CHICAGO — Former NFL defensive lineman Marvin Washington looks at Saturday's sports schedule and doesn't see such a spectacular lineup.
He worries that unless the league gets a grip on preventing and treating concussions, someday, the NFL will look a lot like boxing and horse racing look today.
"In 1950, the top three sports were boxing, baseball and horse racing," said Washington, who works with a company that's developing a concussion-treatment drug from medical marijuana. "But boxing and horse racing, they're no longer sports, they're just events. These things tonight, they're just events."
The NFL is still America's most popular sport, as proven by the buzz generated by a draft — a bunch of men on phones, where not a single football is thrown — that has grown into a three-day extravaganza.