Florida quarterback Tim Tebow makes the trip around the Swamp greeting fans for the last time after Florida defeated Florida State in Gainesville, Fla., Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009. (AP)

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If the words “Florida,” “Alabama,” and “Texas” make you think college football, then you’re probably a fan.

They’re ranked one, two, and three in the nation right now, in the most popular spectator sport in the country.

But turning college football and its athletes into big-money, big-time media gladiators is not without its serious critics.

Some say young players are getting chewed up, with sports spending outstripping classroom advances, linebacker positions getting endowed like academic chairs, and coaches making as much as $4 million a year.

This Hour, On Point: going over the edge with college football.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Michael Oriard, author of “Bowled Over: Big Time College Football from the Sixties to the BCS Era.” A former offensive captain and second team All-American at the University of Notre Dame, he played four seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs. He’s now a professor of American literature and culture at Oregon State University and is the author of six other books, including “Brand NFL: Making and Selling America’s Favorite Sport.”

Andy Staples, staff writer at Sports Illustrated covering college football.

Joseph Aoun, president of Northeastern University, which recently announced that it will end its football program.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick (7) scrambles against Washington Redskins in December 2006. (AP)

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Michael Vick was the highest-paid player in the NFL. Now he’s a player without a club, an ex-felon, and an American archetype — a man seeking redemption.

The former Atlanta Falcons quarterback, a number-one draft pick, had one of the most dramatic rise-and-fall acts in sports history. He was a human highlight film. His endorsements were through the roof. Then, he was convicted for his role in a dog-fighting ring.

Now he’s done his time, and a new chapter is set to begin — if the league and the public find a place for a man who says he’s changed.

This hour, On Point: The meaning of the Michael Vick story, and what we bring to it.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Jacki Lyden, guest host

Tom Ashbrook is on vacation.

Guests:

Joining me now from Smyrna, Georgia is Terence Moore, national correspondent at AOL Fanhouse. He spent 25 years as a columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where he had a front row seat to Michael Vick’s career with the Atlanta Falcons.

With us from Port Washington, New York is George Vecsey, sports columnist at The New York Times.

And joining us from Austin, Texas is Leonard Moore, professor of history at the University of Texas, where he teaches a popular course on race, sport, and hip-hop.

San Francisco 49ers' quarterback Steve Young lays motionless on field after suffering a concussion in the game against the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 27, 1999, in Tempe, Arizona. (AP)

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When the lights are up and the crowd is roaring, it’s all glorious mayhem in the National Football League. The power, the plays, the crunching hits and tackles.

But when the lights go down, the crowds go home, and careers end, it’s often NFL wives left to pick up the battered pieces.

The toughest wounds to deal with: brain damage from repeated poundings and concussion on the football field. Retired players dealing with depression, memory loss, dementia. Big men reduced to helplessness.

This hour, On Point: NFL wives on the long trail of concussion on the field.

You can join the conversation. What do you think when you hear the crack of helmets on the football field? What about the brains, the men inside those helmets — and their wives?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us from New York is Alan Schwarz, staff sports writer for The New York Times. His 2007 series on concussions and other brain injuries suffered by NFL players and other athletes was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.  His most recent piece, published last week, is “N.F.L. Meeting Irks Wives of Ill Retirees.”

Joining us from Baltimore is Dr. Eleanor Perfetto, wife of Ralph Wenzel, who played guard for the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Diego Chargers from 1966 to 1973. He suffers from dementia and now lives in an assisted-living facility. She is a senior director in health policy issues at Pfizer.

Also with us from Baltimore is Sylvia Mackey, wife of Pro Football Hall-of-Famer John Mackey, who played for the Baltimore Colts and San Diego Chargers from 1963-1972. He now suffers from fronto-temporal dementia and has been at an assisted-living facility since September. She was a leading figure in the development of the NFL’s “88 Plan,” named after John Mackey’s jersey number, which provides money for the care and treatment of former players with dementia.

From Washington, D.C., we’re joined by Harold Henderson, executive vice president for labor relations for the NFL and chairman of the NFL Management Council Executive Committee. He helped develop the NFL’s 88 Plan.

And in our studio we’re joined by Dr. Robert Stern, associate professor of neurology at the Boston University School of Medicine and co-director of BU’s Alzheimer’s Disease clinical and research program. He is also co-director of BU’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. This September, 16 pro athletes, including six former NFL players, agreed to donate their brains to the center for study after their deaths.