By Jay Powell
I enjoy American-style football because I enjoy the variety of plays, the effort, the amazing feats that occasionally occur during a game. The incredible runs. Completed forward passes. (I think the forward pass is one of the finest inventions of mankind) Intercepted passes and run backs from kickoffs. I only played dis- or intentionally un- organized football in various intramural and amateur leagues or just plain back lot, mud ball where we refereed ourselves. We sanctioned players who wanted to hurt people. We loved playing the game.
What can we do to incentivize that part of the game and dis-incentivize all the behavior that is really just sanctioned violence and no-holds-barred war that essentially rewards bad behavior (really on and off the field…)? Please, a fifteen yard penalty is nothing compared to breaking someone’s bones, back, brain doing something we ALL know is meant to harm.
Oh, you smacked your lady? gotta sit out a few games (whoa! that “other” video was a little too ugly, you gotta go ’cause now people are asking why all these super stars in our sport are beating people up like they maybe think that’s OK).
You want to see real team work? Punish the whole team for bad behavior. Punish both teams.
Here is an idea. Maybe try a different kind of American football. Take off all the “protective gear” except a protective (to both the wearer and anyone colliding with it ) light helmet. I think we have the biodynamic engineering capability. I know, we won’t get to hear that crack like ram’s horns and go “ooh , ahh , whoa ! …”, but then we won’t be supporting a sport that is knowingly homogenizing brain matter in boys and young men.
No extensive and extraneous (like for the media) time outs. Rugby doesn’t have time outs for a bus full of coaches to figure out: “golly, what should we do?” and freeze the kicker and on and on and on with a booth full of experts radioing down plays. Provide time for substitutions. The games don’t need to last so damn long. Let’s see more players actually play. Wow, think about that word. Play.
If someone is injured by contact deemed an egregious, deliberate penalty, the game ends and it is recorded as a 0-0 tie and goes to arbitration by a representative body of refs, players and owners to determine the outcome. No more fifteen yards and maybe the worst is the player committing the penalty has to leave the field for the rest of the game.
You want to see real team work? Punish the whole team for bad behavior. Punish both teams. You just won’t risk losing your job for someone or something you know will deliberately cause harm and lose the game and incidentally piss off the owners, your teammates and a stadium full of people who actually have to go do something else. Maybe a new kind of “dare to play fair” kind of ethos.
The reality is that football as it is now practiced in America is one of, if not the most, expensive and brutal sports known to man. It is practiced in a way that rewards bad behavior. Yes, rugby and soccer have their own difficulties and injuries, but I believe a look at statistics—especially the brain injuries—would show a significant difference from American football.
And then there is our primal need for group identification. There has been a lot of talk about how somehow the Chargers are an essential part of San Diego for our collective psyches. Really? That’s all we got for each other?
All sports are way over hyped – world wide. Because, as others have pointed out, they are heavily subsidized mainly by externalizing much of the real costs including the long term injuries to the players and their families, and of course, the public gifts for capital costs of extravagant stadiums with exclusive, exotic suites for the very, very wealthy or foolish (or both).
No, American football is reflective of a lot of what is going awry in our society, from the continuing aggregation of real wealth to a smaller number, to the “corporations are people so shut up and watch our game and buy our crap and vote for our representatives”. It is a symptom of our instant gratification and “please distract me from all the other weird stuff going on– eww, did he just cut that guy’s head off?”
And then there is our primal need for group identification. There has been a lot of talk about how somehow the Chargers are an essential part of San Diego for our collective psyches. Really? That’s all we got for each other?
Mayor Faulconer is dutifully finding a way to create an “open, transparent process” to consider Papa Doug Manchester’s vision of clogging downtown with more people and more cars, in search of satisfaction (Wayne Raffesberger’s commentary in the UT last week makes the point about how downtown really can’t handle that much more huge event visitors). Somehow problems funding two entertainment venues is just what we needed. Stay tuned, we are going to get the “sports arena” back into the mix soon.
Well, let’s have the open, transparent, inclusive civic discussion focusing on whether we want to invest in what American football has become or perhaps some other worthwhile things we need for people to truly aspire to help each other and live fulfilling lives and maybe save ourselves from boiling the planet dry. The term “neighborhoods first” has been co-opted by those serving the Chamber and their cohorts, but we all know that a give-away of public resources to a sports palace that promotes violence and avarice is not putting neighborhoods first.
Now, I sure hope that UCLA gets its act together before their first conference game … not sure my heart can stand another season of …..whoops!…. I…er , ah, I mean I can’t wait to see the NFL and NCAA adopt my new fantasy football rules.
Really, I can’t wait.
Jay Powell
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Football’s cousin, Rugby, doesn’t have as many “serious” injuries. There are some, of course, but mostly it is bruises. My suspicion is it is because rugby players don’t wear pads, and thus, don’t hit has hard (without pads, it hurts to hit, too).
Here is a post by michael-leonard as a response to me on another thread:
“It’s more that rugby involves holding and pull/pushing instead of crashing into other players. Little need for helmets or padding. Lots of bruises but very few major injuries.”
Add in the fact that there is not blocking. I love rugby and wish it would become more popular in the States but likely won’t. There is more comrodery amongst all the players and it’s a rugby tradition for both teams to get together after the game for beers and socializing, even at the top professional levels. Yes there are occasional on field scuffles but in the end they are all friends who share a love and pure joy for the game.
My feeling is it would be better if football, the major spectator sport, was abolished altogether in favor of getting off the couch and working out ourselves. Instead of consuming pizza and chicken wings while watching millionaires run around a playing field bashing each other’s brains out, we should be doing some running sans bashing or swimming or working out. Football is just a big business devoted to making money while extracting as much public money and tax subsidies as possible. It encourages couch potatoism and consumerism instead of encouraging people to live a healthy lifestyle. Recent research has shown that sedentariness is bad for your health even if you do work out. Moving around much of the day is how we evolved. Sitting at a desk all day and then coming home and watching football is a double dose of sedentariness. Instead “neighborhoods first” should provide playing fields and exercise accommodations (pools, parks, tennis courts, workout facilities) for the average Joe who isn’t a competitive athlete but who would benefit from getting off his keister and ordering less pizza.
Yes, yes, and yes, to everything said in the column and by the commenters so far.
I love the game, too, and I know very well that if it were played without the body armor the hits would be much more aimed at grabbing and holding rather than destroying the opponent’s body (and one’s own in the process).
The NFL’s worst impact is the gladiatorial-educational complex it has fostered at our institutions of higher learning.
And even in high schools. The ‘educational’ component is that football teaches players to be modern-day gladiators.
It seems the bigger the sports program, the more valueless the diploma at every level. I believe that all school sports should be strictly intramural. I was never able to compete above that level, but I was always able to play baseball, football, basketball, soccer, etc., as physical fitness exercises that benefitted all, not just an athletic elite. Let the jocks find their own places to excel. Little League & Pop Warner, after all, are not academically affiliated. Why should it be different for big boys & girls?