To the editor:

What if, for one day – a Sunday, a Monday night, or now even a Thursday night, everyone turned off the NFL, didn’t go to the game, didn’t wear the jersey of fan.

What if, for one Sunday, civilized people everywhere said, that a nonprofit that profits in the billions on the lives of its participants and leaves one-third of them with permanent cognitive damage, and the rest to die young just isn’t OK.

What if for one Sunday, the “fans,” rather than cheering the powerful, stood with the powerless; took a stand that said, it is not OK to cold cock a woman whom you outweigh by 100 pounds, that it is not OK to drag your girlfriend with your car, or use your 300 pounds to choke your “lover.”

What if, for just one day, the money did not rule the day, and for one day, just one – you, the football fan, took a stand and told the 4-year-old defenseless child, barely more than a baby, that being beaten with a stick by an enraged adult was more important to you than “your team.”

What if we all stopped making excuses for the culture of inexcusable behavior? What if we stopped holding Rice, Peterson and Goodell accountable, and started holding ourselves accountable for the role we play in the drama?

At the end of the day, we vote with our dollars, our remotes, our adoration. We all have seats in the coliseum. Sometimes, or maybe for just one day, the game must not go on. What would that world look like, if for one day the truly powerful, the fans, said “Enough”?

Until that day comes, enjoy the game.

BRENDA BERRY

Bainbridge Island