett Smith was knocked unconscious.

The reality of it all is that this sport comes with inherent dangers. The one-time blows that can lead to paralysis are obviously covered more in the media than all the subconcussive hits that players take every down of every game for a whole season. Add a full four seasons in college and maybe the pros? What about practice? Little league?

Football players are at risk any time they decide to play. As a coach of a nine year old football team, this terrifies me.

I have a lot of fun coaching; but when I look those kids in the eyes and think about what their futures could be with or without football, it makes me wonder.

What’s the price someone is willing to pay for quality of life? Does $32 million dollars guaranteed sound like an even trade for chronic knee pain? That’s probably the best case scenario.

In all honesty, it’s hard to pull the plug on a multi-billion dollar industry like the National Football League, but even with all the advances in medical technology, the hard truth is that football is not safe. Not for kids, not for college students, and not for grown men.

But hey, I’ll be watching this weekend, cheering for every score, and cringing at every hit. America loves hypocrisy.