Podcast Summary: Pablo Torre Finds Out

Episode: How We Forgot About CTE with Domonique Foxworth

Date: October 23, 2025
Host: Pablo Torre
Guest: Domonique Foxworth

Episode Overview

This episode explores how conversations around CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy)—once a dominant topic concerning the ethics and future of football—have faded from public consciousness, even as the game’s popularity continues to rise. With former NFL player and NFLPA president Domonique Foxworth as his guest, Pablo Torre investigates how fans, media, and former players now rationalize the risks of CTE, reconcile their love of football with its dangers, and why the sport persists as a cultural juggernaut despite ongoing concerns about brain injuries.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Evolution (and Erosion) of the CTE Discourse

[03:32–07:44]

• Pablo cites a blunt Greg Olsen clip (NFL player/analyst) downplaying football's responsibility for CTE outcomes by listing a "multivariate" set of causes for players' mental health issues. This sparks the central question: Why has CTE faded as an existential crisis for football in the media and public conversation?
• Pablo and Domonique reminisce about the peak of CTE debate ("the number one topic of handwringing importance") and predictions that football would go extinct or be banned—a contrast to today's muted concern.
  • "There was a time in media when the number one topic of, like, hand wringing importance was CTE... football as a business would go extinct." — Pablo Torre [06:00]

2. Rationalization and Personal Conflict

[07:44–12:55]

• Domonique reflects on the reasonable “mental gymnastics” everyone does to justify loving football despite its risks.
• He admits letting his son, Declan, play tackle football, carefully minimizing exposure by joining a stacked team—an admission of the lengths to which he goes to manage this risk.
  • "Football's dope, and there's a price to pay for that game that we all enjoy and is so ingrained in our culture." — Domonique Foxworth [07:49]
  • "My solution has been: put your son on a team that is so good that he doesn't actually need to take the damage... Ain't been hit yet." — Dominique Foxworth [09:36]

3. Consent, Disclosure, and Exploitation

[12:55–17:43]

• They compare football to boxing, debating whether sports with known risks are more ethical if participants are aware—a point complicated by socioeconomic factors (e.g., boxing disproportionately attracts people with fewer options).
  • "Boxers are disproportionately from very tough situations... that's a form of, like, you could argue, exploitation." — Domonique Foxworth [11:49]
  • Pablo notes how, earlier, football players weren't fully informed about CTE risks ("the league... was hiding the science"). Now, informed consent is better, making the continued popularity of football more defensible, though not unproblematic.
  • "My discomfort with football was it didn’t seem like the players necessarily knew what the actual medical risk was. And now we’re at a point where that seems disclosed." — Pablo Torre [12:27]

4. Personal Impact and The Fear of Degeneration

[14:11–18:16]

• Pablo quotes from Domonique's 2016 USA Today column describing the first time he saw "Concussion" and processed the fear of unknowable brain injury.
  • "The boogeyman in this horror movie was not vanquished at the end and actually could be lying in wait in your brain." — Paraphrase from Foxworth’s article [17:53]
• Domonique admits the movie was the first time he really felt “helpless”—and discusses the unique psychological burden of living with potential, undetectable brain trauma.
• They joke about coping: “If anything goes wrong...CTE. It’s getting to me. That’s how I cope.” — Foxworth [23:24]

5. Cost-Benefit Calculus for Players and Families

[26:19–27:15]

• Pablo revisits Domonique’s old writing about trading health for financial security for family’s future.
  • “I would trade my quality of life, even years off my life, for a better chance at a prosperous future for my kids and their kids.” — Paraphrased by Pablo Torre [26:38]
• Domonique acknowledges this is partly rationalization—a “dignified canned response”—and says he hasn’t faced the most “haunting” consequences personally, but is honest about the moral bargain many players feel forced to accept.

6. Accountability and Culture Change in Football

[28:39–34:46]

• Discussion transitions to changes in football culture: less hitting in practice, more vigilance around concussions, and teammates usually protecting (rather than endangering) each other when injuries occur.
  • "The teammates have always been the ones that were more likely to protect you than anyone else...you won’t find any stories of players pushing other players who got concussed to get back on the field." — Foxworth [28:58]
• They note that despite some reforms, self-policing is limited by job insecurity, incentives, and the impossibility of truly eliminating risk.
• On the fading urgency to “fix” CTE: media/activist pressure has waned, and perhaps society has found its equilibrium—though those pushing for safety still serve a role as a check on unchecked risk.

