So Where Does It Stop? NFL Wussifying Football One Rule at a Time
The 2013-2014 football season has ended and Super Bowl XLVIII is just around the corner. Time for wings, beer, large screen TVs and trash talking the opposing team. While football has undoubtedly become one of America’s best loved sports, the transformation it has undergone since its early days is remarkable and yet disappointing. While there have been undeniable advancements in technology and safety gear to protect the players, the National Football League has established and encouraged a culture very similar to the liberal agenda. I think these two parallel universes contribute to a larger issue that our society faces today: the wussification of men, boys, and traditionally masculine organizations, such as the NFL.
It’s no secret that football can be a dangerous game, however, in recent years, the NFL has attempted to eliminate any and all “risk” for its players. Yes, you will likely be injured as a football player. Yes, you might even sustain career ending injuries at some point. Unfortunately, some have even lost their lives as result of injuries sustained or playing with an underlying condition. However, in some professions, risk of injury is increased, and sometimes inevitable.
As Sean Crowe from the Bleacher Report said in 2009, “you can’t take the hitting out of football.” And he’s right. Sure, we can arm players with the equipment needed to protect them as much as possible, much like we do with police officers and firefighters, but the threat of possible injury is always there. The NFL is much like an overbearing employer, school or the government: once an incident happens, we have to overreact and make a rule to eliminate any possibility of a recurrence.
In some situations, that’s a good idea. But with potential low hit ban, taunting and celebration rules, and crackback block bans, all while determining which arbitrary hits are legal and illegal, the NFL is essentially altering and modifying the game as we know it. They’ve taken a formula for athleticism, entertainment, and tradition and made it “light” or “diet”. They have even gone so far as to eliminate tackling during the NFL training camps, according to the New York Times last summer. What will be left of the sport in 20 years when there’s nothing left to regulate and ban? What will be left of the game when all the violent, yet sometimes necessary, components are removed? In an effort to make the game safer and “more enjoyable” for fans and players alike, the NFL is overregulating the game and its fans.
The regulation doesn’t end there. Beginning in the 2013 season, new “safety” regulations at NFL games ban the use of any type of personal bag larger than 12” x 6” x 12”. This means, ladies, no more purses or diaper bags to hold all the stuff we can’t leave the house without. According to NFL.com, the measure was placed in order to “enhance public safety and improve stadium access for fans.” If you can’t bring your clutch or a plastic Ziploc bag to hold your goodies, you can, of course, purchase an NFL clear tote of any size for a generous price.
The NFL has also taken a clear, liberal stance on domestic issues that have no relationship to football. Who can forget NBC’s Sunday Night Football host Bob Costas criticizing the Washington Redskins during a halftime rant, labeling the 82 year old football team’s name as “racist”. Lest we forget, he also gave his two cents on the issue of gun control following the murder-suicide of Kansas City Chief’s linebacker Jovan Belcher and his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins. How exactly, Bob, is your opinion on gun control and racism related to your reporting and analysis of a football game?
And if that didn’t expose the NFL’s hypocrisy and pacifism, the next example will. According to Fox News, the NFL has decided to ban a commercial by gun and outdoor gear company Daniel Defense during Super Bowl XLVIII. In the commercial, a Marine speaks of the personal responsibility he has to protect his family and fundamental rights. Apparently, the NFL doesn’t deem a commercial about a person’s inalienable right to protect his family appropriate to air during the Super Bowl, but found Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s gun control ads acceptable during the 2012 and 2013 Super Bowls.
With the cave to modern liberalism and overregulation of the game and its fans, one has to wonder where the organization and game of football will be in 20 years. Add in the growing ticket prices, coaches and players whining at every call, draft rules and you’ve basically got the formula for a liberal run society. This transformation has undeniably been a representation of the wussification of growing generations, particularly in men, in America by the Left.
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