Shawn Maxam is anticipating the upcoming NFL season but wonders if there are some important questions we should be asking.
After all, is football a game or a religion?
-Howard Cosell
I think we are at an interesting time in our country. Football is the most popular sport in America. It is also incredibly violent and brutal. An argument can be made that boxing, hockey and mixed-martial arts are inherently more violent than professional and college football but their popularity pales in comparison to America’s “real” past-time. The Superbowl is this country’s top-rated television event every year.
College football Bowl games are a tremendous money-maker for the NCAA. College athletes become icons because of how popular football is. We elevate coaches on both levels to gods. From Paterno to Saban and Lombardi to Parcells we worship these men.
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ESPN has made the NFL draft into a successfully televised event. Fantasy football is played by millions. I love this game. It’s my favorite sport. It’s the sport that me and many of my friends bond over. We play fantasy together. We watch Thursday Night, Sunday Night and Monday Night football together. We throw Superbowl viewing parties. We play Madden every year. We gamble and place bets on these games. We are obessesed with this sport.
But still how many of us will let our sons play this sport? The gladiatorial aspects are what we love and fear at the same time. What is the future of a sport that leaves men bodies battered and their spirits broken? How do we reconcile these contradictions.
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We will exploring these and many more questions about the game of football in the upcoming months here on The Good Men Project. I look forward to reading your stories and hearing your thoughts.
P.S. Randy Moss is my favorite NFL player ever. Uh go 49ers!
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About S. Maxam
A mixed situation indeed. On one hand boys and men are congratulated on being “tough enough” to not just survive but thrive in the dangerous world of football but on the other the world of football is so, well…dangerous.
I think football and other high risk sports are going to continue be popular to be held up as bastions of masculinity for as long as people hold up danger, risk, and violence as cornerstones of masculinity.
And the danger isn’t just the immediate damage suffered by playing. We have athletes and coaches that get away with crimes because of their sports reputations. Athletes that are barely to do anything else but play football after 4 years at an institution of supposed higher learning. Athletes that can’t be paid but have such demanding schedules that they don’t little other choice than to take “under the table” funding.
Danny you are spot-on. I don’t think there’s an easy answer if there’s even an answer at all. I think this here is the most morally ambiguous component “Athletes that can’t be paid but have such demanding schedules that they don’t little other choice than to take “under the table” funding.”
It’s difficult. I am personally happy that I had an opportunity to play football, even if it was for a very short time, because it helped in my development. It did help me with my mental toughness, camaraderie, aggression release, and sports intelligence. But there are also negative aspects about the football culture that some people get sucked in to. Steroids, unable to balance academic life, social life and football, asshole simpleminded coaches (it’s personal for me, LOL), injuries, etc… Even though it was just a movie, Any Given Sunday did a good job of introducing us to another side of this culture that many aren’t aware of.
But I’ll also say that it’s not just football. The negative parts of football are also present at different degrees in other sports and other areas of life. The positive parts are also possible too. It’s not like football is the only answer to building mental toughness, building positive relationships, finding a release, and developing a sports IQ. This is also available in other areas in our society. It’s just that football has the spotlight on it. But we can use it as a good opportunity for building on this conversation. I look forward to the future posts on this topic.
Darnel I think you have some great insight. I am gonna shoot you an email. I would like to see your complete perspective on the nuances of this issue.