At my uncle’s birthday party recently, I spent part of my time with my little cousin Mark, eating birthday cake and watching the 49ers (my team) come back against the Eagles (his).

Mark is a solidly built, cherubic 9-year-old with a curly top and an appetite as big as his grin. Already a talented hockey player – like his poised, more reserved older brother – Mark told me he’d love to play football, but his parents, my goddaughter and her husband, won’t allow it.

Good call. Time magazine’s Sept. 29 issue has a poignant cover story that’s a must-read for any parent – or, for that matter, anyone interested in the game’s recent, headline-grabbing developments.

It’s the story of 16-year-old Chad Stover, who sustained a traumatic brain injury during one of the many games played under the “Friday night lights” across this country every autumn. Indeed, on fall Fridays when I leave my office late, I can see those lights and hear the throng gathered at the local high school clear across the highway.

Maybe that’s what I had in mind in this passage from my upcoming novel “In This Place You Hold Me,” about a quarterback’s search for identity amid the brutality of the NFL...