Bounty

It should not come as a surprise that the great Joe Posnanski absolutely nails the New Orleans Saints bounty hunters story.

For those who don't care to read it all, here is the powerful conclusion:

And it makes me wonder if the overpowering popularity of pro football has simply made us numb. You know, over the last few years we have seen the past heroes of pro football suffer in agony at the end of their lives. We have watched spectacular athletes deteriorate and be discarded by the sport again and again. We have only begun to learn about how head injuries destroy people.

And now, we have the New Orleans Saints -- perhaps not alone, but the ones dumb enough to get caught -- paying each other extra money to hit opponents so hard, so viciously, so recklessly, that they would be carried off on stretchers. We have a coach, Gregg Williams, who not only oversaw this but put his own money into the pot. We have come to see that other coaches and players were well aware of all this. I fully understand that many people don't care; they are outraged that anyone would care. Which leads me to this question.

Is our love of pro football -- the spectacle, the violence, the thrills and sheer ferocity of it all -- so insatiable that nothing will ever shock or disgust us again?