Sunday, December 15, 2013

Soapbox in the Stadium

Raising a little boy has made me think differently about so many things.  I have to consider situations and information that I never would have if I were not raising someone who, one day, will be a grown man.  For the most part, my life has always been about being girly, somewhat a feminist--always on the lookout for someone being a sexist LOL!
Now, I listen out for messages that are sent to little boys in the media etc.
Recently this whole football {bullying} has been in the spotlight, and then {very quickly} it went away.  Did anyone else notice this?
I mean one week in mid-November everyone in the media was talking about this mean/ugly football situation in which grown men were being so mean to one another, that one of them was run off from a million dollar job!
Whether he was bullied or not, the language of what was said was striking to me.  The guy who was accused of being the {bully} was using all the language he learned in Anthropology 101 (he must've really taken that class).  He was passing off all this meaness and foul language as the "culture of pro football"  I kept thinking he sounded like an idiot, and then Andy sounded in on it.  He was listening to CNN one morning, half-asleep, and he said, "That is not culture!  That is harrassment in the workplace!"  It is not someone's culture to go and be subjected to physical and verbal assaults! ick!
Has anyone else noticed that this has just faded right out of the spotlight??
I am still curious about it.
As much as I do not like football, this is really sad for football too.  Having Victor is making me come around on this one a bit.  He loves to watch football, and he wants to play it.  Football is a game.  Football is a game that is rough, and very physical.  Football does not have to be, and should not be, grown men saying horrible things to one another and threatening sexual assaults.
On to another little football tid-bit.
The one about the helmets.
The NFL seems to be {conveniently} sweeping this one under the rug too.
Which, to me, is like pissing in the ocean...keep sweeping..the crumb pile is going to be too big soon and you are going to be tripping!
250lb men running into eachother on with full force, head first--There is gonna be TBI!  There just is, point blank, no doubt about it!
Do I blame the NFL?  NO!  I think this is a case, just like boxing (which I love to watch, by the way).  My philosophy on boxing has always been...those men know they are going in there to get their ass kicked, and their faces punched in, if they still pick to do it, hell, I'll watch!  They know they want that money...
Football is the same way..those men cannot sue anyone!  If they thought that they were going out on that field and run into other grown men, and not damage their brains...their brains were already damaged at baseline!  This is common sense...look at what they are doing! --duh!
The Only reason I know about most of this is b/c of coverage on CNN--the NFL and college football are all really big, important news there.
The state of legislation that is tearing apart the nation's public schools...nah! not so much!
Maybe we can just raise all the little boys to live in the {culture} of the NFL--they can make millions, be complete meat heads, and entertain us all!

1 comment:

Bethany said...

What is this world coming too - a {sports} and {football} soapbox from S?!
You are so right - once you have little boys, you have to think and develop some viewpoints... Yowza.

Spot on!

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