DISPATCHES FROM THE NO-FUN LEAGUE: NFL Made Raiders’ Maxx Crosby Change Sobriety-Themed Facemask.

Maxx Crosby: You know, being real honest, I love the National Football League, everything we represent. But Roger Goodell, we gotta get on a call. We gotta get face to face, I want talk to you. So, they made me take my facemask off. I played the first five weeks, not one word. We play on Monday night, my face on the screen a lot — there’s too much going on, I guess, for Roger, and he sent in a nice email saying it has to go.

I’m like, Rog, what are we doing? I’m out here representing sobriety to the fullest. I got a tattoo on my neck, my hands, everywhere. So I put it on my facemask, it means a lot to me, it means a lot to all the people watching — they understand what’s going on. And, you know, it just rubbed me the wrong way. But we’re gonna have our conversation.

Roback: What does the triangle mean to you? Because everyone sees it all over you. If you’re open to telling everyone that, what does the triangle mean specifically to you?

Crosby: The triangle to me represents sobriety. It’s everything. It’s why I’m here. And why I’m doing this podcast with you. It’s why I got a beautiful daughter and family. A great fucking circle of people. It’s literally everything. If I didn’t make that decision to clean my life up and get in AA and the 12 steps, I wouldn’t be here. So that’s literally what it comes down to. It represents everything that I got going on.

Apparently, a player caught his finger in Crosby’s facemask, but still, perhaps a compromise design might work.