Is it ethical to watch football? For those of us who consider ourselves Christians do we have an obligation to disengage from the culture of violence promoted by college and professional football?
Today many of us have heard the sad news that former all-pro NFL linebacker Junior Seau appears to have committed suicide. I don’t know what causes Seau to take his own life if he did, but many are wondering if the impact of playing in the NFL–physically and mentally–had something to do with it. This sad event happened at a time when many are rethinking the sport of football. The NFL has done all that it can to protect players in recent years adding many rules that have offended purist, but with the ongoing news that an organization like the New Orleans Saints participated in a bounty program receiving payment for injuring players on the other team it seems like the culture of the NFL is one of excessive violence no matter how many rules are added. Many NFL players retire to a life of physical pain. Many suffer the consequences of numerous head injuries. Often this drains the finances of former players and many see their life expectancy decrease.
In a recent interview with Slate Magazine Malcolm Gladwell argues that college football should be banned (see “Head Games”). He was asked how he might respond to the claim that football breeds school spirit and results in much income for colleges and universities. He responded:
Football breeds school spirit and fundraising. But, I suspect, it breeds school spirit and fundraising largely for the football program. In any case, I find the notion that you can justify exploiting and maiming athletes because that raises money for the school they are attending to be a slightly appalling notion.
Some defend college football on the basis that it teaches teamwork, discipline, and other virtues. Gladwell replied:
They are absolutely right. Sports teach all kinds of virtues. I wonder if there is a way, though, to teach teamwork and discipline without maiming people. I mean if we could prove that coal mining taught discipline and teamwork and built school spirit, would we build coal mines on every major college campus?
In short, Gladwell doesn’t see a game like football as an appropriate activity for college students or something academic institutions should promote. What about the NFL? Should it be banned too? Gladwell says:
As long as the risks are explicit, the players warned, and those injured properly compensated, then I’m not sure we can stop people from playing. A better question is whether it is ethical to WATCH football. That’s a harder question.
If people stop watching football it could go the way of “boxing” or “horse racing.” The NFL would need to take an economic hit to fold. This may seem impossible, but Gladwell alluded to an article by economists Tyler Cowen and Keven Grier that explain how it could happen titled, “What Would the End of Football Look Like?” Their argument seems to indicate that the NFL isn’t as invincible as it may seem.
BUT do we want the NFL to go away?! That is the question.
I admit that I like the NFL. I enjoy watching the games though over the years I have gone from a week-to-week observer to maybe seeing only a game or two a season. I am surprised to say this, but I can imagine a world without the NFL because I don’t pay much attention to it anymore, except the playoffs, or occasional articles on ESPN.com.
I find myself a bit confused by those who watch and enjoy Mixed Martial Arts. It is blood sport and savagery. I’ve told myself that the NFL is better. MMA aims to harm people. Boxing aims to harm people. The NFL aims to keep a ball from crossing the line, right? Well, maybe not the Saints.
Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic who wrote in an article titled “Junior Seau is Dead” that the question of whether or not we should stop watching football is an easy one to answer: yes. But that isn’t the hard part: “Doing the damn thing is the hard part.”
Coates ends the article saying,
I now know that I have to go. I have known it for a while now. But I have yet to walk away. For me, the hardest portion is living apart–destroying something that binds me to friends and family. With people whom I would not pass another words, I can debate the greatest running back of all time. It’s like losing a language.
He is right. That is the hard part. I don’t share a common bond with those who watch MMA. I do with those who watch the NFL.
Is the NFL the “gladiator games” of our empire? Is boycotting the NFL and college football the Christian thing to do when people seek to make money from violence?
I am torn, but Gladwell and Coates are right, the more stories like Seau we read the harder it is going to be to avoid these questions.
What do you think?
the archives near Emmaus 
You consider yourself torn as a Christian in watching football, when in the OT war and violence is a staple. I don’t know what to say.
Football is a game (read, GAME) with rules and elements of violence. I don’t think anyone is doing anything “un-Christian” in competing in a game of football. The aim of the game is to ultimately score points, not to do as much physical harm to the opponent(s).
I’m sure the almighty, cosmic God has much more important things to oversee and attend to than to mull over your choice to watch some college football. God is not so petty, or is he?
Also on MMA you said “I find myself a bit confused by those who watch and enjoy Mixed Martial Arts. It is blood sport and savagery.”
