October 1, 2017

Fred Grimm

The Sun Sentinel

500 E. Broward Blvd. 

Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33394

Mr. Grimm, 

I thought you had retired to the Harriet van Horne Home for Chroniclers of “Another Lash on the Backs of the Poor”. I was wrong.

As to your column on head injuries from football….

Why do people watch bull fights and NASCAR?

Simple. 

Every now and then the bull wins. Read Barnaby Conrad’s “Death in the Afternoon”. His description of Manolete’s wound is more gruesome than anything Homer wrote in the Iliad or Sledge wrote in “With the Old Breed”.

Every now and then somebody does a reprise of #3, The Intimidator, Dale Earnhardt, Sr. Even if it’s technically a tie, the wall wins.

I played and coached football, coaching it better than I played it. 2 of the players I coached earned college scholarships, one to Brown University and the other to Villanova University. Both have enjoyed successful careers in the “dreaded” private sector.

My solution to the head injury pandemic is to remove face masks. That would immediately stop faster than a speeding bullet strong safeties from taking on big tight ends higher than their shins.

What would the NFL do if Dick Butkus or Jack Tatum were to reappear? They would be penalized during the National Anthem. Ditto Joe Greene or Ray Nitschke.

Kevin Smith

PS – Do something about the picture. You look like the “before” half of Moriarty’s Mortuary

ad, the one in the Sunday church bulletin.