That's a whole nother ball of wax the existence of the salary cap in the draft and all those constraints that exist but it's hard to have those conversations and their actions like so clearly in many cases show that they don't respect us as anything more than pieces to a machine that can be subbed in and subbed out. And in the background, we're learning more and more about how they try to hide information from us. And you mentioned what happens to players, so many players after they retire and so young. But I think it's important to point out that it's not just that some of their brains deteriorate and some of them have to get knee and hip replacements and all that stuff it's also that their brains deteriorate to the point where shooting themselves in the chest is the best option that they see like there's a lot of suicides and and the shooting themselves in the chest part is important because they want to leave their brains um unaffected in order to be studied right and i

think famously like when he killed himself, Junior Seau is one of the greatest middle linebackers in the history of the sport. When he killed himself, he shot himself in the chest. And if I'm not mistaken, he left a note saying, please study my brain. Like it was really, you could see sort of both like the sort of force, like he knew something was wrong and he couldn't figure out what it was. And also he had like, it was, the whole situation was very just heartbreaking.

It's unimaginable darkness for me. And it's something that I think none of us really think about. Well, I can't speak for everyone, but most of us probably don't think about what it would take for you, how you might have to feel for you to think that that's the best alternative particularly someone who's lived a life that a lot of people would want to have and so like having that and there's no reason I think for most people to think about that but having someone go through that like force me like, wonder how bad it must feel, and then go into negotiations with people who are like, nah, you don't deserve that. You don't deserve, in so many words, you don't deserve longer-term health care. And yeah, so it's

a tough spot to be in. I mean, so there's two dynamics that seem like really, that really would, that jump out to me just as someone who's never been in, I can only imagine what it's like to be in those rooms. One is that when you were playing, I think every owner in the league was white. I think Shahid Khan came later. He's Pakistani American. Um, but of the 32 owners of NFL teams, they're all white. And if you own an NFL team, that means like on the low end of wealth, you're worth, you know, a couple hundred million dollars. But like, if you own a team, if you're the majority on the team, your wealth is probably, you're probably a billionaire. Um, and so you're a young black dude sitting across the table from this sort of cadre of white billionaires and their representatives. And you're arguing with them about these things that affect your livelihood and your health down the road. But also the other part of football that is like so jarring. My wife talks about this all the time. It's just how martial it is. like at every like how much sort of the language and sort of grammar of military stuff is like baked into the way football is presented to us. say that y'all are cannon fodder but like it does feel like there is this a culture of not speaking up that is also exacerbated by the fact that your contracts aren't guaranteed right and so it feels like um there's a lot of like good soldier uh sort of mythologizing right next man up all that stuff um i'm just wondering how those two different but not unrelated dynamics sort of play out when you're when you're sort of arguing with these people about really important issues i football

is only popular in america which like again makes for another like perfect metaphor it's insanely popular here because it kind of is america like uh from the racial dynamics to the class dynamics to the cronyism and nepotism that, like, benefits a select group. Like, it is America. And so, like, it's hard not to see those parallels. And when you're sitting in those rooms and you're having conversations with uh the owners and so like the i try my best not to like like make personal like assessments of anybody like i don't know what's going on inside it's a a safe space, though. I get it. I guess I guess the point I'm making is the point I'm trying to make is they have so much power and privilege. And I think they believe like a lot of people who've had a lot of success in America, they believe that it's because of them. And giving any of that up feels like something is being stolen from them. And it feels like we don't deserve it in their view. And I don't think that's very different from like general fights about race and class in America. interviewed uh owner and frankly if you read their mind like if you ask them do you want uh these players to live healthy happy lives and be rich and be successful and not have any issues with their brain or body i feel fully confident that they would say they would answer all those questions the right way but then if you ask, what are you willing to give up to make sure that happens? Like that's where you realize that they don't actually care about that. And again, like that feels like having conversations about race or class with anyone powerful in America. But then it's like, all right, what price are you willing to pay to ensure that this thing that you say that you want happens? And not only are they not willing to pay a price, they'll fight to ensure that no one pays that price, because that means giving something

up. When we come back. My

college roommate that I was talking about is also, he has ailments from college, but since that's not a job, he can't even get workers comp. He's going to have to have his hip replaced also and his knee probably replaced also. And he had his finger shattered. He had all this stuff and he didn't even play in the NFL. Stay

with us.