“Why former 49er Chris Borland is the most dangerous man in football”
“Borland has consistently described his retirement as a pre-emptive strike to (hopefully) preserve his mental health. “If there were no possibility of brain damage, I’d still be playing,” he says. But buried deeper in his message are ideas perhaps even more threatening to the NFL and our embattled national sport. It’s not just that Borland won’t play football anymore. He’s reluctant to even watch it, he now says, so disturbed is he by its inherent violence, the extreme measures that are required to stay on the field at the highest levels and the physical destruction he has witnessed to people he loves and admires — especially to their brains…
Two weeks after he visited Amen, Borland drove the two hours from the Bay Area to Sacramento to participate in a fundraiser for a paralyzed semipro player. He found himself in the middle of a sad pep rally that, oddly, showcased potential concussion remedies while celebrating the sport that causes the injury…
The man told Borland that he appreciated the “bravery” of his decision to retire — then asked for the ball to be made out to his nephew, who was just starting to play high school football…
Borland began at Wisconsin as a wedge buster on kickoffs, a task he compared to “bowling, but it’s people doing it.” After blowing up a wedge against Wofford, he couldn’t remember the rest of the game, including his own blocked punt, which led to a touchdown. That night, unable to eat, his head pounding, Borland had a teammate wake him up every few hours, fearing he’d lapse into a coma. He never told the coaches or trainers. That Monday, he was named co-Big Ten special-teams player of the week. “That’s one of those things where, when you step away from the game and you look at it, it’s like, ‘Oh my god,’ you know?” Borland says. “But it makes sense to you when you’re 18 and you’ve dedicated your life to it and the most important thing to you is to get a good grade on special teams.”…
He says he knows some people probably blame him for contributing to the “pussification” of football. “I think in the eyes of a lot of circles, especially within football, I’m the soft guy,” he says. “But I’m fine with being the soft, healthy guy.”
Also, I’m really fascinated with the position of football players in our society, as kind of masculinity-superheros in the most old-fashioned, narrow, misogynistic way. They sort of uphold the tradition and practice of American Manhood. And think that’s why people freak out when they are vulnerable, or make choices that buck the status quo.
Related: How the Seattle Seahawks are focusing on mental health; “Study: Half of Jailed NYC Youths Have Brain Injury”; “Man Up: Declaring a war on warrior culture in the wake of the Miami Dolphins bullying scandal”