MMA represents the pinnacle of human skill, conditioning, and mental fortitude. Of all sports I have ever had the pleasure of training and competing in, nothing comes close to the purity of MMA. MMA is simply an evolution of the time-honored Greek Olympic sport of Pancreation, a contest between two men to best each other using disciplines of wrestling, boxing, and many other traditional and untraditional martial arts. It is a chess match embodied in the form of two athletes.
Making brazen, uninformed, sheltered, comments about MMA as a “savage blood sport” only highlights your lack of knowledge in this subject. It also brings back memories of a rhetoric in a time in the early 2000’s when people who were just as clueless as you tried to comment on a sport they knew nothing about.
Danny
True, we Christians do have to consider that our Scriptures contains stories of war and violence, sometimes commanded by God. I am sure you are aware that Christians have sought to address such texts numerous ways, so I won’t rehash that debate, but I do feel that as Christians we are called to a higher ethic exemplified by Christ himself.
It isn’t so much about whether God is sitting in heaven waiting to smash us if we make the wrong decision on a matter like this, but rather a question of what it means to live as a disciple of Jesus in this world.
I may be wrong about MMA. I am sure it takes a lot of work and skill, but work and skill dedicated to smashing another person for the sake of showing who is the best. Again, not exactly something I find coheres all that well with my calling to live as a Christian.
I have always had trouble getting into football. It seems like the more pain that is inflicted on the other player, the more the opponent celebrates. It just seems a bit too savage. Baseball has always had more aesthetic value for me and while players are not above in-game violence; it’s not a necessary part of the sport.
Erik
I tend to value baseball more for similar reasons.
@Danny: OT aside for now, I’m sure Brian will respond there. But, it seems you’re implying that as long as a game’s goal is to score points, then it is ok to commit acts of violence against others? ” The aim of the game is to ultimately score points, not to do as much physical harm to the opponent(s).” This becomes even more complex in sports like MMA (which you defend), because the goal is to knock out, or score points based upon violence committed. It seems to maintain your defense of football, you need to add qualifiers lest you be forced to accept sports with gruesome, and perhaps deadly violence all in the name of ‘scoring points.’ Yet on the other hand defending football as you have cancels out MMA…unless of course you really do not buy into your statement regarding football.
Also, MMA can involve skill and yet still be barbaric and savage… I can think of numerous examples involving ‘skill’ and yet would be considered the worst savagery committed by men.
So I guess your dilemma boils down to, “Would Jesus have played or watched football in our time?”.
I’m sure that Jesus would have rather served water over wine at a wedding. Wine leads to drunkenness, and drunkenness is not the most pleasing of Christian behavioral states. But of course, knowing the social expectations of the venue and time (and at the behest of his mother), Jesus knew that it was fitting to provide wine via miracle at such an event. It’s not like he was saving a life or anything major. He just wanted to preserve the festivity of the wedding.
And in the same vein, I’m sure that Jesus would have been A-OK with a game of football in the spirit of friendly competition and fellowship. Now, if there exists some malice and excessive roughness in the tackles, I’m sure that’s something that most people, even non-Christians, would object to. However a tackle or block with the sole purpose to fulfilling game objectives seems legitimate.
If Jesus was playing a game of football, and I’m sure he would’ve made the tackle.
Now MMA…I can agree that it may not seem very ‘Christian’ to participate in. But in this sport the ethics vary athlete by athlete. Some athletes view this as a purely athletic conquest, to best an opponent and to improve themselves. Inflicting pain or drawing blood is not the objective here; in fact, most athletes prefer to end fights by technicalities such as tapping via submission. The cleaner and shorter your fight is, the better your chances at longevity as a professional fighter.
Some fighters fight to put food on the table. They fight not to harm, but will do so in order to feed their children and pay their bills. They chose this profession because they have an affinity for it, and yes, there exists “talent” for fighting.
You would be surprised to know that most athletes show absolute respect for their opponents after their fights, despite a win or a loss. The act of hating your opponent is considered a rare artifact of amateur professional fighting.
In the end though, violence is violence. As much as I respect the sport of MMA and the progress it has made this decade, I agree that it is not a very Christian endeavor.
The questions you pose to football are also being asked of professional hockey, particularly here in Canada. With the increase in “the brute squad” focus of enforcers and the increase in head shots and deliberate fighting, at the NHL level, it inevitably affects the lower levels of the game, especially levels that involve children.
