The Sporting Life:
The Public Professor’s Life of Leisure
Let’s get a couple of things out of the way upfront.
1. The National Football League is ludicrously popular. Not only is it by any measurement, far and away the most popular and profitable spectator sport in the world’s wealthiest nation, but it is also a dominant business in the broader entertainment industry. Amid the scramble caused by the rise of the internet and cable TV, with media stalwards such as music and broadcast television desperately clutching dwindling profits, the NFL continues to grow.
2. I love watching professional football. I’m not proud of that. I’m not bragging, or even justifying it. To the contrary, I’ve wasted countless hours of my life watching grown men brutalize each other. I also enjoy boxing. I’m a savage.
That being said, I can’t help but think the NFL is about to go into decline. And what’s more, I think that descent will take place a fair bit more quickly than did the unraveling of baseball as America’s past time, which transpired over several decades.
The NFL is currently beset by a bevy of embarrassments. And while on the surface they may seem like unrelated and isolated incidents that can be remedied fairly easily, I personally think there’s more to it than that. But let’s start with all the black eyes.
- Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Richie Incognito is under the gun for having called fellow lineman Jonathan Martin a “half-nigger.” He also said some nasty things about Martin’s mother. Martin freaked out and left the team, and the ensuing scandal is still swirling.
- The endless epidemic of concussions afflicting professional (actually, all) football players is no longer being swept under the rug. In addition to lawsuits by former players, more and more media attention is being paid to alarming rate and variety of brain injuries suffered by former players, up to and including Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a peculiar form of dementia that can only be diagnosed posthumously. Even PBS is on the story, having kicked off this season of Frontline with a two-part exposé.
- Much of America is finally waking up to the reality that redskin is in fact a racial slur on a par with darkie, slope or wetback. And that the intransigence of Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder on this issue represents not only the blind arrogance of a spoiled brat, but also an ongoing insult to American Indians and an embarrassment to the nation.
The ugly racism of one asshole can be dealt with easily. Just punish the guy. The Redskins name change takes a little more doing, but is eminently doable; a slew of professional teams have changed names over the years. The issue of brain injury is clearly the most difficult to remedy, but even it is fixable, though it would involve fundamentally changing the game, from rules to equipment.
Thus, as isolated problems, they can all be tackled. But taken on the whole, I sense something more.
The way Americans have reacted to these issues speaks to a softening of the culture. And I’m using that phrase in a positive way, not in the dumb, reactionary way that fumes about us becoming a “nation of pussies.”
American popular culture changed a lot during the 20th century. And here in the second decade of the 21st century, most Americans do not think racism is okay. They are also less accepting of violence. This is a resolutely good thing since racism and violence are blights upon the world.
And while the NFL is not predicated on racism, it is predicated on violence. Sadly, I enjoy it. Millions do. But as the true impact of that violence on players’ lives comes to light, fewer and fewer Americans are willing to let their children play organized tackle football. Just like they’re unwilling to let their children box or compete in mixed martial arts.
It’s not going to happen tomorrow or next year. But I sense that the time is nigh. Eventually more and more Americans will find the violence of football unseemly. It is not inconceivable that the sport will go the way of boxing and other bloodsports, with fan bases that are thoroughly dominated by testosterone-fueled young men, and the rest of our nation’s demography largely turning a blind eye to the gladiatorial spectacle.
Once upon a time, the dominant spectator sports in the United States were boxing, horse racing, and baseball. All of them are currently on life support, squeezed out by the likes of football and basketball. It may seem inconceivable now, but I suspect the day is coming when football too will be marginalized. I sense the clock is ticking.