Injure your neck in a car accident? Did you fall out of a forklift and hurt your back? Did a hot pickle from a McDonald's hamburger burn your chin? Then call us, we can compensate you.

Oh, and did you sign a contract with the National Football League for millions of dollars, get body-slammed to the turf a few times and now feel like the league failed to warn you that football is a violent sport? Then call us, we can help.

Former Washington Redskins Hall of Fame wide receiver Art Monk just joined a growing group of former NFL players to sue the league for allegedly failing to protect them against the impact of concussions suffered during their playing careers. Monk, who spent 14 of his 16 pro seasons with the Redskins, is the lead plantiff in a suit filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court. More than 1,000 former NFL players have sued the NFL for failing to warn them of the risks of concussions and for not properly diagnosing the head injuries they suffered.

The first documented head protection was made in 1896 at Lafayette College. A player there named George Barclay was so fearful that he would get cauliflower ear, he had a blacksmith fashion a leather harness to protect his head and ears. Head protection wasn't even mandatory equipment in those days. It wasn't until 1943 that the NFL required players to wear a helmet.

The recent death of former San Diego Charger Junior Seau also put the concussion debate on the front-burner of the American conscience. Many feel his suicide was directly linked to the many hits he took during his 20-year career. However, experts have cautioned that it is too early to determine whether Seau's suicide was linked to potential concussions he likely experienced in that time.

The lawsuits claim the NFL failed to warn them of the risks of concussions and for not properly diagnosing the head injuries they suffered. Lawyers, no doubt seeing a legal knock-out, believe that the National Football League has for many years ignored, and may have withheld, medical proof that players were subjecting themselves to long term health problems caused by both concussions and ordinary repetitive head contact. The suits claim players were led to believe that helmets provided high levels of protection when even the helmet manufacturers acknowledged that they did not.

People, use your heads! Football is, by its very nature, a violent sport. We spend billions of dollars each year to watch 300 lb. linemen crash into each other with the force of a Honda Civic aimed at a brick wall at 30 mph. It's a gladiator mentality. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones spends more than a billion on a modern-day equivalent of the Roman coliseum. Like Nero, he sits in his luxury suite, giving a hearty thumbs up to the warrior who comes to life after a big hit. Carry him off on a stretcher, and you still see the wounded warrior give a thumbs up as if to say, "It's all good."

Here's where clearer heads should prevail. Before we unleash the lawyers (oops, too late), the NFL's deep pockets should pay for mental health care as part of a player's retirement package. The new collective bargaining agreement has made great strides in addressing retirement compensation for players with health and financial problems. Making safer helmets won't soften the impact of a Honda Civic coming at you at 30 mph. It's like pulling the front row of teeth out of a Great White shark. When you dive into the dangerous waters, you run the risk of getting bitten. When you sign that lucrative contract in the ultimate contact sport, you take that risk.

Football appeals to our caveman mentality. The NFL is not going away anytime soon, despite the all-omniscient Goodell regime now ruling the roost. But football is a far cry from golf, where a duffer recently pulled out of the Players Championship before he even tee-ed it up on the first hole due to back spasms.

There is a blood-lust for the gridiron. We want to soften the blow, but we keep feeding money into the NFL slot machine. Can't have it both ways.