7. Making Sense of Risk: Data, Subconcussive Hits, Informed Choice

[36:54–41:35]

• NFL data shows concussions are down, but Domonique and Pablo question what’s being measured, emphasizing the danger of “subconcussive” blows (repetitive minor hits, especially for linemen).
  • “All the sub-concussive episodes that happen in the course of a game...you pluck your brain enough times, there’s going to be some damage.” — Foxworth [38:17]
• Pablo extends the analogy to consent in risky behaviors (drugs, gambling)—arguing for the right to choose, if risk is well-understood.
• Foxworth counters that football’s attraction is partly because it's violent: “I wanted to be a pro football player in large part because I thought that was the most masculine thing...” [41:17]

8. Football as a Cultural Unifier—And the Only Thing Left on TV

[42:24–46:58]

• Pablo highlights that football’s massive popularity, once cited as a problem (proof of society's violent appetite), now feels like a virtue—a rare point of shared national identity in a Balkanized culture.
  • "I actually don't want people to stop watching it. I want people to continue to get into buildings together to enjoy something, even if it's the Coliseum." — Pablo Torre [44:17]
• Foxworth describes football’s unique ability to bond people across divides: "The locker room is one of the places where you bring a bunch of people together that share football, and that's about it." [46:58]
  • He shares a personal story about his friendship with Jeff Saturday and how football provided common ground despite profound differences elsewhere.

9. Coping, Culture, and Clichés

[48:19–51:11]

• Joking about "locker room culture," Foxworth notes how older he gets, the more he sees truth in sports clichés, especially about culture and leadership.
• Pablo and Domonique riff on the intimacy of team environments, poking fun at Pablo’s lack of locker room nudity experience and the social glue of “being naked with people.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Football's dope, and there's a price to pay for that game that we all enjoy and is so ingrained in our culture."
  — Dominique Foxworth [07:49]

• "Boxing is literally consensual concussions."
  — Pablo Torre [10:17]

• "The boogeyman in this horror movie was not vanquished at the end and actually could be lying in wait in your brain."
  — Paraphrased by Pablo Torre from Foxworth’s article [17:53]

• "If anything goes wrong...CTE. It’s getting to me. That’s how I cope."
  — Dominique Foxworth [23:24]

• "I would trade my quality of life, even years off my life, for a better chance at a prosperous future for my kids and their kids."
  — Paraphrased from Foxworth’s past writing [26:38]

• "Teammates have always been the ones that were more likely to protect you than anyone else... you won’t find any stories of players pushing other players who got concussed to get back on the field."
  — Dominique Foxworth [28:58]

• "I wanted to be a pro football player in large part because I thought that was the most masculine thing."
  — Dominique Foxworth [41:18]

• "I actually don't want people to stop watching it. I want people to continue to get into buildings together to enjoy something, even if it's the Coliseum."
  — Pablo Torre [44:17]

• "We wouldn't have had that relationship without football. And to your point, the locker room is one of the places where you bring a bunch of people together that share football, and that's about it."
  — Dominique Foxworth [46:58]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:34 — Greg Olsen’s controversial comments about CTE and mental health
• 07:44 — Personal rationalizations: letting son play, flag football vs. tackle
• 12:55 — Comparing football to boxing, consent, and exploitation
• 14:11 — Foxworth’s reaction to “Concussion” and the psychological burden
• 26:38 — Calculating tradeoffs: choosing financial stability over health
• 28:39 — Evolving football culture: teammates, self-policing concussions
• 36:54 — NFL concussion data, sub-concussive blows, and helmet safety
• 42:24 — Football’s paradoxical role as a “unifying” national ritual
• 46:58 — Intimacy, common ground, and transformation via football
• 48:19 — Reflections on clichés, mentorship, and leadership in sports

Tone and Style

The conversation is candid, honest, irreverent, and self-aware—with moments of introspection, humor (often self-deprecating), and directness. Both men confront their own rationalizations, mock their younger selves’ writings, and trade friendly jabs throughout, keeping the tone conversational and authentic.

In summary:
Pablo Torre and Domonique Foxworth dissect how we, as a sports-loving public, have made peace with football’s dangers—especially CTE. They lay bare the process of rationalization that allows fans, players, and commentators to keep enjoying the game, discuss how much real change has occurred, and why football now uniquely serves as America’s last great communal ritual, for better or worse.