If You Scared Say You Scared

Those of you who really know me, know that I am a die hard “Who Dat,” and many of my friends share the same sentiment. So one can only imagine how I feel about the recent bounty scandal within the New Orleans Saints organization and their defensive scheme particularly during their Super Bowl run of the 2009-10 season. However I don’t see what the big fuss is about in regards to the bounty allegations and really have grown a strong dislike for the NFL Players Association and Roger Goddell. Maybe I feel the way that I do because I haven’t played the game of contact football in quite some time and the last I played was nowhere near the level of professional football. I think all the controversy and the media coverage of this is unwarranted.

Lets take a look back at the beginning of football and the humble beginnings of the National Football League. When the game was first played these men wore very little padding and even had leather helmets to protect their head. LEATHER! In fact, in the 1940’s and 50’s using a clothesline to tackle a ball carrier was a very popular method that got the job done and nobody complained because it was all a part of the game. In fact the early NFL was entirely dependent upon the running game because there was no such thing as pass interference. Those who play or used to play receiver probably couldn’t even imagine having to literally fight a defender off of them and then still catch the ball. The early pioneers of the NFL are probably rolling over in their graves when they see how soft the game is getting.

So we moved on from leather helmets and crude padding to lightweight padding that allows for better movement while still offering protection against the violent game that is American football and plastic polymer helmets with protective guards on that protect the player’s face. But what do the players do, half the time they don’t even wear pads. Seriously, next season, or while in the off-season watching NFL Network, look and see how many players at skill positions wear pads. With the exception of their shoulder pads, many of these players have no protection from the waist down. When I watch a game I am surprised at how many players don’t even wear mouthpeices. I thought the reason why NFL players make such astronomical amounts of money is because of the fact that they put their bodies on the line and after they retire they really aren’t good for much that would be physically strenuous. Spare me the rhetoric about football being a billion dollar industry and players deserving their “fair share,” because that goes against the capitalistic system this country was founded upon. Those in control make all of the money and the work horses, for lack of a better term, get the table scraps. Look at college football, none of those players get paid (legally), outside of their tuition and room and board, while the universities make MILLIONS off of their sacrifice of their body. I’ll ask you this simple question, look at President Obama’s yearly salary of $250,000, now how many people who play a GAME, make more money that him, the most powerful man in the United States???

This is not a defense of the pay for big hits/injury because it’s the Saints who are called into question, I’ve long said the game is getting soft. As dangerous as helmet-to-helmet hits are, keep in mind they are only illegal at the highest level of football. If someone with my 5’5” frame were attempting to tackle a 6’2” 225lb ball carrier, would/should he go up top or attempt to take their legs out? Don’t worry I’ll wait. But in addition to that, chew on this, should he just stop and try to wrap the man up, or should he launch his whole body at the man in an attempt to put simple laws of physics on his side and maybe slow the man down if not stop him? But at the highest level this too is considered an illegal hit. How can football as it is taught at the lowest level, supplemented at the high school level, and perfected at the collegiate level become illegal when it reaches the pinnacle of the competitive spirit that it is based upon? Children are taught to drop their shoulder and put the entire weight of their body into the chest of the ball carrier, wrap him up, and bring him to the ground. It is at this same level that children are taught that if they are scared to get hit, that they shouldn’t play the game, because it’s not the right place for that sort of mentality.

Maybe James Harrison had it right all along, Roger Goddell wants defenders to lightly caress the hand of a ball carrier, coax them into a state of relaxation, and then gently lay them down on a feather filled pillow in order to make a tackle. That’s not football!!! This is the same NFL that has given us the dumb ass “tuck rule,” which I still don’t understand, and still think that hit on Tom Brady was a fumble sending my Raiders to the Super Bowl. The same NFL that has amended the overtime rules because Brett Favre had his renewed shot at greatness swept away from him by the Saints, and the same NFL where you can’t touch a quarterback above the shoulders, and can’t hit him below the waist.

All this talk is bogus because incentives for big hits are part of the game of football. When I played, I didn’t assume that the players on the other side of the field wanted to hurt me, I KNEW they did, and frankly I felt the same way, I was going to take them out before they got the chance to do the same to me. Big hits get helmet stickers at the high school and collegiate levels, and if they cause injury, you say a prayer that the person gets better, and you move along because THAT IS A PART OF THE GAME. Goddell won’t rest until the NFL becomes flag football or two-hand touch because they’re so concerned with the player’s safety. Hell, I’d play in the NFL with a pay for big hits policy, legal helmet-to-helmet hits, and even legal clotheslines. Why? Because the league minimum is a hell of a lot more than I’ve made from any other job I’ve had thus far. I think a bounty program is more of an incentive to go out there and give it your all on the field. And more importantly, IF YOU’RE SCARED OF GETTING HURT, THEN YOUR PANSY ASS SHOULDN’T BE PLAYING FOOTBALL!!! Go get a 9-5 like the rest of us and learn how hard life really is. You are well compensated for the dangers of your profession, now quit your bitching and TAKE IT!