In the 00's we may not have had the scientific backing yet, but the common knowledge was that football was scrambling the players' brains. As we were still in t

In the 00's we may not have had the scientific backing yet, but the common knowledge was that football was scrambling the players' brains. As we were still in the last stages of the transition away from a manufacturing economy into a knowledge economy, there was still a popular perception that intellectual capacity was not really needed in men who would be much better off learning self-sacrifice, physical endurance, pain tolerance and willingness to abuse their bodies for the good of the group, all great skills for blue collar workers but not much needed in white collar jobs.