Confronting the 'football industrial complex'

BBC News ^ | 4th September 2014 | Anthony Zurcher

[the scotsman]

"Are you ready for some football?"

'It's the shouted rhetorical question that has started Monday night National Football League (NFL) broadcasts for decades.

For the millions of Americans who make the NFL by far the most popular US professional sport, the answer has long been yes. And it will be again on Thursday night, as NFL season kicks off with a matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the defending Super Bowl champions Seattle Seahawks.

Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote Fans need to recognise that the game isn't going to change until we force the issue by walking away” End Quote Steve Almond

Author

Every Sunday (and Monday, and some Saturdays and Thursdays) for the next five months, millions of Americans - and plenty of Brits, thanks to three regular-season games in London - will feast on a bacchanalia of gridiron pageantry.

Best-selling author Steve Almond, however, won't be watching.

The self-professed long-time American football fan writes in the Los Angeles Times that he feels guilty about watching a sport whose participants risk traumatic brain injury. More than that, however, he says he objects to "the cynical commercialisation of the sport, its cultish celebration of violence and the more subtle ways in which football warps our societal attitudes about race, gender and sexual orientation."

He says that he, like other spectators, are enabling the corruption of a game he used to love.

"Fans need to recognise that the game isn't going to change until we force the issue by walking away," he writes.'

[roofgoat]

“Joey Amalfitano”

OMG that’s a name I haven’t heard in years. Wow.

So can I ask your Dad’s name (or maybe private reply it).

[Ransomed]

Sure there is wear and tear in all sports. Like you said, catchers get beat up over the course of a career, especially of a few decades ago.

But it’s not a question of if you truly had the option to go pro in both sports, it’s wishing you were good enough in the other to go with that one instead. I’ve only ever seen retired football players say they wish they could have hit the curve ball and been baseball players, not retired baseball players saying they wish they could have perfected the techniques of the offensive line or whatever.

FReegards

[Zakeet]

I'm not going to watch the NFL ever because ...

• Teams like Eagles, Lions, Jaguars, Dolphins and Seahawks exploit endangered species

• Teams like Vikings, Buccaneers, Raiders and Patriots endorse violence

• Teams like Steelers, Jets and Chargers suggest approval of people who abuse the environment

• Rams and Packers encourage homophobia

• CowBOY is sexist

• And that leaves only the Redskins ... which would be acceptable if they would drop that other offensive word ... Washington!

And you right wing nuts think it's easy to be a libtard these days ...

Sigh

[Steve_Seattle]

"More than that, however, he says he objects to "the cynical commercialisation of the sport, its cultish celebration of violence and the more subtle ways in which football warps our societal attitudes about race, gender and sexual orientation."

I suppose by "warping" these views he means that football somehow makes our views less liberal than they otherwise would be. But, to pick just one of his terms, how does football "warp" our views about race? Well, for me, football tells me that colleges will lower their academic standards to bring in outstanding athletes who are otherwise unqualified academically, and that a disproportionate number of these athletes are black. So is my view warped, or a reflection of reality?

[discostu]

I haven’t seen any retired athletes wish they could have played something else. Not for body damage reasons, seen a couple comment on great plays in their sport and others they wish was them.

[catnipman]

I tell you what. I’ll make a deal with the BBC about this. I’ll personally lead the effort to abolish American football when the BBC manages to abolish European football! Deal?

[tips up]

Sports media has become CNN/MSNBC. Everything is political rather than sports. Who needs it.

[dfwgator]

Soccer players have issues too.

Gabriel Batistuta begged doctor to remove his legs to end terrible pain which made him wet the bed following retirement in 2005

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2740426/Argentina-legend-Gabriel-Batistuta-begged-doctors-remove-legs.html

[Ransomed]

No doubt it KILLS MLB that openly gay men have made their debut in the other big pro sports first. I think there are a lot more potential problems for MLB than the others, look at the discrete individual contests. If a position player, that’s 3-5 at bats or so where things like balls, strikes, throwing inside, will be have to be weighed against the gayness. It’s not like pitch f/x is going to lie for the gay player or ump.