And as for the MMA, I know of one person in particular who would disagree with you and would argue that sports like MMA have a strong ethic and code of conduct and chivalry. http://cheesewearingtheology.com/2010/07/14/interview-charles-hackney/
(But then again I could be biased towards his opinion LOL)
Great question and great thoughts. I’ve struggled with this question for about a year. American football is big all over the country, but being reared in Alabama, football is second only to God (though I think the boundaries blur sometimes). I’ve gone from never missing a game to never watching a game. The biggest problem for me, as you stated yourself, is relationships. For every major SEC game, conference title, or national championship, you can guarantee there will be buffalo wings or ribs or fried chicken in quantities that could feed an army. It’s almost more of a family tradition than about the game itself. Then again, idols may need smashing.
The question for me isn’t “is it ethical to watch football” but “is it ethical for ME to watch football.” I can’t make a law for others out of this apparent dilemma, but I can only ask myself, “Does this help me in my relationship to Jesus?” So, does seeing guys beat the crap out of each other help me in my relationship to Jesus? Um, no.
It’s a good question. Part of what troubles me so much is that unfortunately the NFL hasn’t and still isn’t doing everything it can (like mandate that players wear the safest helmets possible). It seems like they turned a blind eye for years and I’m sure that a lot will come out in coming years in court cases.
I personally feel really torn. I like watching football, a lot, but each year and each suicide I get closer to stopping. The players may be willing to take all of the risks for the money, but I’m really starting to think that it’s wrong for me to be willing to pay them to willingly walk into likely trauma.
Amanda
I’d agree that martial arts promotes an ethical code. I guess I don’t know if that is enough to make it compatible with Christian discipleship. I agree with the person you interviewed when he spoke of Yoder affirming non-lethal physical defense. But non-lethal force for sport seems different, even if I can’t put my finger on the exact reasons why.
Matthew
Indeed, I don’t want to be legalistic about it. Even if I decided to stop watching football I don’t think I could get myself to judge people who continued to watch it. But it is worth pondering, deeply.
Marcus
Very true, the NFL could do much more, but they are very slow to act.
The question is a great one. It strikes to the heart of how important each person really is and what one would hope for in each individual person. Junior was a great football player. Watching other players speak to his life that past 12 hours has been very touching to listen to. I think you can actually see the brotherhood and warrior-type camaraderie that these men share with one another. Football creates a wonderful bond between men, a high level commitment to one another, and wonderful paycheck but there is a cost and these men bear it so we can be entertained.
So does God care? (like the one gentlemen asked in the comments above; another great question) How could God not care about Junior Seau? How could we not respect one of God’s creatures by at least taking a pause and asking ourself this question? Is this really much different than gladiators from the Roman Empire? For many of these men this is the way out of a bad financial situation for their family and the one opportunity for financial stability and prosperity. And are we asking them to give up their health and mental stability for our entertainment?
I love watching football and look forward to it each Sunday afternoon, probably too much. Good question and worth considering.
I wonder why it seems that the violence of football has only recently become an issue? Or, should I say, I wonder why increasing numbers of people seem troubled by the violence in football? Is it because the violence factor has increased or is it because people are becoming more sensitive to the violence? And, if the latter, why?
These are not rhetorical questions, so I would welcome answers.
I think football, like everything in our lives is a personal thing we all will deal with differently. Allow me to start with a quote from the great Robin Williams on the purpose for watching sports, “I go to boxing to watch the sport of boxing.” That’s like saying, “I go to stock car races to see people take left turns all day.” No, you go to boxing to see somebody get the **** beaten out of ’em
While I fully believe that some watch football solely for the purpose of seeing the violence, Football was never intended to be a sport of human destruction. It was originally a sport much more dependent on strategy like chess. In times of a strategic stalemate, the winner of such a pickle would be the physically superior player. So the focus of the sport shifted to the maximization of the physical strength and size of every single player.
Personally, I cannot speak for MMA fans, not a big fan anymore, but I understand the amount of work it requires and that in itself gains my respect. As much as I am disagreeing with Robin Williams’ quote, I don’t watch football for the big hits. I look at a big hit like a very cunning swift move in chess that has removed a player/piece from the board/field. However, those hits are injuring people, causing brain damage that affects players later in life.
It’s quite clear that 1.) The NFL isn’t doing enough to protect the players and that 2.) the players are well aware of the risks. If anyone told you, “I wasn’t expecting this” is lying through their teeth. It’s not just the big hits that harm the brain, even a soccer player that heads a ball experiences a small amount of brain injury. As a former center and guard, I would approximately hit another person 80 times a game, while I’ve never had an “official” concussion; I’ve hit people that made me black out for a few seconds. I accepted it, it’s just the difficulty of the game and not everyone could do this.
