Welcome to the Machine

At times poignant, searing, and eventually uplifting, this podcast is about American football culture as much as the sport of American football. perhaps even more so. To listen is to hear a story about a battle for the soul of America. It starts off with a few major premises, the most important of which is that football is headed into a precipitous decline as more and more parents divert their sons away from it because of its propensity for life-altering injuries or long-term medical problems including neurological disease from head trauma. One of the minor premises he uses to prove the major one (why this is happening) is his father’s and his own experience playing the game at the two highest levels, the NFL and NCAA Division 1, and the way the NFL intentionally delayed his father’s settlement claim until it was too late. They are not the only family to have been done this way, and the slow-down game continues, unabated. All along the way, Hines exposes the myriad hypocrisies exhibited by the most ardent fans, many of whom most recently spent two years in self-congratulatory virtue-signaling and browbeating others over the pandemic, yet whom continue to feed the beast of the American football machine by ignoring how the NFL and NCAA use football players until their usefulness is exhausted, deny their valid claims under the settlement with former players, then discard them to waste away in nursing homes, hellish “assisted living facilities,” and hospices. Overall, it’s astonishing that an enlightened society continues to fuel the entire phenomenon.

Welcome to the Machine is a highly intelligent, brilliantly composed podcast. Glenn Hines’ examination of the cultural phenomenon of American football is both deeply thoughtful and thought-provoking. Every word spoken is deliberate and bears undistracted attention. Informed by a deep intellect and his own firsthand experiences in the heart of our football culture, Hines will challenge your perspectives on what has arguably become America’s pastime, and inspire you to think critically about what football fandom says about our values as individuals and as a people.

This podcast is a brutal and honest testimony concerning the culture of American football. The stories of the author’s life experiences of living with the repercussions of head trauma because of the game are heartbreaking. This perfectly explains the reason football is a public health crisis. Can’t wait for more episodes!

Glen Hines is so incisive and articulate, and he has a singular perspective on the topic of this podcast. If you can listen to this series and still put your child in tackle football, you need your own head examined. A true wake-up call.