America's Love of Football a Flaw? Part II

<Everyone needs to imagine the melodious voice of Bob Costas as they read this. Indeed, this is a script written for him to read at halftime during a Sunday night football game this season.>

Is America's love of football a flaw?

Football is a uniquely American experience. From the tailgates of the South, the football Cathedrals of the Midwest, to the television rooms of Americans across the nation. No where else in the world is the onset of autumn--it's chilly weather and portending of a long winter to come--celebrated by the clashing of bone and sinew, the thrusting of an oblong pigskin into the air, and hours upon hours of media coverage.

Baseball may be America's pastime, Football is America's reality; and like reality, it isn't without its flaws. And, like reality, it something that we cannot avoid and that we must address.

Concussions, suicides, helmet-to-helmet, and something called CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy) are all part of the everyday vernacular of America's reality. This juxtaposed with the multi-billion dollar industry that football has become. Indeed, there is a lot at stake for both humanity and the bottom line.

The whispered undertones of the end of football, (again, another reality), is just not feasible. The word "flaw" therefore is perhaps an unsatisfactory description of America's relation to football. Perhaps a better word is "birthmark."

Americans are forced to juggle two competing realities. Unfortunately and fortunately, getting rid of one gets rid of the other. This is not a call for the end of football--that would mean to removal of an important part of American culture. Nor is it a call for the acceptance of the dangers of football without action to alleviate those dangers--that would be inhumane. Rather, this is a realization that these two realities walk in tandem and that our duty is to ensure to health of both.

America's Love of Football a Flaw?

Americans love football.

The NFL is a multi-billion dollar sports league.

College Football elicits passion and allegiance that approaches religious levels.Rivalries define communities.

For millions of Americans, football is another in a litany of factors that identify who they are.

Sound is the argument that claims that teams are pricing out large segments of their fanbases. Equally factual is that most stadiums are at capacity weekly.

Schools are building multi-million dollar football facilities, gouging money from student fees and other sources. Johnny Manziel's right hand and sharpie dominate the news outlets.

Football unites Americans. From Brian Williams of NBC News talking about "his Giants" during a broadcast to the blue-collar worker settling down in front of his TV on a Sunday afternoon.

It is true that football has become romanticized. How a sport that is so violent became the source of so much nostalgia is simple really. Think about it: Homecoming, Rivalry Week, the Super Bowl. These happen once a year, every year. They will happen next year too.

Football benefits from scarcity. Though the games take 4 hours to complete, blink and you will miss it. The game becomes an event that you will only get a handful of chances to participate in. It's hard to remember a certain baseball game in August that is cluttered among the 20+ other games played that month plus the 162 played during the season. From September to February, football owns the weekends.

Football is dangerous.

Retired NFL football players suffering from dementia, tragic suicides, and new scientific studies have contributed to increased awareness of the above statement. Studies suggest that the impact is not exclusive to the player who reached the elite level of NFL play, but that a few concussions in high school can be enough to affect quality of life, later in life. Steps to improve safety and penalize recklessness have been taken. 

The concluding sentence of the preceding paragraph is purposefully vague as it reads just as well in this article as it would in an article about new legislation aimed at discouraging texting while driving. You can never remove the danger from football just as you can never completely keep a car operator from multi-tasking while driving. If the desire was to completely remove the possibility of injury from vehicular carelessness, the solution would be to remove texting capabilities from mobile phones, or to abolish driving. Neither is happening. Football is going anywhere either.

Is football one of America's flaws?