Passing Judgment – The NFL’s Dichotomy

With Week 16 of the 2010 NFL season already underway, we are fast approaching the playoffs and Super Bowl XLV.  There is undoubtedly a lot of excitement and anticipation going into these next few weeks as teams position themselves for a post-season run.  But this NFL season has been quite an interesting ride the whole way through, and not for obvious reasons.  This season will likely go down as a turning point in the NFL’s history because of so many issues, circumstances, individuals, and actions that have dominated the headlines.  Needless to say, Commissioner Roger Goodell certainly is earning his paycheck this year.

First, there is the specter of a potential work stoppage heading into the 2011 season.  The current collective bargaining agreement is set to expire and as of right now there is no deal in place.  The current rumors coming from Goodell’s office are that he doesn’t expect there to be a work stoppage, but I for one am skeptical about that.  The players and owners have too many issues and too much money at stake to just simply resolve their differences without exerting some form of control over each other.  I for one doubt that any work stoppage or labor issues will effect the 2011 season.  There will likely be lots of posturing between the players and owners after the Super Bowl and before training camps begin next summer.  At the end of the day, all of the owners and players involved will realize there is too much money to risk over not starting the season on time.  The ironic thing about that is that the owners would still actually make as much money whether the players play or not.  But I think the owners are smart enough to realize that the NFL brand is the most powerful and prosperous in all of sports, and they will not want to risk ceding that control or power while the baseball season is in full swing.

Another issue of the day is that of players’ health and safety.  The running theme this season has been protecting defenseless players from violent helmet-to-helmet blows or devastating hits on the field.  There have been dozens of instances where players have been concussed, some multiple times, due to vicious hits by defensive players.  But the policing of such hits has invaded what are deemed legal hits as well.  It is one thing to penalize a helmet-to-helmet hit because they can be seen clearly by officials and players can control how they attack their opponents.  But when players are being fined and penalized for hitting opposing players legally yet devastatingly, that is where the real problem comes in.  First off, I doubt anyone who watches or supports professional football would be opposed to keeping its players safe from injuries.  But the game of American football has always and will always involve physical contact between players.  Most times, this physical contact is dangerous because of the opposing needs of each player.  That is the nature of the game.  To try and alter the way the game is played requires something much deeper and intricate than imposing new rules and penalties on professional athletes.  There would need to be a major change in the philosophy of how football is taught to kids in Pop Warner and high school.  This seems almost impossible to fathom, but how else could a player know, in the heat of the moment, that his potential strike against a receiver in mid-field will be the cause of a penalty, fine and/or possible suspension?  Football is a game derived from strategy and played with instincts.  This is a difficult balance to reach given the desire for players’ safety and the skills of opposing players simply playing the game of football.  There are less than 1700 active players in the NFL who get paid to do this for a living.  They have a specialized skill and knowingly assume the physical risks associated with playing football.  That is not to say they deserve to be injured or shouldn’t be protected.  But there is a reason they are getting paid to put on the shoulder pads and helmets.  They know the inherent risks that are associated with the game.  They know the histories of older retired players and the condition their bodies are in as a result of a lifetime in the NFL.  Imposing fines, throwing flags, and issuing suspensions is all well and good to penalize players who cross the line.  But that is a very fine line and not one that can be viewed objectively.  This is where the problem lies, and Commissioner Roger Goodell has thrown himself right into this fire.  He has imposed multiple fines on players for violent hits during the course of this season, and some of them would not have been deemed illegal prior to this year.  If the Commissioner is going to continue ti pursue these avenues of recourse, then we all need to accept that the game of football has changed forever. 

Along with these issues, the topic of expanding the NFL’s regular season to 18 games has been discussed ad nauseum.  It does make sense because the pre-season is a complete waste of time for both players and fans.  The four weeks of pre-season games are typically used to learn more about back-up players.  Fans are paying lots of money to sit through games played by players that no one has ever heard of.  There is no real desire to win the games, so there is no real interest by the fans either.  Shortening the pre-season to two ganes and adding two games to the regular season does make sense from a financial and pragmatic standpoint.  However, the flip side is once again players’ healthy and safety.  Those pre-season games are typically not played with all-out vigor and effort.  Uusally injuries that occur in the pre-season are flukes or self-sustained.  If players are now going to have two extra games that count, that is an additional two games they they are subjecting themselves to the physical and mental demands that go into an already lengthy season.  They are two more opportunities to sustain a career-ending injury.  They are two more weeks of full practice and training.  It makes sense why some players are against it.  But from a fans’ perspective it is great.  It is two more games to care about.  It is two more weeks of fantasy football action.  It is two more weeks to spend with friends and family eating wings and watching football on Sunday.  It is a general money-maker for the league and the whole football industry.  But at what cost?  Do we the fans really concern ourselves with how many concussions Aaron Rodgers or Austin Collie have sustained?  We care if we are fans of the Packers or Colts, or if we have them on our fantasy team.  But do we truly care about the individual person who has to live with these head injuries?  The sad truth is probably not.  We want our teams to win and we want to enjoy the act of watching professional football games.  By giving us two more weeks of the regular season, the NFL will be satisfying its fan base but at the expense and risk of its players. 

At the end of the day, the NFL is going to do what it feels is best.  It is hard to argue with any of their decisions given the mammoth success the NFL has experienced over the last 20 years.  While baseball is the National Pasttime, football has become America’s sport.  The NFL has grown by leaps and bounds and there are no indications it will slow down.  But this next level of growth (expanding to 18 teams) could see some real detrimental effects on the players who play the game.  That is certainly a reason why Commissioner Goodell is so focused on players’ safety, so maybe he really does know better than everyone.  It is just a little difficult to grasp the hypocrisy and irony when you really break it down.  The NFL wants to protect its players by changing the way the game is played, yet they want to expose its players to injury even more by expanding the schedule.  That is why it is called a dichotomy.