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Walking into the theater lobby, I noticed the cardboard prop and video screen advertising medical services and felt offended that an orthopedic hospital would try to capitalize on a film subject.
Two hours later, as the movie credits rolled, I was struck by how I've profited from a career of writing about a sport that made the production of "Concussion" necessary in our society.
Amid some disclaimers of dramatization and plot exaggerations, this is a movie every football fan should watch. I'll never believe the NFL operation is as evil as it is portrayed or that the inherent danger of football someday will shut down the game. Yet the one message that comes through in this film is players should be viewed as actual human beings, and that's important.
We forget that sometimes, don't we? The NFL and other football organizations are making player safety a bigger priority than ever. Personally, my response to "Concussion" is to support this trend — even when it means having to endure another lengthy review for a "targeting" penalty in college football. Some quotes from the movie resonated with me, affecting how I'll watch games.
• "God did not intend for us to play football."
I know this: A ruling body did not want me to keep playing football. The Utah High School Activities Association moved the golf season from spring to fall in my ninth-grade year. That became a life-changing event, although my degree of dreading football practice at that age now is matched by my joy of watching others play the game.
The title of my all-time favorite book, movie and television series is the same: "Friday Night Lights." I love the atmosphere, the strategy and the drama that football provides, even while recognizing the game's side effects.
Jim McMahon, the quarterback from Roy High School and BYU, is among the former players who have sued the NFL for ignoring the concussion issue. Mike Webster, a Pro Football Hall of Fame lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers, is a centerpiece of the movie, with his autopsy performed by the doctor who discovered the traumatic effect of repeated collisions and concussions.
So I thought about BYU alumnus Gordon Gravelle, who played with Webster on the offensive line in the Steelers' first two Super Bowl victories, and has gone on to a successful business career. His NFL career was much shorter than Webster's. Even so, how did Gravelle survive or even thrive out of basically the same circumstances that ruined Webster's life?
• "The NFL owns a day of the week, one the church used to own."
Professionally, I would be hypocritical to decry fans' level of devotion to football. In 2015, I've enjoyed watching players at every level from elementary school in the Utah Girls Tackle Football League in West Jordan to the NFL in Denver. The game has given me a lot to write about for 39 seasons.
As a nonparent, I'm not qualified to offer advice about whether or not kids should play football. But I do remember the words of Aaron Robinson, whose daughter, Kayla, played in the inaugural girls season. When I pointed out that many well-known fathers said they wouldn't allow their sons to play football, Robinson said, "That's just being a parent, trying to protect your kids, but you've got to let 'em have some fun, too."
• "It is a mindless, violent game. And then it's Shakespeare."
Alec Baldwin plays Dr. Julian Bailes, who makes that observation as he encourages Webster's pathologist (Will Smith's character) to pursue the findings. An intentional shot in the movie shows his framed photo of Tiger Stadium at LSU, where Bailes attended medical school.
That scene hit home as I watched the movie, the day of the final football game for a generation of relatives. My three nephews all played high school football; two went on to college programs. Brad Kragthorpe appeared in 25 games as an LSU place-kick holder, while passing once and running once in his career.
So to be clear, his football experience hardly resembled Mike Webster's. He's unlikely to have any lasting negative effects of football. That's a point the real-life Dr. Bailes has tried to make: Only at the NFL stage do most players experience the degree of pounding that becomes damaging.
Just the same, "Concussion" will make me view football players at every level more appreciatively, because of what they're subjected to in the interest of entertaining us. When the Texas Bowl ended Tuesday night and No. 16 walked off the field in Houston with his LSU teammates, I thought about how much I would miss watching him. I also felt a little bit relieved.
Twitter: @tribkurt