Against Football (Melville House, $22.95) is Steve Almond’s 175-page journalistic rethinking of America’s (and his own) deeply rooted passion for a sublimely destructive sport. Almond is a lifelong Raiders fan who has put up with decades of disappointment for the compensations of camaraderie with fellow devotees, including his father. But now he weighs the personal meaning the game has for him against the damning evidence of the leagues’ irresponsible treatment of the players. The NFL and team owners use these players to make billions of dollars, but deny the game has anything to do with the men’s brain damage and short lifespans. The money-making machine we know as football in fact raises the stakes every year; since teams began threatening to leave cities for the highest bidder, a tactic that peaked in the ‘90s, owners have extorted their communities for two decades now. Almond also outlines the role of high school and college programs in young men’s permanent brain damage, the evidence for which has been documented in studies conducted over the course of a single season. Given football’s many negatives, Almond still struggles to balance its destructiveness with the valuable communal bonds it fosters.
