Before I begin addressing my topic for the morning,
allow me to join in the chorus of those who are sharing their grief at the
death of George H.W. Bush. I never voted
for the man, but I have always liked and admired him. Some of the most fulfilling years of my
career were spent at the Federal Trade Commission under a Chairman who he
appointed (Janet Steiger), and I realized then that President Bush was someone
who respected the civil service and who appointed people to positions in
Government who cared about advancing the mission of their agencies, were
pragmatic instead of rigidly ideological, and deferred when appropriate to
their staffs.
This country is as great as it because of men and
women like George H.W. Bush. I am proud
to have served in his Administration. He was a patriot in the best senses of
that term. He will be missed.
Now, let’s turn to the topic of the day.
Like George H.W. Bush, I am a huge sports fan. His favorite sport was baseball, which should
not be surprising since he once captained Yale’s baseball team. My favorite sport is football, which should
not be surprising since I have a real mean streak in me. But at least I recognize it, I’m not thrilled
about it, and I would never it let it cause me to hurt anyone or anything other
than my own arteries.
This week, football fans all over the nation were
forced to remind ourselves about the connection between football and
violence. Subconsciously, we see that
connection whenever we watch a game.
Inherently, the sport is violent – perhaps not as violent as boxing or
Mixed Martial Arts, but close. If you
don’t hit hard, you can’t play defense, and if you can’t play defense, we might
as well be watching basketball or track.
What makes football great is the irresistible force facing the immovable
object. Without the violence, the object
just gets moved down the field like butter facing a knife. Who wants to watch that?
If you love the game as much as I do, you’re
probably at peace with watching the hits, at least if they don’t involve gratuitous
shots to the head. But it is difficult
to be at peace with the reports that have come out in the past decade about the
consequences of these hits on the body, and especially the brain. I’ve
spoken to a lawyer who handles claims on behalf of football players and their
families. The physical devastation he
has reported to me is truly appalling.
And yes, as someone who religiously watches these games and frequently
attends them, I recognize that I am an enabler of these consequences – the torn
ligaments, the broken bones, and all the symptoms associated with chronic
traumatic encephalopathy (e.g., early onset dementia, depression,
uber-aggression, personality changes, etc.).
Those destroyed lives remain on my conscience. What can I say? I love the game. Always have.
Only in the past decade have the barons of football
proposed to do something, anything, to minimize the problems discussed in the
previous paragraph. Unfortunately, not enough is being done. I can’t tell you how often vicious helmet-to-helmet
hits go unpenalized, and therefore undeterred. To be sure, we can expect the league to more
vigilantly punish this conduct, yet that won’t change the fact that the sport
is necessarily violent. Maybe fewer
players will get CTE, but the number will never go to zero. We
fans have to accept that fact.
All that said, here’s what we DON’T have to accept:
that the gladiators who hit hard on the gridiron also frequently hit hard off
of it. We don’t have to tolerate the wife-
and child-beating that so many of these gladiators seem to view as their
birthright. We also don’t have to
tolerate the “boys will be boys” attitude that comes out of the mouths of the
suits who run the National Football League, or the football programs that seem
to dominate so many universities these days.
It is one thing to love football.
It’s another to accept football culture.
The former had better evolve, within limits. The latter had better transform itself
dramatically. Stated simply, violence
against women and children (or, in the case of Michael Vick, against dogs) must
no longer be tolerated by our society.
Full stop.
You would think it was enough this year when the
Washington Redskins, my local NFL team, brought in Adrian Peterson to play
running back. You may remember Mr.
Peterson as the 6’1” 220 pound man-missile who a few years ago beat his
four-year old son with a tree branch 10-15 times, injuring the child’s back,
buttocks, legs, and scrotum. I used to
be a big Peterson fan. Once that
happened -- and once Peterson seemed to show only a modicum of remorse -- my
ability to enjoy his exploits on the field ended. This
past week, the Redskins signed another off-the-field tough guy to the team. The new addition is a 23-year old linebacker named
Reuben Foster, who had just been cut by the 49ers.
His reputation was already marred by a well-publicized verbal altercation
with a hospital worker, and by separate weapons and drug offenses. This past Saturday night, Foster was arrested
in Tampa as part of a domestic violence investigation. According to his female accuser, he “slapped
her phone out of her hand, pushed her in the chest area, and slapped her with
an open hand on the right side of her face.”
In justifying the Redskins decision to sign Foster,
team executive Doug Williams responded, “We got people in (high) positions that
have done far worse. This is small
potatoes (compared to) a lot of things.”
Probably true – for example, what Adrian Peterson did to his FOUR-year
old son is worse. But let’s just say
that when I turn on a football game, I’m not signing up for either.
Later this week, Kansas City Chiefs fans were
treated to a video of their star running back, Kareem Hunt, kicking and shoving
a woman. The incident had been reported
months ago, and Hunt was allowed to remain on the team. But after the video came out, the Chiefs had
reached their limit – they said that Hunt had lied to them about the incident
and were therefore cutting him from the team.
Perhaps the Redskins will want him too – Adrian Peterson is getting
older, so maybe Hunt would make a fine replacement on and off the field.
When will the leaders of this sport get together and
impose some rules? When will they create
a zero tolerance policy? And when will
my local team, the Washington Redskins, move the hell away from my city so that
they can pollute some other environment? We already know that their franchise
history is mired in racism – from their unwillingness to hire any black players
(they were the last all-white team in NFL history) to their racist mascot (the
Indian on the Warpath), no football team says “Bigots” quite like the
Redskins. But do they have to stand for
woman and children abuse as well?
I could go on and on about this topic, but I’ll
spare you. Suffice it to say that if
there is any decency left in this sport, can we please change the culture
now? Can we please confine the violence
to the field of play? Can we please tell
these players that if they want to beat up on defenseless people, they will
have to figure out a different way to make a living than one that pays millions
of dollars to play a ball game?
Enough is enough.
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