When I was about 10 years old, I discovered football. I don’t really know what has happened to the sport; it seemed pretty popular back then. Everyone would watch it on black and white TVs, which often made it really hard to tell who had the ball. If it weren’t for the logos on the helmets, I’m not sure I could always tell which side was the Green Bay Packers and which was the Bears.
But I was a diehard football fan. The Packers were my team. I loved Bart Starr and Vince Lombardi. I thrilled at smash-mouth football. It was a man’s sport. Rough around the edges, occasional blood and broken bones, a game of inches, and one that on a muddy field, turned into a donnybrook that took guts if you wanted the glory.
The players didn’t play for million of dollars each game. A rookie made $9,000; a veteran had a guarantee of at least $10,000. If you won the Super Bowl, you could expect a windfall of $15,000. You played because you loved the sport; it was in your blood.
Players roughed the passer. There was an expectation that when you hit a man on the open field he was not expected to get up. Sure, players could fair catch a kick off, but they were expected to run it back, right into a wedge that was most assuredly going to 1) knock the ball out of your hands or 2), knock you down and out.
Penalties were something of a rarity. Now they are commonplace. Players get called for infractions I have never even heard of as a lifetime football fan. For example, how the hell can taunting and excessive celebration be penalties? Isn’t this what the game is about?
Last week I listened as the color commentary admonished the Seattle Seahawks coach for running up the score against the Arizona Cardinals. The final score was 58-0. That’s the way the sport goes. Since when is football about fairness and good sportsmanship?
I can understand not running up a score when a bunch of 12-year-olds are playing, or it’s a high school game or yes, even college. But professional football? These guys are paid millions to play the game to entertain us. If the game is a runaway, then I want to see the damned score look like it should be on a basketball scoreboard. Scoring is exciting and if I paid a couple hundred bucks to see a game in person, I want to see some scoring. If the other team is incapable, then let the other team score all they want. Embarrass the visiting or home team. That’s football.
At least it used to be. With the way things are going, I’m pretty sure that professional football in the future is going to be reduced to a friendly game of two hand touch, or if we’re thinking big budget, flag football.
Oh, I know, it’s already flag football. There are more penalties in games these days than commercial breaks. Watching the Seahawks this year, every play seems to have a flag flying. Players have gotten so good at pleading their case that officials will throw a flag just because they got pushed around a bit.
As I said, what used to be a great sport has become a namby-pamby game. Players might as well be reduced to two hand touch because lord knows if you knock somebody around a bit you’re going to draw a flag.
I say let the guys play the game. Let it be the sport it used to be. Geez, let’s go back a little further in the game’s DNA and add some rugby style action to it. More hitting, more big plays, leather helmets and no pads.
Oh sure, I know that these guys can get hurt. Did you think it didn’t occur to them when they pursued it as a profession and signed multi-million dollar contracts? It’s part of the sport. If you didn’t want to get injured, sign up for baseball where everyone prances around a diamond in their bloody pajamas and nobody knows when the game ends.
If you have picked up on the fact that I am a bit pissed, you’re right. What pushed me over the edge is the newest idea being floated around in football. Instead of kickoffs and returns, they want to institute the “red rover” play as I call it.
It seems that the fair catch rule, which has been part of football since the 1920s, isn’t enough to protect the players. Creating the magic bubble around them when they raise their hand isn’t enough, I guess.
In this new scenario, there would be no kickoff. When a team scores, the ball would be placed on the 30 yard line. The scoring team can then either try to convert a fourth and 15 yard scenario or opt to punt.
Boy, doesn’t that sound exciting? I have a better idea. Why don’t they put the football on the 50 yard line and when they blow the whistle, both teams make a run for it. It would be a modified dodgeball rule. Whoever gets the ball in the free-for-all takes it at the point that they are finally downed.
There are no designated ball handers. It’s every man for himself. Now that would be highly entertaining.
I know that there are others who share my concern for the future of football. What many consider America’s Pastime is being sissyfied by layers and layers of rules; so many that even the referees don’t seem to know what call to make. Instead, they huddle endlessly, trying to remember all the obscure and ever-changing rules of the sport rather than letting men play the game as it was meant to be.
Let’s return to the days when football was hockey without skates and ice. No rules, plenty of testosterone, gut-wrenching hits and long periods of silence, waiting to see if a player can get up.
We deserve a lot better than what we’re getting, with flags flying for every little offense. Excessive celebration? Give me a break. Next thing you know they’ll be calling backfield in motion on the cheerleaders.
In the Emerald City, celebrating the last two lopsided games that show the Seahawks actually and finally have an offense,
– Robb