When it comes to the NFL bounties scandal, that’s just messed up. I never intend to hurt any other players ever, I think that defeat a lot of the respect and sportsmanship with football. While I agree some people can turn it into a game of savagery, it’s not meant to be and it’s not my favorite game because of those people. I personally am not convicted about it, but if I started devoting more time to football than to God then I start to get a little convicted. I think someone could put anything before God, but because football is so popular and Sunday is now known as football day instead of the Lord’s day, we can easily demonize it by dissecting it and pulling out the worst features of it.
Travis
Well said regarding whether God cares. That is the precise point: God cares about people. The question about football is secondary. It is the people impacted that raises the ethical dilemma.
Mike
I think it has to do with the increased awareness of the impact the the sport has on the bodies and lives of people after they retire. This story here sheds some light: http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2012/05/junior_seau_dead_will_the_latest_football_suicide_finally_change_how_we_think_about_the_nfl_.html
Logan
All good points, and I agree that players know what is at stake (and MMA fighters). That said, are we free from the responsibility to do something if the player consent to this abuse? I don’t know. It is hard. I really, really enjoy the game, but I’d hate to think that I’m participating in something like the gladiator games if victims keep piling up.
Brian,
If the questioning of football is where we’re placing the blame for junior seau’s suicide(depression, dementia from years of being hit). Should we assign that blame to the NFL, then from the NFL assign it to all the spectators who motivate the behavior?
Should we also consider Chris Benoit the same? WWE Wrestler, despite being scripted is all very real in the hits and physical abuse. After Benoit killed his little boy and wife, and hung himself, they saw his brain was severely brain damaged by Chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
I have a bunch of friends playing football in europe, I almost joined them, but decided to stay focused on my career. American football in Europe is not big, they only have a few thousand at each game. We only had around 10K at our games, but for me as a former player, I never played the game for spectators, I didn’t even play for money (europe doesn’t pay that well) I played because I loved the game(money would be nice though)
NFL players don’t play football for the fans, and they don’t all play solely for the money(I know there are some that do though). I don’t think we should place responsibility on ourselves like we’re Caesar. “Thumbs down Alex smith, to the bench”
You are right about many people, but I am quite sure that if there was no professional league we’d see a drop in participation. We don’t see people playing Rugby at many parks. In other countries we don’t see many playing football, probably because kids don’t have the dream of professional glory to motivate them.
Absolutely,
The spectatorship is what caused the NFL to explode in popularity(size, speed, money), however, junior’s suicide should not be attributed to spectators. I think by attributing anything to spectators removes the NFL, and more importantly Junior Seau from blame.
This isn’t like russell crowe in gladiator after he killed everyone shouted “aren’t you satisfied?!”
An NFL player, although very indirectly is compensated by spectators, is not motivated by spectators, they still do have a will and motivation and decisions.
If the giants offered me a contract to play Center, I wouldn’t say “Oh man there’s so many people in San Fran, I would love to play for them and get compensated by them.”
I would say, “I would love to play because I would feel it’s a more glorious achievement as a player to play at that level.”
There’s also NCAA D3 players, none of them are allowed to receive financial aid based on athletic ability. Why are they playing, it’s definitely not because of fans or money.
I’ve only played football for 12 years, I can’t imagine playing for another 20 like junior did. Many NFL players have a hard time of leaving the sport when they should and doing so causes alot of physical damage.
just a couple thoughts.
Those are good thoughts and I agree that Seau is responsible for his own actions.
Brian, I read the article to which you linked. I remain puzzled by why concern over this issue is manifesting more now. The many physical maladies of NFL veterans was known decades ago. And, along the way, paraplegics and quadraplegics have been produced (e.g. Dennis Byrd).
I’m glad there’s greater concern about the violence now; I just wonder why it didn’t manifest on a wide scale before and yet does now.
Preface my remarks by noting that I am not a sports fan or spectator of anything. Have never owned a TV. Certified US GOV Inspected pacifist (Conscientious Objector during Vietnam War). Growing up, my immediate family had no tradition of watching sports or taking any interest in any sort of spectator activity. So at this point if your still reading, I would suggest the question of ethics is probably not the right thing to ask.
Being a spectator is a lifestyle which burns up a lot of resources such as time and money. These are limited resources, particularly time. Building a home theater so you can sit and watch whatever (I seen my share of movies) involves a commitment of resources. These resources could have been used elsewhere.
