A knee-jerk reaction: a rant

 Several veteran soccer players have been diagnosed with dementia, and people are wondering if the condition is the result of brain-injury caused by heading the ball.

Footballs weren't waterproof when these men were playing, and when the balls were wet (more or less always in Britain) they were extremely heavy. They've often been described as being like rocks. 

The debate is whether to ban heading in soccer altogether, whether to ban it only in young people's games, or whether the new light waterproof ball is unlikely to cause brain damage and for this reason heading the ball shouldn't be banned at all.

Strong passions have been roused, and a letter has appeared in The Telegraph newspaper describing the imposition of any ban as a knee-jerk reaction.

Well, it would be, would it.

Word To Use Today: knee. The Old English form of this word was cnēow. The Latin form was genu.