Here is the opening to my Thursday column:

A controversy about face masks is raging through the National Football League. You may not know about it, but the controversy rages, and it’s significant.

Several defensive players have worn newly-designed, highly-protective face masks to practice. They want to wear them in games. The league told them no.

The Colts’ Robert Mathis, a premier pass rusher, a five-time Pro Bowler, was wearing a model that looks like a grill with crisscrossed bars across his face. The league forbade him to wear it in games because it is not traditional football equipment. Mathis tweeted: “I will return to my run-of-the-mill grill.”

To read the full column click here.