I used to really enjoy watching football. It started with high school football when I was in high school and we had a winning team. It was so exciting to go to the games and cheer the team and swoon over the quarterback, on whom I had the biggest crush. I still enjoy high school football and will sometimes go to watch a game even now. No more crushes, but there is still just a bit of that school pride and excitement for the game that a spectator can absorb just sitting in the bleachers.
When we moved to Texas in the late 60’s, I became a huge fan of the Dallas Cowboys, and saw in some of those players – Roger Staubach, Lee Roy Jordan, Drew Pearson, Ed “Too-Tall” Jones, Robert Newhouse – that same love of the game and eagerness to just go out and play.
That has changed in more recent years, and I will admit that I have lost my football spirit. Sometimes I still watch a game with my husband, but I don’t look forward to football Sunday like I used to. Part of the reason is that it has become about so many other things than the game itself. It is about salaries and who can make the most money. It is about bigger and grander stadiums, with ticket prices out of sight for too many people because of the stadium price-tag. And it has lost its sense of fair play and good sportsmanship.
In all fairness, maybe that last statement is too broad, but we can’t deny that “winning at all costs” has superseded what used to be a sport of men who played with some sense of respect and honor.
That has become abundantly clear with the latest scandal that the NFL wishes would just disappear from the news. Last week the NFL released a report that said that for three seasons the New Orleans Saints had a bounty pool that was handled by a defensive assistant. The pool paid out for big hits that would take out an opposing player, and apparently the coaching staff of the Saints knew about it, as did the general manager.
According to an editorial in The Dallas Morning News, this practice is not limited to the Saints.
This is absolutely reprehensible behavior, and I, for one, resign from the role of being an NFL fan. I’ll go watch a high school team when I start missing the game.
On another note. I have put my suspense novel, One Small Victory, up for free for today and tomorrow on Amazon. This is the end of Read an E-Book Week, and I thought I would celebrate by giving my readers a gift. Enjoy….
amen!
I had stopped watching at some point, because of the lack of sportsmanship, and then MY WIFE of all people, not a sport person…got interested when our home team got competitive. Go figure Jon Gruden even helped them win a ring.
Quiting would give me at a minimum 16*6 (counting MNF) hours more sleep, and that’s just regular season!
Putting it that way…
I suspect the practice is widespread in the NFL, but some of the hits are unnecessary whether people are paid for them or not.
Thanks for the free book, Maryann.
So sad when the curtain is pulled aside to reveal the goings on behind the scene. Thank you for the gift of your book, which I will now seek out.
R. Mac, I think it is easy to get interested when a home team is doing well. We want to cheer the ones we know. I was thinking of watching a movie instead of football, but a nap does sound good. LOL
Glad you grabbed the book, Bob and Melissa. Hope you enjoy it, and I’d love to get some feedback. I’m really excited that the book is now in the top 500 site-wide at Amazon and number 4 in hard-boiled, number 14 in mystery, and number 13 in suspense. This is a book that is really dear to my heart and I am so thrilled that people are enjoying it.
I was appalled when I heard about the “Bounty” money. Unbelievable. That goes way beyond the “normal” greed of some people…I haven’t heard anything from or about the wives of the players, have you, Maryann? I would think they’d be infuriated! The last “good old days” for me was when Kurt Warner was our quarterback (STL Rams)