Killion: NFL has become a sad spectacle, but still we watch

The game was preceded by a ceremony that was equal parts circus, royal coronation and rock concert.

The absurdity of the NFL has reached historic proportions, at both the league and local level.

In our backyard we have a player in Aldon Smith who has been arrested four times in a four-year career, but who will be on the field Sunday for his new team, the Raiders, just five weeks after his last arrest, barely missing a beat since being released by the 49ers.

Whether he’s had further treatment for his substance abuse issues remains a mystery.

After spending seven months and countless amounts of money pursuing the sport’s biggest star over the amount of air in a football, Commissioner Roger Goodell’s comic missteps were slapped down by a federal judge who basically said, “This is not a fiefdom and you are not a feudal lord.”

The judge overturned Tom Brady’s four-game suspension, made the league look stupid and sent all disciplinary actions into a tailspin.

Deflategate — which, as ESPN pointed out in an opus last week, was basically delayed, enraged payback for the Patriots’ earlier Spygate scandal — showed the warped priorities of the league and its member teams.

While the league has domestic violence and criminal issues that impact its community.

Borland retired from the 49ers in March, after a standout rookie season, over concerns about brain trauma.

Borland is, as the article stated, the NFL’s worst nightmare.

At a rookie symposium attended by Borland and all other new players of his draft class, Hall of Famers Cris Carter and Warren Sapp gave advice to the young men.

A member of their entourage who could be blamed for any number of things the player might be involved in: drug use, domestic violence, drinking and driving, sexual assault.