FOOTBALL ARMS RACE: Interesting LA Times article about the increasing bulk of NFL linemen. There are about six times as many three-hundred pounders playing today than there were ten years ago. There is danger in getting that big:

In plain terms, if a 270-pound player adds 30 pounds of muscle, he significantly enhances his body's ability to generate heat, especially during practice or a game. But he has barely increased the surface area of his skin, crucial to dissipating that heat. "When you get these people who are 300 pounds and 6-foot-5, those are not good numbers," said Robert Girandola, an associate professor of kinesiology at USC.

Just playing in the NFL is going to cause you neverending grief:

And Scranton estimates that, in coming years, every player retiring from the NFL will suffer from arthritis or other ailments related to substantial joint damage in the neck, lower back and knees. He considers it inevitable with 300-pound men who can run faster and hit harder than ever before.

This Pierre Scranton has written a book on football injuries too.