Should Congress be investigating concussions in the NFL?

Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on whether the NFL properly protects its players from — and educates them about — the long-term risks of concussions and head injuries to its players. Ever since the suicide of former Philadelphia Eagle Andre Waters (and the earlier tragedy of the Steelers’ Mike Webster) there’s a growing question about the damage the game takes on those who play it.

John J. Miller weighs in this morning, decrying the “war on football”:

If you don’t believe me, check out Malcom Gladwell’s latest article in The New Yorker, which compares the “suffering and destruction” in dogfighting to injuries in football. “We no longer find that kind of transaction morally acceptable in a sport,” he wrote. So football = dogfighting.

There are of course genuine concerns about the health and safety of football players at all levels, from the pros to youth leagues. But does the sport require the intervention of Congress? This isn’t a close call.

I don’t buy the football = dogfighting comparison either: Nobody forces young men to become NFL players. (Ta-Nehisi has a slightly different take.) And I think it’s true that there’s a growing movement to consider the morality and propriety of building a business that puts young men in the position of sacrificing their bodies, health and long-term brain functioning for our entertainment. The big hits that fans love may not destroy lives right away, but they can and do over the course of a player’s life. Me? I don’t really watch or enjoy watching football much anymore.

But that’s a different consideration from whether Congress should be getting involved. Miller is right: It’s not a close call. Congress has the power to regulate interstate commerce — and hoo boy, the National Football League is certainly involved in interstate commerce. The players union hasn’t always looked out for the best health interest of its own constituency. So who does that leave? New York’s Anthony Weiner explains:

“This is a worker safety thing — no different than if someone was coming off the assembly line at a production plant and 20 years later, they all had arthritis in their right knee,” he added. “We’d look at it the exact same way.”

Is this the most important issue on Congress’ plate? Not by a long shot. But that doesn’t mean it is unimportant — given football’s outsize role in our culture — or inappropriate for Congress to be involved.