OPINION: The NFL’s Warning On Fighting Is Hypocrisy, It's Already Part of the Game, Isn't It?

Photo byAdrian CurielonUnsplash

You know the weekly stats: Wins/Losses, passing yards, QB ratings, the number of sacks and tackles for 2023; but what about the average lifespan for an NFL player – 59.6 years?

Or average career length – 3.3 years.

You know the game is violent. That bodies are damaged every Sunday, Monday, and Thursday night. You read about who’s been added to the Injury Reserve list, who’s just come off it, or who just went into surgery.

You’ve read the stories of players getting hit so hard their hearts stop. Their legs stop moving. Their heads ache for weeks or months before they “shake it off” and get back in the huddle.

You know you check out the highlight reels on YouTube or FOX and watch the biggest hits. The helmets popping off as the ball, player, and pads go in three different directions.

And you know you love it.

Because the NFL is Big, Big business and growing. Over a hundred twenty billion in future media revenue lined up. Games are being played in London and Germany. Even a Super Bowl in Europe has been discussed.

Roger Goodell is King as its commissioner. A new three-year extension worth nearly $200 million. Teams are now valued at over $ 6 billion. Players contracted until 2030. Life is good in the world of American football.

But at what cost?

Should we care?

Quarterbacks are making upwards of $50 million a year. Should we stop worrying?

Receivers make almost $20 million a year, compared to teachers, truck drivers, and ER doctors, how much of our time should be spent watching their backs?

Even the average head coach in 2023 makes almost $7 million a year, compared to $50,000 to $80,000 for a policeman or fireman.

Football is entertainment. It’s exciting.

It’s also boring and predictable and executed in 10-15-second increments.

Imagine settling into your seats at a movie theater, having just shelled out $18 for the ticket, $12 for the popcorn, and $8 for the Coke, and then watching the latest thriller in 15-second increments before there’s a commercial or commentary on how the movie is playing out so far?

Put another way, the average NFL football game is officially 60 minutes long with roughly 15-20 minutes of that allocated for action, the rest – commercials and talk.

This adds up to an average NFL game running about 3 hours and 15 minutes, longer for playoff games and the Super Bowl.

We see “great” plays 3-4-5 times while each member of the panel gives their version of what is right and wrong with them. Who is earning their salary and who might be done by the end of the season.

Three hours plus of air time – that’s 180 plus minutes with 15-20 minutes of it showing players actually playing football.

Why are we so connected to this game?

Man is violent, you don’t need any further stats to verify it. Look at the news. At what’s happening in Israel, Ukraine, and scores of other locales around the world. The shootings, the fires, the hurting.

So, we need to be distracted. To take our attention off the day-to-day upsets, the commutes, the corporate infighting, and layoffs and just sit back with a cold beer and a sandwich and enjoy.

But does it have to be football?

In a recent playoff game between the Astros and Rangers, both sides almost came to blows because of an errant pitch. Or was it intentional?

Suspensions rained down. Warnings given.

It happens.

It is said that art imitates life, but what about sports?

Do sports begin to mirror the emotional IQ of our lives; the violent explosion of emotions needed to release the pressure so we can deal with the upcoming week, and will it continue?

Football can be fun to watch, no doubt. Talented athletes in their prime perform feats of “magic” that we all wish we could do and are rewarded like kings for doing it.

No reason to overthink the draw, it’s pretty obvious.

But if it were the same athletes playing an up-tempo game of flag football filled with thrilling catches and amazing end-to-end runs, would we tune in by the tens of millions to watch?

Or would the games be relegated to the same time slots as lacrosse and volleyball?

Violence is now more a part of our national pastimes than ever before. What does that mean exactly?

That watching a 4-3 game of baseball – nine innings and done – isn’t good enough?

Or like “nuclear hot” chicken wings or cars that top off at 200 mph we’ve grown accustomed to the normal and that just doesn’t do it for us anymore.

What comes next?

In ancient Mesoamerica (time of the Aztecs and Mayan cultures) there was a game called Ollamaliztli or pok-ta-pok where athletes played on a court with a rubber ball and goals being scored by either side. Ancient records and archaeological finds suggest that winners did well and were praised, losers on the other hand may have faced death through sacrifice.

Then there’s the Gladiators of ancient Rome, but we know where that ended.

Not saying this is where we are headed, but it did happen before.

The question is – will it happen again?