Pro Football Hall of Fame director says America can't survive without football


K

Kendrick

Well-Known Member
One by one, former N.F.L. coaches and players, the director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and even a United States Senator came to the lectern last weekend to deliver the same stern warning: Football is under attack and your job is to change the narrative.

The game, they insisted at the annual conference of USA Football, the N.F.L.-funded national governing body for the sport, is vital to the American experience, essential for its survival, and it doesn’t have a health and safety problem as much as it has a messaging problem.

“If we lose football, we lose a lot in America,” said David Baker, the president of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, who was one of the keynote speakers. “I don’t know if America can survive. That’s why you’re so important to what we’re doing. That’s why America needs to huddle up.”

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/01/...K4md2lRf4?amp=1#click=https://t.co/rK4md2lRf4
 
If this country loses ANY professional sport the crime rate would go up.

I do not have empirical evidence to prove that fact but think about it....how many athletic programs keep young men, primarily black males, out of the streets.
 



The Founder said:
If this country loses ANY professional sport the crime rate would go up.

I do not have empirical evidence to prove that fact but think about it....how many athletic programs keep young men, primarily black males, out of the streets.
Click to expand...

That's a pretty gross thing to say out loud, but there are far more effective ways to target crime other than using sports without addressing the underlying societal and economic issues that promote criminality.
 
JaguarNation99 said:
That's a pretty gross thing to say out loud, but there are far more effective ways to target crime other than using sports without addressing the underlying societal and economic issues that promote criminality.
Click to expand...

I know it is pretty gross to say out loud...but at some point we have to be honest with ourselves. Extracurricalur(sp) activities keep kids involved whether it is the dream of going pro or that dream of playing in college national championship, shooting that winning shot with 5 seconds left...etc.... It keeps a dream there...which is a form of hope.

I wasn't born in to a family with money problems, a single family home, a home in the inner city, or a home in rural America with no way out except for that hope or dream. So I can't speak from the perspective but there are a lot of young men and women who are. So if the NFL was to dissolve what is the the next thing to keep these kids motivated on something positive?

My son plays football, baseball, and track (discuss and shot put)...if the NFL were to dissolve he would be hurt. He would get over it because he has a mother and father who are professionals. Yet, some kids don't have that. I met a young man who could play the hell out of some football. The drug dealers knew he would make it out so they shielded him from that life. Yet, what if there were no NFL...would they have shielded him?
 
The Founder said:
I know it is pretty gross to say out loud...but at some point we have to be honest with ourselves. Extracurricalur(sp) activities keep kids involved whether it is the dream of going pro or that dream of playing in college national championship, shooting that winning shot with 5 seconds left...etc.... It keeps a dream there...which is a form of hope.

I wasn't born in to a family with money problems, a single family home, a home in the inner city, or a home in rural America with no way out except for that hope or dream. So I can't speak from the perspective but there are a lot of young men and women who are. So if the NFL was to dissolve what is the the next thing to keep these kids motivated on something positive?

My son plays football, baseball, and track (discuss and shot put)...if the NFL were to dissolve he would be hurt. He would get over it because he has a mother and father who are professionals. Yet, some kids don't have that. I met a young man who could play the hell out of some football. The drug dealers knew he would make it out so they shielded him from that life. Yet, what if there were no NFL...would they have shielded him?
Click to expand...

Because there is so much inequity and disenfranchisement in all areas of society, sport is seen by many as a way to counterbalance that reality.

It won’t be until those issues are address will sport be seen for all as nothing more than play.
 
The Founder said:
I know it is pretty gross to say out loud...but at some point we have to be honest with ourselves. Extracurricalur(sp) activities keep kids involved whether it is the dream of going pro or that dream of playing in college national championship, shooting that winning shot with 5 seconds left...etc.... It keeps a dream there...which is a form of hope.

I wasn't born in to a family with money problems, a single family home, a home in the inner city, or a home in rural America with no way out except for that hope or dream. So I can't speak from the perspective but there are a lot of young men and women who are. So if the NFL was to dissolve what is the the next thing to keep these kids motivated on something positive?

My son plays football, baseball, and track (discuss and shot put)...if the NFL were to dissolve he would be hurt. He would get over it because he has a mother and father who are professionals. Yet, some kids don't have that. I met a young man who could play the hell out of some football. The drug dealers knew he would make it out so they shielded him from that life. Yet, what if there were no NFL...would they have shielded him?
Click to expand...

The actual research on the effects of sports participation on criminality is all over the place. If you're actually looking to improve the situation, that's going to take greater investments in education, paying families living wages, improving the social safety net, dismantling the prison-industrial complex and school-to-prison pipeline, etc. Hoping sports saves some kids while leaving a far larger percentage trapped is literally putting a bandage on a gunshot wound.
 
I think the topic reaches deeper than just the participation in the sport (whether NFL, college or high school). How many of our cultures revolve around the sport.
The social aspects of tailgating, homecoming, watch parties, etc....not to mention halftime for HBCU's
How many relationships started as a result of being at a football game......
How much more peaceful it is during football season.......people (men) have an outlet in either attending games or watching them
Then there is Vegas.........(way too many people making money with no liabilities........they want to keep that money train rolling)
Pretty soon professional sports (NFL & NBA) will be getting a cut off gambling revenue made on their sport...
 
While sports being an extracurricular activity as well as other activities keeps kids off the streets and out of trouble and that's great, but the chances of many of these kids going pro is slim, and most of those kids know it. Sports at the intramural and highschool level is good for kids to learn teamwork and keeps them in shape. Even if sports wasn't an option then they'd choose a different activity, which would probably benefit them more. So I disagree with the notion of crime going up.
The bottom line this article is about the NFL trying to save face and keep their pockets lined.
 
PV-PRIDE said:
I think the topic reaches deeper than just the participation in the sport (whether NFL, college or high school). How many of our cultures revolve around the sport.
The social aspects of tailgating, homecoming, watch parties, etc....not to mention halftime for HBCU's
How many relationships started as a result of being at a football game......
How much more peaceful it is during football season.......people (men) have an outlet in either attending games or watching them
Then there is Vegas.........(way too many people making money with no liabilities........they want to keep that money train rolling)
Pretty soon professional sports (NFL & NBA) will be getting a cut off gambling revenue made on their sport...
Click to expand...

Football season doesn't correlate with men being in state of peace because games are in progress.

Many would argue that sport tremendously exasperates the worst in all of us through vile language and demonstrating outward acts of violence.

Acts of domestic violence among the public has shown to increase when a man favorite football team loses. http://healthland.time.com/2011/03/22/fan-rage-how-home-team-losses-contribute-to-domestic-violence/

There are countless YouTube videos out there of men tearing their homes to pieces over the outcome of games. There are documented occurrences of men fighting each other inside stadiums and in parking lots during football games. Men have been responsible for making the spectator environment for fans of the other team dangerous simply because they're wearing cloth different from their own.

I think we spend way too much time mythologizing and romancing sport that we forget whatever joy we get from it does not come without social compromises.
 
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