![]() | ![]() Football Injuries
One bystander called it, "Not a fight, just foreplay."
We were in New Orleans after a Saints win. A big Saints win; they decimated the Cowboys. And we weren't just in New Orleans, we were in the French Quarter on Bourbon street, the capital of drunk.
Some guy was drunk and needed to fight it seemed; he even fought the friend who was trying to get him out of there. Fists and torn shirts and all. Slightly ironic; his tie dyed shirt had a peace sign on the front.
When I was growing up, I didn't like boxing. Not that I was against violence per se, but boxing seemed way too extreme, too bloody, for civilized people. I managed (carried water for) the football team, though and it didn't seem too violent to my teenaged mind.
Now is different. Especially with what we now know about concussions and the severe damage football does to bodies and minds.
We watched parts of the Saints/Cowboys game. The Saints executed beautifully both offense and defense, opening holes in the Cowboys line that their backs just waltzed through. You could see why football players do well on Dancing with the Stars.
The film Million Dollar Baby really made me understand boxing. It showed all the brutality and consequences, but it was all she had.
It was all she had.
It would be nice if the world wasn't like that. Nice if everyone grew up in supportive homes, had enough to eat and went to school to learn enough to live a better life. Nice if there wasn't still slavery in the world. Nice if all the world was a park where even the plants didn't have to compete.
But that's not the world we live in.
For some kids, football is a life saver. I had a nephew who was an angry kid. He played football; it's a good place for angry kids. I grew up with a guy who didn't have much going for him but ended up with a good career as as pressman for the newspaper. He burned out his anger as a defensive center for my high school football team, the one I carried water for.
I'd like to see less potential for injury. I'd like to see a world where drunks didn't get angry either. Until then, I'll keep my uneasy appreciation for football, just as I'll keep my uneasy appreciation for life.12 Sep 2014
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