Football

When I was in the Army in Europe, I was stationed in a place where we couldn’t get the Armed Forces Radio and Television Network’s TV broadcasts.  We got the radio programs, but not the TV.  Anyway, I was not able to watch American football on TV.

When I got back home in the fall of 1973, my American girlfriend took me home to meet her family.  They lived in a part of the country where football is almost a religion, and I spent a lot of my time there watching football with her brothers and brothers-in-law. Even though I was a Yankee, they seemed to like it that I could “talk football” with them.

The next year or the year after, (I think) the Denver Broncos went to the super bowl.  I got invited to a super bowl party, and after Dallas walked all over the Broncos, I sort of got involved again … support for the underdog I guess.

Later, I followed the game more closely.  It is fun to watch with friends or family, and it gives you the ability to have something to talk about with the other guys at work or in the neighborhood.

I have always had misgivings, however.  Colleges spend too much on their athletic programs, and the pro players make a lot of money for playing a game.  I realize it is an entertainment industry, and that actors who make it in the movies, for example, make a lot of money, too.  It isn’t so much that I am envious, or that I covet the money.  What bothers me is seeing poor kids who are working their way through school paying extra fees so that their university can build a new stadium.  Or, more money spent on the pro football industry, than on … you name the worthy cause.

There is the background.  Now here is where I’m going.  I did not watch one football game this year; not professional, not college, and not even high school.  It was not a boycott, per se.  It was disgust.  I do not necessarily agree with the point being made by “taking the knee” during the national anthem, but I understand that, from a certain point of view, people may come to believe that people of color are treated unfairly in the United States.

What disgusts me is the contempt the players showed for the rights of others; who may or may not agree with them.  If a player wants to freely voice his opinion in a free society, I fully support that.  What I object to is players hijacking the national forum provided by the NFL for their own personal purposes, and to the NFL allowing it.

Also, if I watch football, that is my time.  It is for my entertainment. I do not want to watch overpaid prima donnas treating the symbol of our country, which has done more good than any other, with insolence.

I am not saying that I will never watch football again.  I am not saying that others should not watch football if they want to, or that is wrong for them to do so.  I am saying that the involved players and the NFL owe the fans and the nation an apology.  I am also saying that, at least for now, I am just not interested in patronizing the game.