Football Days

From The New Yorker’s archive: a selection of pieces on the sport. View in browser | Update your preferences Football Days Football fans across the country have never seen a more exciting playoff season. Last weekend’s thrill ride came to its heart-stopping conclusion with the Kansas City Chiefs tying the game in the final seconds of the fourth quarter, and then winning in overtime, thereby sending Buffalo Bills fans into another tailspin of wintry despair. At the same time, pro football, the most popular television spectacle in the U.S., is, at least for some, a guilty pleasure. How many times can you watch a player begin the concussion protocol before you start to have misgivings? This week, as the playoffs reach their penultimate round, we’re bringing you a selection of pieces on the sport. In “Game Plan,” a short story adapted from his 1972 novel, “End Zone,” Don DeLillo recounts a dazzling college game. In “The N.F.L.’s Change of Tone and the Limits of Merely Listening,” Louisa Thomas examines how the murder of George Floyd affected the sport. In “The Jersey Game,” Ben McGrath writes about the compelling rise of a magnificently talented player when he was in high school, in North Jersey, who then went on to play in the pros, for the New York Giants. Finally, in “Offensive Play,” Malcolm Gladwell, an ardent Bills fan, explores the neurological and physical hazards associated with the game. “What football must confront, in the end, is not just the problem of injuries or scientific findings,” Gladwell writes. “It is the fact that there is something profoundly awry in the relationship between the players and the game.” —David Remnick From The New Yorker’s Archive Fiction “Game Plan” “Here before our cubicles we sit quietly, content to suck the sweet flesh out of quartered oranges.” By Don DeLillo | November 27, 1971 The Sporting Scene The Jersey Game Will high-school football become a big-money sport? By Ben McGrath | January 2, 2012 Newsletters Sign Up for The New Yorker’s Movie Club Newsletter Reviews of the current cinema, plus recommendations for classics and underrated treasures available on streaming services, every Friday. The Sporting Scene The N.F.L.’s Change of Tone, and the Limits of Merely Listening It’s one thing for the the league to hear out its players, which can be done privately. But is it really going to start encouraging public speech? By Louisa Thomas | June 8, 2020 Annals of Medicine Offensive Play How different are dogfighting and football? By Malcolm Gladwell | October 19, 2009 You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for the New Yorker Classics newsletter. Was this e-mail forwarded to you? Sign up. Unsubscribe | Manage your e-mail preferences | Send newsletter feedback | View our Privacy Policy Copyright © Condé Nast 2022. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.