During the quiet Labor Day season our clippings basket and online column reservoir fattened with stories headlined like these: “Loving and leaving the game of football,” “As worries rise, participation falls,” “Turning His Back on Football,” “‘I just don't think the game is safe for the brain,'” “Death of NFL inevitable as middle class opts out,” and more. These accounts prompted a digital visit to similar stories from years past, some appropriately accompanied by question marks: “Is It Immoral to Watch the Super Bowl?” and “What Would Jesus Think About Football?”—both from 2014. The latter and longer of these, by Patrick Sauer for VICE Sports, was headed by a kitschy painting of Jesus holding a football. Sauer profiled an array of insiders (to football and religion) who represented a fair collection of approaches and views.
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