Paul Tagliabue is the former commissioner of the N.F.L., the most prodigiously profitable sports league in America. As he ages and his thoughts turn to his legacy, he yearns to be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Tagliabue is a finalist in the contributors category, and the vote is Saturday. To promote his candidacy, he appeared on a radio show this week, and there was much talk of the spectacular sums of money he generated for the owners. Then the hosts turned, a touch apologetically, to the question of damaged brains. In 1994, Tagliabue had waved off talk of a concussion epidemic as a “pack journalism issue.