As news of Michael Vick slowly disappears from CNN, Fox News and the rest of the mainstream, corporate dominated media outlets, there is a story, equally as tragic, that isn't being so thoroughly analyzed.

Kevin Everett, special teams player for the NFL's Buffalo Bills, was seriously injured on September 9th, 2007 while attempting a tackle on a Denver Broncos kick returner. While Everett's family is praying for a speedy recovery, most people are looking forward to the rest of the season. Just one of the tricks of the trade many will say, a trade in which men are put through at least 16, 60 minute games of full speed collision into each other.

Despite the fact that this is not the first or the last time an injury of this magnitude will occur, there are no calls for an examination of the actual game of football. Aside from Everett, there are numerous athletes who experience disastrous complications after their playing days are over, often shortening their life span. “It's a violent game, I think that's what attracts people,” is what Buffalo Bills Quarterback J.P. Losman said after Everett's senseless injury. Still, no federal prosecutor is investigating Roger Goodell, head of the NFL, for say, human cruelty.

Of course, the obvious counter argument to this is that these are functioning human beings that are drafted into the league, sign contracts and are compensated for consciously taking part in this sport. This is true, but you can say some of the same things for soldiers stationed in Iraq and the other 129 countries the United States has military bases in. I have talked to many, and heard countless stories of other soldiers who had no idea of what they were getting into. Just like the military, many who are recruited to play football are poor and/or of one of the various shades of brown. The socialization process starts early and progresses to the point that players are trading college tuitions costs (not necessarily education) for their health. In a process that eerily conjures up memories of slave auctions, football players, majority of them African descended, are tested on how high they can jump, fast they can run, among other things.
  
All the while, big universities are receiving huge amounts of money for bowl games that their team participates in and NFL owners are caring for generations of their families literally off the backs of the exploited athletes. In light of the economic opportunities, or lack there of, many community members throughout this nation struggle to receive what amounts to crumbs from those who make billions of dollars off the jerseys they wear and stadiums they perform in. Are our brothers not being treated as dogs, bred to provide entertainment to their wealthy owners? Is the NFL not in a way guilty of the same thing in which they have demonized Michael Vick for? We must never forget the foundation of this nation, which subsequently seeps into the things we enjoy the most.