When I drive to DownTown Seattle on the raised viaduct (soon to be history) I pass two huge stadiums which dominate the landscape in South DownTown Seattle. I view these stadiums as temples to false gods. So for me the question is one idolatry not ethics. You put your money and your time where your heart is. The amount of money spent annually on being a sports spectator by one man at a church I have some connection with exceeds the budget for some bible translation projects by an order of magnitude. He has the most expensive rooms for all the major sports all year round. So this is not hypothetical issue.
The other resource, time, is even more important. What you do with your time is an indicator of what you think is important. Just the activity of sitting and watching someone else do something is not a very significant investment of a rare resource. Time is short. You do not have an unlimited amount of it. If you need something to do when you are tired at the end of the day, reading a novel engages a lot more of your soul than vegetating in front of the tube.
C. Stirling Bartholomew, your reference to idolatry is an interesting one. It raises the question of what constitutes idolatry in our age. That is, as we analyze our lives, what factors constitute idolatry in our age. And specifically in the cases you raise, do football spectating, movie watching, and novel reading meet those criteria (might the criteria even vary, such that any one of these activities could be idolatry for one person but not for another). Lots to think about.
C
That is something worth considering, at least at the magnitude that our culture glorifies these things. That said, I love a nice day at the ballpark watching baseball. Sometimes humans need R&R and a day with friends or family at the ballpark can be a great experience. It allows us to be human “beings” instead of human “doings.” I guess the question is balance.
Even in the cleanest, friendliest of hits, someone could be paralyzed or even killed. I think it doesn’t matter as to what one’s intent is when they tackle someone; I think it matters how that person is tackled and where he/she is hit. Helmet-to-helmet hits are by far the scariest thing in football – even if it’s my favorite teams doing the hitting. My roommate plays for U of O and suffered a mild concussion a couple weeks ago from a light tap on the side of the helmet as someone passed by him to tackle the running back (my roommate’s a tight end). Having seen how much pain he endured for a light tap lets me know that there is absolutely no way I could ever do what he does. Even though I played soccer, there was a major issue with headers and whether or not we should be wearing some sort of protection on our heads because there was always the strong possibility of concussions or worse. And yes, I’m talking about the same soccer where they kick and chase the ball around for almost two hours with a handful of points scored – if any.
Football has an enormous amount of danger (and I don’t think it even comes close to comparison with MMA – way too many risks there) and in an ideal world, probably shouldn’t be such a popular sport. Now, your question, Brian, was whether or not it is an ethical thing to watch the game, which I think it probably isn’t. But yet I live with someone who loves it, comes from a family that has loved it (and played it at the college level), and has a legitimate chance at playing professionally. Many of my friends have played for U of O (and beyond) and would not have had opportunities to share Jesus with someone else had it not been for football. So while there is an exceeding amount of danger and risk and it probably isn’t ethical, I think Jesus is still present in the lives of many football players (and the same could be said for MMA fighters).
I cannot criticize college football (or the NFL) or MMA because I have never played their games. God knows I would probably pee my pants if I stepped into the octogon. But I can say there are many ethical issues with plenty of other sports as well (soccer, basketball, golf – you name it, there is at least one ethical issue). How we are to respond as Christians, I think, is not how to boycott it so it disappears, but perhaps to work with it and see how we could possibly speak Jesus into someone’s life through these various platforms. I would not be who I am today if it weren’t for the athletes (especially the football players) in my life.
Mark Driscoll thinks MMA is the purest expression of real masculinity. I’m sure you’re a huge fan Brian. 😉
Jeremy
I know I’d wet my pants if I had to step into an octagon. Let me be honest: I’d wet my pants if I had to run a practice scrimmage with the U of O football team. Players are huge and fast. Very scary!
I don’t doubt that many athletes are Christians (maybe even MMA fighters….maybe!). And you may be right. Maybe boycotting isn’t the best option. Maybe being advocates for change, e.g. participating in groups that advocate more protection for athletes, especially college athletes.
I agree with Gladwell that college athletes should be paid. I know they received scholarships, but so did the kid who was really good at math and he doesn’t have to worry about an ACL tear on Saturday. There should be some compensation at all levels for players, more protection for them, and more care for players and their families after retirement.
Joel
I think it is fair to say that I don’t see eye-to-eye with Driscoll in most anything. 🙂 We both call Jesus “Lord” and then part ways.
I second Brian’s remark about Driscoll… every time I read/watch something of his/see, he seems to be more of a spokesperson for ‘mythological redemptive violence’ in all of its stripes (violence, machismo, and the submissive housewife) than anything else.
