Aaron W. Voyles examines how the situations with the NFL impact the men he educates.
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I can’t write about football because there are a thousand voices presenting sides right now. I can’t say that I know what happened, and I can’t say that I know what’s best. I can say that it appears that the NFL doesn’t care about women, and I can say that it appears we as a society are okay with that most of the time.
I can’t write about football because it’s easy to step into something you wish you hadn’t said or that gets misunderstood. When you take a side, immediately you have people tell you that you either support child abuse or that kids today aren’t raised with enough discipline. I can’t write about football because everyone is a judge.
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I wrote about NASCAR, yes, and how the “boys will be boys” mentality perpetuates violence, particularly violence against women. I watched Hard Knocks and saw the Atlanta Falcons talk about how getting a penalty for fighting is a good penalty to have because people think the team isn’t tough enough. But I can’t write about football because it’s too tied to everything I do.
NASCAR had no collegiate comparative, but I see boys and men raised in football, perhaps promised an education in exchange for their physicality, and I can’t write about football because it’s such an institution for America that we are more impressed by what a quarterback does on the field than what he could do in the classroom. I can’t write about football because it might me revealing that we’ve lied to these boys by telling them their education would be what matters.
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I can’t write about football because it’s entertainment, and I am entertained. I am a hypocrite to say I have problems with the sport because I watch it. I felt bad at the situations with Ray Lewis, Michael Vick, Plaxico Burress, Jovan Belcher, Aaron Hernandez, Ray Rice, and Adrian Peterson. I felt bad, but I still watched football. I still rooted for my team. I still played fantasy.
I can’t write about football because I can’t say if it’s the culture of the sport, of us, or just several individual cases we are highlighting. I don’t know. I’m not any sort of expert. Others will write, and write better than I can, and I hope that some of their voices speak to what I’m feeling.
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The inertia of the situation is what is the most frustrating. The predictable nature of how the NFL will respond and the dialogue surrounding how certain players could rebound their careers eventually. I can’t write about football because I don’t know who I should forgive and who I should condemn. That’s not for me to say.
As a college educator, my job is to engage the men with whom I work. It’s to look to this situation and ask my students what they think, where they are, what it means for them and what it means for how football and other college athletics intersect with what an education should be. I have to listen, because, right now, I can’t write about football.
Ditching the Dunce Cap is a weekly Friday column from Aaron W. Voyles on the University of Texas-Austin. He welcomes your comments. This column is not affiliated with the university.
—Photo COD Newsroom/Flickr
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To Ditch the Dunce Cap
Can You Manage the College Male?
“Have at it, Boys” and College Men
The Challenge of Male Mentorship
Becoming a Beard Mentor
College Made Me Think I Hated Beer
An Ode to My College Roommate
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Examining the Axe Effect
When Will You Grab Your Saw?
Do You Know the Mega-Dump?
If the Shoe Fits, Cheat