The NFL is back. I think I speak for most Americans when I say thank god. My worry however is that now that we’re back to America’s most popular sport the powers that be will now get to work trying their best to make it less fun to watch. In recent years the NFL has made slanted the field significantly in the offense’s side. When it comes to the quarterback we are in near two-hand touch territory especially if you’re the type of QB that could grace a Wheaties box. Last year the rules became more stringent once the season had already begun. Fines were handed out to players for hits that would’ve seemingly been legal only a week prior. I think this is the worst thing that could happen to the sport.
One of my earliest memories from childhood was seeing quarterbacks with filthy jersey. That used to be a thing, the tough quarterback. Getting beat up used to be part of the game. That’s no longer the case. Can you remember the last time you saw a quarterback with a messed up jersey. The common theme now is a big name quarterback getting touched a second to late and then pleading with the referees to call the penalty. I don’t blame the quarterbacks; it’s not their fault. You can’t blame them for trying to exploit an advantage that the league has given them.
For some reason everyone is now concerned with the health of NFL players. I understand the concept of protecting the basic health of another human being, but when your livelihood is incumbent upon risking your health then I say you made your choice. If they were rounding up people and making them play football, then I would say lets protect those pour people from Ray Lewis, but when you are strapping on pads from the time you could walk knowing full well that every time the ball is snapped someone on the opposing team is going to try to hurt you I don’t feel sorry for you and I don’t think that they need to be protected.
If the players union feels that work habits are unsafe then they should raise an issue. However, the players union is not bringing about these fines. The reality of the situation is that Goodell appears to be acting on his own accord. It would appear that the mid-season fines were an attempt to prove that the owners and the league actually did care about the health of its players when in fact they were attempting to endanger them further by adding two games to the length of the season. The fines and the entire issue could have been a public relations stunt to garner fan support and give the impression of concern. Who suffers? The players suffer because money is taken out of their pocket and the fans suffer because they are now privy to a lesser product. Big hits used to be a huge part of the game. When I was growing up in Tampa the entire city was enamored with John Lynch. What was the reason? He gave huge hits to receivers coming across the middle. That was the reason he was so popular. I never knew how many interceptions he had, to me he could’ve been completely mediocre in every other way, but his hits were memorable. His hits made him popular. Now, those hits would get him a fine.
What is a more lasting impression? Would you rather see Tom Brady pleading for a penalty or Ndamukong Suh trying to rip a QB’s head off? If I want to see whining and flopping I can just watch soccer. We watch football because it’s violent we watch it because it’s brutal. If the league is going to remain successful it needs to maintain that aspect of its appeal. Why should the health of NFL players be a concern at all? There doesn’t seem to be much of a public outcry for the health concerns of coal miners or ice fisherman, why? The reason is they understand the risks of the job and they accept them. The same is true for the players of the NFL. The only difference seems to be that a large portion of the players in the NFL are millionaires. To me those millions should buy the consumers of that product a little entertainment.
Basically, lets all stop pretending that we care about NFL players. Sports journalists pretend to care because it gives balance to all of the terrible things that they say about the players. Football players understand the risks and they accept them. If you want to protect someone, protect workers rights in non spectator occupations, protect high school football players, protect college players, protect any number of people that aren’t millionaire union members with pensions. Spectators like football because it’s violent, players like football because it’s violent, let’s keep the sport violent and the hypocrisy to a minimum.
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