Tunescribe
PatsFans.com Supporter
PatsFans.com Supporter
2019 Weekly Picks Winner
2021 Weekly Picks Winner
2023 Weekly Picks Winner
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2004
- Messages
- 38,021
- Reaction score
- 48,868
Reilly: NFL becoming a guilty pleasure - ESPN
"I used to love football the way German shepherds love sirloin. I'd sit in the press box and insist the window stay open -- even on down-coat days -- just so I could hear the sound of two men colliding at full speed. It thrilled me. And I'd wonder: Who does that?
Now I hear that sound and wonder how soon it will be before they can't remember where they parked, their sons' middle names, or where their families went last summer on vacation.
I see too much sorrow and ugliness to love football like I used to."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This drumbeat is getting louder and I personally am trying to sort out my own feelings around these issues. The concussion syndrome problem I find most disturbing. My recent rationalization is that these things will sort themselves out one way or another and the game likely will go on in an adjusted form. Either the game itself will change to hopefully minimize CTE or a medical solution will emerge to mitigate/manage its post-career effects. There's also the fact that these players now fully know the risks and voluntarily court them for great financial reward. It's their choice.
But still, I'm not sure how to view this stuff as a fan. I've been a passionate fan of the NFL since childhood. It's a huge part of whatever free time I carve out for myself and I don't want to start feeling "guilty" about it. But what could/should we, as fans, do? I think you have to more or less just standby and be prepared to accept whatever happens.
I'm curious what others here think.
"I used to love football the way German shepherds love sirloin. I'd sit in the press box and insist the window stay open -- even on down-coat days -- just so I could hear the sound of two men colliding at full speed. It thrilled me. And I'd wonder: Who does that?
Now I hear that sound and wonder how soon it will be before they can't remember where they parked, their sons' middle names, or where their families went last summer on vacation.
I see too much sorrow and ugliness to love football like I used to."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This drumbeat is getting louder and I personally am trying to sort out my own feelings around these issues. The concussion syndrome problem I find most disturbing. My recent rationalization is that these things will sort themselves out one way or another and the game likely will go on in an adjusted form. Either the game itself will change to hopefully minimize CTE or a medical solution will emerge to mitigate/manage its post-career effects. There's also the fact that these players now fully know the risks and voluntarily court them for great financial reward. It's their choice.
But still, I'm not sure how to view this stuff as a fan. I've been a passionate fan of the NFL since childhood. It's a huge part of whatever free time I carve out for myself and I don't want to start feeling "guilty" about it. But what could/should we, as fans, do? I think you have to more or less just standby and be prepared to accept whatever happens.
I'm curious what others here think.