I started looking at boxing from a medical point of view, and when I felt like a chump for paying Don King $50 to watch Mike Tyson bite off a part of man’s ear! My relationship with viewing boxing happened in the late 90’s. I was watching a Tuesday night boxing match on cable TV, a couple of young fighters in an outdoor arena in Vegas. One of them took a roundhouse to the head, and went unconscious–and stayed unconscious. They loaded him in the ambulance and drove away. Within five or ten minutes, the announcers happily informed the audience that the young boxer had “regained” consciousness. Soon-after, we learned that he had again lost consciousness. Within an hour he was dead. The paramedic in me connected that I had witnessed the trauma, and resultant injury pattern and response, of a closed head injury, a sub-dural bleed, and that it was indeed an ominous sign that the young many had been rendered unconscious, experienced a temporary regaining of consciousness, and then gone unconscious again. And I thought: To boxing, it was a simple TKO that just happened. In the real world of families, sons, brothers, athletes, etc., what happens was this young man was purposefully struck in such a way that he sustained a closed head injury, which inadvertently killed him. The goal of boxing is to do this very thing, although the descriptive words are tailored for the non-medical fan: “A boxer’s goal is to knock his opponent down, stunning him so severely that he can not regain his feet before the referee counts to ten. This is called a knockout (KO), and results in a victory for the boxer still standing.”
So, the goal of boxing is to inflict a blow that temporarily incapacitates the neurological faculties of one’s opponent–hopefully to the to point of rendering him unconscious, and potentially to the point of killing him.
Football, on the other-hand, seems less overt in its goal, although the immaturity, greed, and fallen-ness of its players seem to temp them to make it into a blood sport.
That’s why I’m a baseball guy, pretty much.
Ken
Thank you for the insightful perspective! This is why I can’t get into boxing or MMA. I want to think football isn’t about the abuse, and I want to interpret the NFL’s still penalties against excessive aggression as a positive sign, but I don’t know.
Like you I prefer baseball.
A year or two ago I saw a news story with video that described a new kind of batting helmet that would reduce head injuries to baseball batters by some dramatic percentage. However, the baseball players were unwilling to wear them because they looked so “uncool” or “goofy.” (I don’t recall the exact adjective they used.) My recollection was that it looked like a cross between a modern motorcycle helmet and a modern hockey goalie mask. Baseball is certainly a traditionalist sport, but since there is far more danger from a major-league fastball than from riding a bicycle, why are laws required for one but not the other? And is baseball then only the lesser of evils when compared to football?
Mike
I suspect the problem isn’t merely the potentiality of an injury. It is possible a track-and-field athlete could fall while running, land on his head, and receive a concussion–but that doesn’t mean we should speak of it as being like a game where men slam into each other with the intent to knock someone on the ground. Baseball is more risky that track-and-field, but it isn’t violent (unless someone is head hunting, but that is quite rare).
@Mike and Brian: But, the assumption is that by the time a player makes it to a level where he is able to face, and hit, 90+mph fastballs, he has be ability to get out of the way of them. If he does not get out of the way, and is hit, it is considered tragic–the game stops, the play is reviewed, there is (usually :)) a concerned, regretful pitcher standing close-by, safety measures are reviewed, etc., If the player is killed, or his career is ended, the event becomes the stuff of the tragedies of baseball history. And in short, a willful act to physically incapacitate an opponent is seen as shameful. There’s even a “right” way to “take out” a second basemen, that does not end his career. However, in football, players are rewarded for their abilities to “ring the bell” of their opponents, and have little control over the amount of damage that they incur on them. In boxing, the fighters often consider themselves to have failed if they have not inflicted what is likely to become permanent, neurological damage on their opponents, through the TKO and repeated head blows. The Iraq-Afghanistan wars have done much to shed light on the chronic damage of repeated, untreated, closed head injuries, and I hope that our country’s athletic programs really wake up and smell the coffee on this one.
Ken, I’m with you completely on the preference for baseball and for all the reasons you mention. However, I think you’re soft-pedaling the long-standing code of retaliation in baseball where pitchers are not just allowed, but expected, to “play chin music” in certain circumstances. Again, it doesn’t rise near to the level of football violence, but it all lily-white either.
Mike
We should note that this code has softened a lot over the years, though it does exist for some.
Brian, that’s a fair qualification.
@ Mike, excellent point–we are out of the Ty-Cobbian era!