Letters to the Editor: The Super Bowl doesn’t make football’s brain-damage problem go away

To the editor: I do realize that 95.6% of the American population slides into Super Bowl Mania Disorder in the weeks preceding the game, peaking on game day, and then subsiding into post-Super Bowl Depression Disorder (if their team loses) or post-Super Bowl Euphoria Disorder (if it wins). (“Los Angeles fans revel in the Rams’ Super Bowl victory,” Feb. 14)

The rest of us retreat to our corners, waiting for everyone to settle down. We are the anomalies, deviants, weirdos who dislike football for the aggression it requires, on the field or in the parking lot.

We are the ones who would like to see teams renamed — to, say, the Bonobos and the Bunnies. The game would be transformed immediately!

Imagine a game where the goal was not leaving the opposing players brain damaged. A bonobo, upon being tackled, would immediately embrace the attacker, and the two would leave the field to get a room. A bunny would hop to it.

Now that’s a game I might pay $5,000 to watch.

Carol Tavris, Los Angeles

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To the editor: The L.A. County Department of Public Health’s pronouncements in recent days that masks were universally required for Super Bowl attendance rings beyond hollow. Even cursory glances at images of fan seating areas showed near zero compliance with its orders.

I doubt the situation in stadium indoor areas was any more compliant. The only persons masked up seemed to be a few paid on-field stadium staff and security. Noncompliance was the same at the last game at SoFi Stadium, between the Rams and the 49ers.

Why didn’t Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer go to the field, announce the game was canceled and have the stadium evacuated on both occasions?

After this display of mass noncompliance (shown on worldwide television), why should anyone in any public indoor or outdoor setting in L.A. County take the Department of Public Health seriously?

Ralph Jones, Riverside