also, the whole steroid saga. the tainted records, the congressional hearing, the baseball idols. baseball is still feeling the fallout from that. more recently, it's football that's been under the microscope. medical advances and tragic individual stories have made it clear how easily concussions can destroy lives. just this past thursday, the nfl settled a $765 million lawsuit. that will hardly be the end. even the president of the united states says he wouldn't want his kid playing football. when it comes to amateur football, well, it feels less and less amateur every year. college conferences expanding and realigning into mini pro leagues, making mind bogglingly enormous deals with tv programs. elite high school teams traveling around the country playing games on espn. but still, for all of that, we watch it. we yearn for it in the offseason. we build our autumn weekends around it. we stay up way past our bedtimes when our teams are playing.