In the era we’re living in, no institution, no particular business and no pastime seems securely anchored.
If four of a dozen Atlantic City casinos close, it means casino gambling is in trouble.
If stalwart newspapers like The Kansas City Star, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The New York Times shed hundreds of employees in the space of several years and their advertising revenue plummets, the newspaper business is a shell of its former self.
And if the National Football League turns away in the face of players abusing their wives and girlfriends — and if scores of former players are walking around with badly damaged brains — even pro football could find itself on the ropes.
Now, I don’t care about casino gambling, so that pending crisis doesn’t bother me a bit. And having had a front-seat view of the newspaper business’s ebbing fortunes, I’m pretty much inured to that business’s predicament. (God help The New York Times, though, because I’ve got a significant stock-market bet on its ability to figure out how to succeed in the Internet Era.)
But this National Football League mess…whoa, that is an eye-opener.
As I was watching the Royals’ game tonight (“Big Game” James came through again!), I saw the NFL headlines scrolling along the bottom of the screen.
In addition to the newly released video of former Ravens player Ray Rice sucker punching and knocking out his then-girlfriend in a hotel elevator, the “screen crawler” carried more bad news: San Diego Chargers’ center Nick Hardwick is out for the year with a neck injury, and John Abraham, a “sack” artist for the Arizona Cardinals, is out for the season — and maybe forever — because, at 36 years of age, he is suffering from “severe memory loss.”
Thirty-six and his memory is shot!!! Holy shit, I wasn’t even married at 36…
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Personally, I am going to try to not watch one minute of any Chiefs’ game this season. I’m off to a good start because last weekend I was in Louisville, Ky., for my 50th high school reunion and wasn’t the least bit tempted to even try to find out the score of the Chiefs’ game. (What? You say they lost and their best defensive player is out for the year with an ACL tear? I can hardly believe it.)
Over the years, I’ve gradually lost interest in the Chiefs, not just because of their string of bad years but also because the game-day atmosphere at Arrowhead — set by ill-mannered drunks, for the most part — has degenerated so badly.
I used to go to one game a year, but last year, for the first time, I didn’t go to any. And now, with the head injuries and the league’s mishandling of the Rice case, I’m ready to give the NFL the boot. I don’t know exactly what I’ll do on all those upcoming, cold November and December Sundays, but I guess I’ll start by going to even more women’s college basketball games than I do now.
You can put me in the same corner as Steve Almond, a Massachusetts-based writer who, in August, wrote an article titled “Against Football: One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto.” In the article, Almond argues that the sport “legitimizes and even fosters within us a tolerance for violence, greed, racism, and homophobia.”
“If you really look at football, it’s very troubling on a whole bunch of levels,” he said. “I believe we’re at a moral crossroads, but change is gradual.”
A Boston Globe story about Almond’s boycott and the growing concerns about pro football quoted a fan named Irving Kurki, who said he’d come to the realization that “it’s wrong to be entertained by a process whereby people are injured and their lifespans are shortened.”
Kurki told The Globe that so far he had not suffered from withdrawal. “I was a smoker once, too, and I gave that up,” he said.
Well, I gave up cigars more than a year ago. Plus, being a former Catholic, I didn’t eat meat on Fridays during Lent for many years.
So, I’m steeled and braced. Put me on the bench, coach, I’m ready to sit out.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Put me on the bench, too. What pushed me over the edge was hearing more than one player say their job is to inflict as much pain as possible. This is sport?
It’s a shame to see these young, strong guys, full of life and energy, compromising their long-term welfare for big piles of money and the prospect of notoriety. They should think it through and settle for playing basketball, baseball or even sand volleyball. A perk associated with volleyball is that it attracts lots of good-looking girls.
…By the way, welcome to the Comments Dept., Gayle.
Yeah, especially when there’s a good chance they may not even remember making all that money.
… Why, thank you.
I feel the same ways Jimmy C. Moved away from the NFL 2-3 years ago due to the over commercialization of the telecasts. Eileen and I didn’t even tune into the Super Bowl this past year.
The Super Bowl is about the biggest waste of four hours you could ever find. From the avalanche of commercials to the lip-synched, phony-baloney halftime shows, the Super Bowl has about two grams of authenticity. The only good one was Super Bowl IV, when “The Mentor” pranced along the sidelines saying, “It’s like taking candy from babies.”
The violence in the NFL that finds its way off the field is troubling. It should give cities pause to subsidizing stadiums with taxpayer money. This is yet another reason.
gave up on professional football about 4 years ago..between the thugs on the field and all of the antics after a play during the game it was all I could take..if after every jury is seated in the courtroom I would jump up and down scream out a few curse words pump my arms and beat on my chest and then dance around the room what would people think? . if my job is to tackle someone do it and move on..the fact that todays players are foolhardy enough to think that they’ll have the money to take care of themselves and their families after their playing days are over is beyond me..how many past players are now sitting in homes suffering from brain damage and don’t have the money to take care of themselves..case in point Conrad Dobler..played for the st. Louis cardinals in the cardiac cardinals days was considered at the time to the dirtiest player in the league..today..can hardly walk because of bad knees..suffers from brain damage and a bad back..his wife suffers from arthritis in both knees and can’t walk by herself he has to carry her around the house..his insurance only covers a small portion of their expenses and they live on disability..and todays players refuse to help.”I’ve got mine too bad for you”..the rice situation is just another reason to give the nfl the gate..stab a guy in a bar fight and kill him rat out your friends to the police get a deal where you don’t even serve a day in prison and go out and continue to play football IN BALTIMORE no less..the nfl is a joke and has been for a long time “roids” and “juice” run in and out of every locker room..i can’t wait for the lambs to leave st. Louis and go to la la land..goodbye and good riddance .