* The “American Thinker” ran a piece this week entitled “Destroying Football: The Left’s Endgame”…

It is in this current climate of pacifism (and that is the purpose of the campaign: to turn football into a more pacific game, thus removing another layer of America’s masculinity) that Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has signed a law mandating insurance for student-athletes. […]

Even more distressing to the left is that sports started as a means of training for soldiers. That is why football is so appealing to America; it is a he-man sport, a vestige of the old America, where an association of free men stand together in battle. Yes, team effort is required, but there is also plenty of room for heroics, and the individual may make a huge difference.

But at football’s core is a physicality bordering on violence, and to the left, that is anathema — an atavistic impulse that must be squeezed out of our children.

So instead of a healthy game of tackle football at recess, liberals substitute Ritalin and maybe a good heated game of tag. […]

In the end, liberals want a world under their control — one where impulses are channeled in the direction they choose, not where nature or free will directs. Sports are an expression of values, and those values must comport with the utopian vision of the left. There can be nothing outside the collective.

This piece is an object lesson in never, ever letting ideology get in the way of the facts.

* The legislation in question was sponsored by state Sen. Napoleon Harris, a former National Football League star. Harris is a moderate to conservative Democrat on social issues and was able to get other NFL players involved in passing the bill…

Harris, a former Thornton Township High School football player who went on to play in the National Football League, recalled his own playing days.

“Rocky Clark’s story could have been me,” Harris said. “I waked down this trail. I played on this field. I know what it’s like to sacrifice yourself on a Friday night or a Saturday morning.”

Also praising the law were former Chicago Bears tight end Emery Moorehead and offensive lineman Dan Jiggetts.

“This situation should not exist where you send your child out to participate and he gets tragically injured and you’ve got to fight the battle all by yourself,” Jiggetts said. “This certainly helps a great deal to … make this right within this state.”

Why did Sen. Harris sponsor the bill? This is why…

The law was inspired by the late Rasul “Rocky” Clark, who played football for Eisenhower High School in the Chicago suburb Blue Island until he was paralyzed from the neck down when he was tackled in 2000 during a game. His care was provided through a $5 million insurance policy held by the school district. When that policy hit its limit, he relied on Medicaid, his mother and donations.

And then he died.

More…

In a September 2000 game against Oak Forest High School, the junior was grabbed by the shoulders and tackled, and his head hit the ground. Doctors said his neck was broken in two places. Clark was hospitalized for several months and the injuries left him a quadriplegic. Despite his injuries, he later graduated from Eisenhower.

Those last two excerpts were in a story that the “American Thinker” writer actually linked to in his post, but the facts were never cited.

* A summary of the new law…

Known as “Rocky’s Law,” it requires all high school districts in Illinois to purchase catastrophic injury insurance up to $3 million for each of its student-athletes by Jan. 1, 2014. Families are eligible for the money up to five years after paying the first $50,000 in medical expenses. According to the law, insurance cannot cost more than $5 per student and it is up to the school districts to pay for the insurance.

*** UPDATE *** A commenter below is absolutely right that I should’ve also pointed out the bipartisan support for Sen. Harris’ bill. Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady - who is hardly involved in an international liberal conspiracy - was a co-sponsor, as was GOP state Rep. David Harris.

The bill received a strongly bipartisan 47 votes in the Senate and 71 in the House.