As far as MLB players self policing, that’s the beauty of the 162 game season. It doesn’t even have to be that series, retaliation could happen months from then, and often does with the crummy warnings they give out. Not to mention just hitting everyone in the lineup but the showboat, and getting THEM to self police their own.

FReegards

[Steve_Seattle]

It almost seems like this guy never played baseball, and that he doesn't remember how brutally the so-called "pacifistic" U.S. fought WW II, with far more relaxed rules of engagement that we now have and far more willingness to kill civilians.

As for baseball, it is not a game for pacifistic pansies. That ball is coming at you 90+ miles-per-hour, and it is hard. The catcher takes a beating, the pitcher is vulnerable to line drives up the box, and any player on any play can tear up a knee or break an ankle or have a bad hop smack them in the face.

[GraceG]

Oh sure and there were no problems at all during the world cup ,....

/sarc

[TurboZamboni]

No amount of negative reporting on the NFL affects their ratings.

You could have players as members of ISIS and it wouldn’t matter .

And taxpayers will still be forced to build billionaire owners their stadiums.

[logician2u]

Fifty posts about what's wrong with professional football--all the way from PC announcements and "pink month" to the amount of time the ball is in play being less than what's spent in commercials--and not one word about the most blatant affront to those who don't care for the game.

That would be the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by local and state--and likely, the federal government--to construct, maintain and, in many cases, give free use of huge stadiums in which pro football must be played.

These dollars, every one of them, must be extracted from individuals and for-profit enterprises whose existence creates jobs, wealth and a sense of stability for the local economy.

Football, on the other hand, is a net drag on the economy as presently structured. Not only are taxpayer funds squandered on stadiums, but the relatively small portion of the public who are "fans" will pay exorbitant ticket prices to watch a game, money which could be going to support local business but isn't. (Forget the "massive influx" of out-of-towners contributing to hotels and restaurants bottom line, as they represent a small percentage of ticket holder and an even smaller percentage of season ticket holders.)

Are football players overpaid?

Yes, and it's entirely due to the great aid and comfort the government offers professional sports teams--both in the way of financing stadiums and exempting baseball and football from anti-trust laws.

Competition keeps prices down and business honest. Where in football do you witness competition, other than when one city bribes an NFL team with a new stadium and 90% of the gate if the team's owners will only relocate there?

[Ransomed]

Jim McMahan is the only one I could find right now. I’ve see others as well, but in a much more joking manner.

FReegards

[roofgoat]

needs to be said over and over.

[logician2u]

And taxpayers will still be forced to build billionaire owners their stadiums.

You beat me to it.

Thanks. Glad to know I'm not alone.

[qam1]

Thankfully I can’t see baseball going in that direction anytime soon.

For starters, all this showboating comes mainly from Black players and it’s the Black spectators* who are drawn to it.

Baseball is handed down from father to son and takes lots of commitment, so the number of black players and fans has extremely dropped off.

I hoping Manny was the last Manny being Manny.

* - Side note. Speaking of Black spectators. I am not a big fan, but I often get tickets from companies I work with and might go to 1 or 2 football games a year. Surprisingly, I’ve been to several different stadiums and no matter what stadium or game I never see any Blacks in attendance, ever. Even in cities like Philadelphia and New Orleans. The crowd is always 99.9% White. With hat kind of attendance I am surprised Blacks are that into football.

[dfwgator]

Tickets are too expensive....and football is better made for TV.

[roofgoat]

Ransomed, I hope it stays that way re: self policing.

I listen to Cardinals baseball on the radio (cancelled Direct TV 2 years ago).

We have to great radio guys, Mike Shannon and John Rooney. Anyway the discussion of pitching inside to move a batter back who is crowding the plate came up. Rooney said some young guys (wasn’t sure if it was players or writers) were saying that’s “Old School” pitching. I’m sure Shannon would liked to have slapped some sense into them.

[roofgoat]

isn’t that the truth. I’d bet plenty of Dads would allow their daughter to be groped during half time by their favorite team if it would help them win the game.