The tragic cost of pride.(unnecessary deaths of football players in practice)(Brief Article)(Column)

Only a fool would call it an aberration, the freakiest of flukes. It can't be, not when four young football players collapse and die over a matter of days, not when the NFL loses its first player to heat stroke, not when 19 collegiate and high school players have died from heat-related causes the last six years and many more from a variety of other reasons.

The line is fine between pride and common sense. So sadly, so stubbornly, football people don't understand the difference. They view themselves as larger-than-life supermen, programmed by a demanding culture to--pick your cliche'--suck it up, tough it out, be a man, don't be a sissy. This is machismo at its most blind and most reckless.

Now, we know it can lead to a trail of tragedy.

In the football mindset, the death of Korey Stringer was unavoidable. In a logical world, it was completely avoidable. No one connected with the Vikings, including Stringer, sensed something was wrong when he reportedly vomited at least three times on the practice field, one day after he had collapsed on the same field and had to be carted away.

An intense, 336-pound slab of manhood, he was so upset he had fallen ill the previous day that he vowed aloud to finish his next practice, no matter the warning signals his body sent as the heat index soared past 110 degrees. Stringer also was upset teammates had razzed him about a newspaper photo that showed him doubled over, in obvious pain, during the first practice. "He was out to prove he was a leader," says Vikings line coach Mike Tice, "and wasn't going to let anyone embarrass him like that."

So Stringer went out and died for his macho cause. By the time he realized he was in dire straits and sought the trainer, he literally was melting away. His temperature was climbing to an unfathomable 108. His organs were failing. Before reaching the point of no return, someone--anyone--should have stepped forward and led him to safety.

Oddly, Tice said Stringer showed no warning signs. Look, his body temperature was rising to a level 10 degrees above the human norm. How does anyone miss a fatality in progress?