Food For Thought

By, Weston Warner, SMCN Sports Writer | @CorridorNews

WARNING: This article is a random spread of thoughts and ideas that just might create some provocative thought that could be discussed with others–I figured that it might come in handy given that this whole week and weekend will be spent with family and friends doing the same three things that every other group of people that get together for Thanksgiving do (whether you like it or not), which of course are:

1. Eating random assortments of food that will prevent us from being able to walk for a day                    

2. Eating random assortments of dessert that will prevent us from being able to walk for another day               

3. Watching Football

The ladder of the three is the only one that somehow becomes stressful for me personally.  I know every guy reading this, and some girls, knows exactly what I mean by that.  Since I am not a complete degenerate, I don’t ever bet on sports during family gatherings if that’s what you thought I was referring to.  Side note, if your uncle Richie always seems to constantly criticize every play of every game on Thanksgiving every year it’s not because he considers himself to be an offensive coordinator–It’s probably because he blindly takes the line on the Lions and Cowboys every Turkey Day.  The stress that I am particularly referring to is the fact that I can’t be my usual crazy self when watching football on Thanksgiving, otherwise people would think that I’m even weirder than they already perceive me to be.  They would think I’m Uncle Richie’s evil twin.

That being said, I simply wanted to pose some questions that I had instead of just rambling on about tips and tactics in regards to strategically multitasking your attention between the pivotal division matchups and that wonderful story about your crazy aunt’s 19 year old cat.

Why do we love football so much?  I am honestly just as in love with the NBA and the MLB as I am with the NFL, but I can’t even come close to hiding my hunger for the NFL either.  You could ask a hundred people this question and you might get a hundred different answers.  The NFL, even amidst PR nightmares that create social divide, is still the king of numbers, media ratings, revenue, and drama and it’s not even close when compared to other sports. 

Some of it might be because of the rise in fantasy leagues, some of it might be because people love to gamble on it, and some of it might be because of the Redzone Channel.  I think the underrated and key factors to the popularity of the NFL come down to several things that really have to do with who we are increasingly becoming as a society.  Every day that the world turns we get busier, smarter, and less patient.  Here are 5 things that stand out to me.

 1. Games are on days when people love to hang out with friends and family at HOME (drives conversation)                                               

 2. Each team only plays once a week and has only 16 regular season games a year (creates a sense of urgency)                                     

 3. The salary cap creates a perception of fairness and parity (even though it seems that the smart front offices always thrive regardless of  the salary cap)     

 4. The NFL players union has never been that strong so owners are never tied to bad contracts, therefore never have to overpay for  unproductive assets that can hinder a franchise  

 5. There is no farm or development system, so collegiate players that people love and watch on Saturday’s go straight to your TV’s on  Sunday’s and never have to play in some  town with a population of 700 people before they get to the big boy squad

Here is another question–Should we feel bad for watching and enjoying it so much?  I don’t know if I would ever want my kid play football, but I absolutely love watching it.  Does that make me a hypocrite?  If you would have asked any parent ten or twenty years ago, “Does your son play football?” it would have been a simple question to drive conversation or small talk. 

Now, it’s become an undeniable social issue.  There is data that clearly supports the genuine danger that football can cause to the human body.  There is no doubt that football is a very violent sport that has ultimately made some people pay with their lives. 

The only problem that I have with this conversation is that now it has become a topic of social judgment and it leaves out every other sport.  I’m not saying that other sports are just as or more dangerous, but I am saying that soccer can possibly create concussion issues, baseball can possibly create long term issues in a variety of areas, and basketball can possibly create issues of all sorts including your knees, feet, and ankles.  I don’t want to leave hockey out either, they literally skate on ice and fight each other for three periods.  They check each other into plexi-glass and get penalized a few minutes if they fist-fight somebody.  If you fought somebody at your job you would probably get into a little more trouble.  Let’s not forget about sports like Boxing and UFC either–you don’t have to be a genius to figure out why those sports would be risky.  

Isn’t that the risk we take every day as humans though? I could literally think of something dangerous that could come out of every single activity that a human does every single day even outside of sports.  I wonder if people that complain about the dangers of football smoke cigarettes or eat food that isn’t very good for them.  What’s the difference? 

I wonder if any of these people do anything in their lives that they know might not be the best thing for them but do it anyway because it makes them feel better or feel happier.  Of course they do, they just don’t see it that way.  I just want people to stop and think about it.  I don’t want people that are reading this to think that I am ignorant or that I don’t care about the people that have suffered through the hardships of injuries in sports, I just want to create a real conversation about it. 

I also want to add that I never played organized football.  The only football I ever played was the “neighborhood tackle football on unlevel ground with rocks and sticks all around” football.  I played all sports recreationally and I played baseball until I was 20 years old.  I love sports.  I hope my kids want to play sports.  They teach you invaluable lessons like social skills, discipline, humility, leadership, courage, teamwork, and hard work.  If I had kids, given my DNA (scrawny and tall), I doubt that my kids would ever be fit to play football or would want to, but I can’t imagine telling them “no” if they truly want to and are fit to.

My last question is if a player does something that we disagree with, or gets in trouble off the field how does it affect the way you view the sport? It completely depends on who you  ask.  It doesn’t affect my life one bit and nor should it affect yours.  People that play professional sports, whether you like it or not, are entertainers that all lead different lives.  I would venture to bet that some are wonderful human beings, some are awful human beings, and others are somewhere in the middle. 

They get paid to do something that nobody else can do in the world for our entertainment and I wish that people would realize that they aren’t supposed to be the “role models” or “examples” of our society.  Why can’t fire fighters, teachers, social workers, or doctors be the people that we deem role models?  I just like to enjoy people for who they are and enjoy the entertainment that they bring to this world and don’t like when I hear people use the excuse of, “well I don’t like or watch that sport or player because of what that player said or did off of the field or court.”  There is obviously some underlying issue that you are too lazy to address, but should.

Well, hopefully these questions gave you something to think about.  If nothing else hopefully it gave you something to read while you were in the car headed somewhere for the holidays or something to look at in the morning during a warm cup of coffee.  More importantly I hope everyone in the Central Texas area and beyond has a wonderful Thanksgiving break.  Most importantly, enjoy the games over the holiday break and don’t be like Uncle Richie.