I wouldn’t miss the NFL if it were to disappear tomorrow

I know that football is the most popular sport in America, so I can see how what I’m about to say might run afoul of whatever passes for acceptable opinion among Polite Society. But my wife Sana and I were talking about it last night and it brought up some thoughts I wanted to write down.

Ever since the NFL became the de facto athletic branch of the Department of Global Empire Sustainment shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks, it’s been pretty much unwatchable. Sure there have been plenty of memorable moments such as super close Super Bowls, Tom Brady leaving and then returning to New England and so on but the whole military theme (like the “Command Center” on Fox that talks about things like reviewed plays, flyovers after the national anthem, etc.) is pretty much a dealbreaker for me.

People say that it teaches kids sportsmanship, teamwork, and maybe that’s true to some extent. The Boy Scouts also teaches that, although I have some concerns about that org. too as of late.

It also teaches kids that violence is okay, that the way to prove one’s manhood is by how hard you can hit another man.

It’s not Heretics vs. the Lions of Ancient Rome, but the violence is constant and, well, violent. I can discern the difference between violence and gamesmanship, but can a 14 year old boy who’s glued to the TV every Sunday? It’s a different bowl of wax.

Then you have the issue of winning games based on the other team’s mistakes, rather than your own merit. How many games have been won because one of the defenders committed “pass interference”? The receiver and the passer basically get credit for the catch without actually making the catch. It’s assumed that the guy would catch the ball, but we don’t even know that. It seems the most climactic moments of the game are often decided by petty infractions of arbitrary rules, rather than actually performing, getting the job done.

It is what it is, and people love the game in spite of this, but for me it’s a big turnoff. I would just as soon see a team win because they performed better than the other team, not because they made less mistakes. I suppose there are factors there that disprove my own point, but so be it.

All that to say I’ll watch American football to stay in tune with American culture, but if it were to go away tomorrow, it would be out of my mind the day following and I’d never think about it again.

No call to action today, just had that on my mind and wanted to write it down for posterity.