It was ten years ago - I checked - when I first started writing with skepticism about football. Where does the time go?
This whole thing has followed a typical arc. We become aware as with smoking that something is awry with the activity. As rational beings we ought to see that proper actions are taken expeditiously. But that's not how it is. A few voices like mine spring up. We have become aware of the science.
But football? Is this a form of entertainment we are prepared to backtrack from? At first, absolutely not. The cautionary notes about football are often met with a smile from our friends. Football is such a "light" topic, the constructive comments go against the grain for our whole outlook on it. Football is the world we retreat into, on weekends from our daily stresses.
Saturday offered college football. The Gophers were not competitive for most of my adult life. "Competitive" was a yardstick very important to us. It mattered little that the players were gladiators, taking risks accordingly. They were frail and vulnerable men who became committed to the sport because when they were young, they found they could get adulation. No other activity in their lives could match that, at least for a large share of these guys. So they committed themselves even when pain and injuries accumulated.
Those who made the pros could flame out like a meteor. Athletic trainers fought to suppress the painful consequences of injury. The trainers were part of a racket that demanded intensity for the sake of the constant goal: winning. Winning is so "American," isn't it?
The family of General Patton was all set to loudly complain and maybe even sue when the movie came out in 1970. But it turned out, the moviemakers weren't interested in the most accurate portrayal of what went on in WWII - the movie with George C. Scott ended up with a theme of American winning.
So put the reality aside - the underbelly of war and how hellish it is - and let's wave the flag of triumph. America is a winner.
We ought instead to profoundly regret that war has been such a big part of our past. Each year our local news media gives us coverage that I might suggest is "canned" of Memorial Day. We celebrate America's ultimate triumph, thank those who sacrificed, but cannot truly relate to what went on in combat.
We can have a vicarious experience from the movie screen - John Wayne - just like it's vicarious for watching football on weekends. We get snacks out in front of us. We consume the media for all sorts of analysis, speculation and predictions. And what really do we get out of it? Think long and hard and you'll probably come up empty on that one.
Down deep you'll probably be a little ashamed. Ashamed of getting all consumed over such a trivial activity. Trivial, yes, but it can attract as many as 100,000 souls at the University of Michigan on a fall Saturday. If pressed to really think about this, what would you conclude? That football is pointless? Just like all war is really pointless? Was America hypnotized by the winning ideal when we got into the sinkhole of Vietnam? Lasting years? Years I tell you. Watch the movie "Born on the fourth of July."
You can watch the Will Smith movie "Concussion" in the same way. Us humans can be such deluded souls. Young men who play football at a high level for a long time are subject to horrible punishment. The "bum knees" are bad enough. But now we have learned so much more: the tragedy of brain injuries.
And so ten years ago I took up pen to start sharing concern. In that timespan, St. Cloud State University made the rather remarkable decision to cut its football program. That program had been a staple there like at most institutions of its type. Football is at centerstage for your typical college homecoming.
I have a podcast episode to share today. It's based on Jack Del Rio's comments re. January 6 and the BLM protests. He has gotten in trouble. He's an NFL coach with the "Commanders." Here is the link and thanks. - BW
Getting local
I can't help but bring up U of M-Morris football in the 1970s. It extended into the 1980s some. Now, UMM has had football all along. But in the '70s and a little beyond, it was about more than a game being played. I assure you from personal observation, UMM football reflected "toxic masculinity." It might have gone beyond that to where it was really caricature. Even if caricature, the players and fans took it all very seriously.
The players were "big men on campus." Most would have been benchwarmers if playing at a higher level. I should not say all, because we had some get NFL tryouts. I wrote feature articles about most of them. These guys must get a warped view because "being on the front page" suggests such gravity about what you're doing. Do they really believe all that? Do they understand the sacrifices and risks they're facing as they go out each week to "crunch" the opponent?
It doesn't hurt the fans a bit. It didn't hurt me when I was a media person very much focused on it. I never even tried to play football. I probably grew up with symptoms of Asperger's. I eventually read that kids with Asperger's are not good at playing sports. Well, fine and dandy. I have been scolded for not focusing well enough when playing beach volleyball! My cross to bear?
But things could have been worse: I could have actually been good at football. I could have turned out big, brawny and physical. And then used all that to play a game? To entertain throngs of fans? Look at our Big Cat Stadium in Morris. It's like a shrine to the sport. A fancy facility that sits there cold and unused for most of the year. We could have done better with our school facilities. But our infatuation with football is a nonstop.
Most of us don't pause to deconstruct a little. We make "small talk" on the street about our home teams. It's an opiate, a means of coping, it seems. But think of the players who get deluded into thinking that what they are doing is so significant. Crowds cheer. People tune in on radio, TV and YouTube. "The beast" plods on.
There do appear to be more people, like me, willing to speak out, the way some people were willing to speak out about public smoking once. Speaking out can seem so futile, for a long time, but then we're surprised when constructive changes start being made. Are we at that point now?
Remember when Robert Redford said to Dustin Hoffman in the elevator, "Is there any place you don't smoke?" That was in "All the President's Men," the movie that showed us that newspaper writers could have more power than Beltway lawyers! Thus I furthered my devotion to writing. A constructive path? I think so.
In August we'll see if more MACA young people peel away from football. Let's cross fingers. Boys volleyball has come very close to being approved as a high school sport in Minnesota. Let's see the positive momentum move on. But it will be too late for some. Make that many. Just as with smoking.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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