CARO, Mich. – Liberal columnist Steve Almond wants to ban high school football.

In a recent editorial for 90.9 WBUR, Boston’s National Public Radio station, Almond made his case against the “insanely commercialized form of athletic combat,” presumably to promote his new book “Against Football,” which does the same.

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Almond pointed to the Caro High School football team in Michigan, which recently canceled the remainder of its football season after two-thirds of the players voted in favor, to illustrate his point.

“The superintendent who ratified the decision, Mike Joslyn, explained it this way: ‘It’s a difficult decision because our players were out there battling hard, but we’re an educational institution, and with our students, safety comes first. These kids have long lives ahead of them, and we need to keep the brains in their heads intact.’

“It is a testament to our collective addiction to football that this story ranks as shocking in the first place,” Almond wrote.

Almond did not explain that Caro’s team is vastly outmatched by other schools in its conference, as evidenced by the team’s 4-29 record over the past four years. The decision to cancel the season was based primarily on the fact that an unusually high number young players were called up to varsity this year, and the coach was concerned they would get pummeled by older players on other teams.

Superintendent Joslyn told the New York Times “he thought the dangers of football were sensationalized and not different from any other contact sport,” and noted that his son plays youth football. Coach Todd Topham said he’s excited for next year’s season, because the sophomores on this year’s team gained valuable experience during the first six games, before the cancellation.

Those facts, of course, don’t fit the football-is-bad narrative and were not included in Almond’s opinion piece. The fluke deaths of three high school players, and unusual hazing ritual of a squad in New Jersey were a better fit. As Almond noted, more than a million kids play school football, so it’s very easy to pick out a handful of stories that illustrate his point.

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Almond acknowledged as much, but then quickly shifted to “the notion that football, for whatever virtues it imports, can also foster values that represent a distorted sense of masculinity, one marked by violence, conformity, homophobia and disrespect for women.”

He argued that taxpayers should not support public school ventures that are purely for entertainment and profit, which he obviously believes high school football is all about. Follow that line of logic, and school orchestra concerts, plays, marching band, and virtually all other school sports should also be banned.

“In an era when parents lament rising class sizes, crumbing facilities and underpaid teachers, why are taxpayers underwriting a form of entertainment that quite literally causes students to suffer diminished brain function?” he questioned.

If schools prohibited the sport, Almond argued, it wouldn’t constitute a ban, “it would simply mean that those who cherish the game would have to establish private leagues, the model used in many European countries.”

But America is not Europe, and it never will be.

American high school football is deeply rooted in tradition, binds communities to a common cause, serves as an avenue for some students to help pay for their higher education, and often helps fund other school sports and intramurals.

It’s entertaining, sure, and it makes money for schools, of course, but it’s about a lot more than that.

Schools can’t simply turn off the locker room lights and walk away because, as Joslyn pointed out, there’s hardly a public consensus on the true dangers of football, much less strong support to shut it down.

“I would say the response has been 50-50,” Joslyn said of the district’s decision to cancel the season. “Half thanked us for making a courageous decision. The other people say you don’t ever quit, that kids are soft these days and need to get out there and battle.”