football

Century Blogs

The NFL's predictable bad day

Sep 28, 2012 by Benjamin J. Dueholm

The NFL gambled on fans’ willingness to endure the replacement refs. It was wrong—a good development for whatever ethical margin a football fan might claim.

Cover Story

Unnecessary roughness

The moral hazards of football

Sep 10, 2012 by Benjamin J. Dueholm

A sociologist might see in football a society's need to control and ritualize violence. The church fathers, however, weren't much for sociologists.

Film

Undefeated

Directed by Daniel Lindsay and T. J. Martin

Mar 08, 2012 reviewed by John Petrakis

Undefeated is a solid piece of filmmaking that is also too little too late. The Oscar-winning documentary by Daniel Lindsay and T. J. Martin concerns the travails of a high school football team in a poor black neighborhood of North Memphis that overcomes years of futility thanks in large part to a white volunteer coach who inspires them to believe in themselves both on and off the field.

Century Blogs

The other devout Christian on the field

Jan 09, 2012 by Amy Frykholm

A friend sent me an e-mail before yesterday's Steelers-Broncos playoff game. He titled it, "The Steelers vs. God. Want to have brunch?"

American Soundings

Would Jesus love football?

Oct 10, 2011 by Rodney Clapp

It's not primarily the financially shady elements that make me ambivalent about my favorite sport. It's the sometimes dangerous levels of violence.

Features

Sidelined

Life after football
Mar 23, 2004 by Gordon Marino
In April the NFL will bless about 250 draftees with a professional contract; the rest will be cleaning out their identities along with their lockers as they make a sharp turn out of football into new lives.