Much will continue to be written about brain injuries acquired on the field by professional football players. Grown men make a career decision to engage in a dangerous sport where the objective is to win at all costs, leading to on-field concussions that can be fatal.

Given the dangers and brutality of the sport, which has been likened to gladiator spectacles, is it ethical to watch the games? The New York Times posed that question in its always thought-provoking Sunday magazine column, “The Ethicist.” First, let’s consider the facts.

• The sport is played recklessly by ...

You drop your kids off at a daycare center and assume they’re safe from harm, injury or even death. In Illinois, that may not be the case. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) does not have the staff to conduct mandatory unannounced visits at every center. Nor do they have the staff for a more thorough inspection, which is required every three years when the facility’s license is up for renewal.

DCFS has only 123 of its 2,900 employees assigned to licensing some 12,285 homes and centers. That’s about half of the number needed for the job. Between 2009 and 2011 ...

As long-time advocates of safer sports for kids, we have repeatedly called for a ban on all metal baseball bats. It was with sadness that we learned about the young suburban Chicago 12-year-old who died in a freak accident from a brain injury while playing the sport he loved.

Eric Lederman, of Oswego, collapsed last week after a baseball hit him in the neck during a game.  He suffered a fatal cerebral hemorrhage and died within 24 hours. The situation is a reminder of just how dangerous youth sports can be.

While deaths in youth baseball are rare, so are studies on the matter. One study ...