The Atomic Bowl: Football at Ground Zero -- And Nuclear Peril Today(2025)

The U.S. all-star football game in the atomic ruins of Nagasaki--and why it matters today

The second atomic bomb blast over Nagasaki in August 1945 has become known as "the forgotten bomb." Less than five months later, the U.S. military staged an all-star football game on a killing field in Nagasaki, amid lingering radiation levels.. Why was the game played there? And why does the Nagasaki bombing provide so many lessons and warnings for us today as nuclear dangers proliferate?