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Cake or Death? - The Tipping Point

Goaldeje

The Legend
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No, I'm not predicting some massive crisis for the NFL whereby the tens of millions of rabid fans who devour the NFL each Sunday (and Thursday) suddenly decide to divest themselves of the spectacle in pursuit of other, more moral endeavors. No, I'm talking about something far more serious. My own personal tipping point. I think we're getting close to it.

I love the Redskins. I love the history, I love the players, I love the coaches, I love the owne... all right, too far. I love my team. I have played fantasy football for 10+ years now, and loved every second of it. Won my money league twice now, which is a pretty cool accomplishment. I love football. Never gotten in to college that much, but man do I love the NFL. I love the poetry to a Barry Sanders run, the savagery of a Sean Taylor hit, and the artistry of a Drew Brees pass. Love the game. But something is changing.

It's getting harder to watch, for me personally. When I see the huge hits, it's going to be hard not to think of Jovan Belcher, Dave Duerson, and the others who have been irrevocably altered by the violence of the sport I love so much. I'm going to have trouble watching and cheering, now that we are finally getting a clearer picture of the damage done to the brain of those involved. It's more than a little sobering. For a while, I was more than happy to put my head in the sand and cheerfully ignore the grisly details. But I think we're nearing the tipping point for me.

And the NFL isn't helping itself. The way the league handled the Ray Rice situation was despicable. As someone with a 17 year old daughter, the thought that they were infinitely more interested in protecting "the shield" and covering their asses than in ensuring her safety and wellbeing is sickening. The league deserves every ounce of criticism it has weathered over the last month, and ten times more. It becomes increasingly difficult for me to support a league with such a self-serving, deplorable mindset. It's tough for me to rationalize the time spent away from family on Sundays to watch something which makes my stomach turn when I think rationally about it.

Last Sunday I spent the day at our local Go-Kart/Putt-Putt/Arcade with my two youngest. We all enjoyed a couple of hours hanging out together, and I especially loved it. Instead of clicking on fantasy scores, obsessively watching injury reports and wasting my Sunday afternoon in general, I spent guilt-free time racing around the Go-Kart track listening to the squeals of my 8 year old. Good times.

Get it together NFL. I'm already a little queasy thinking about the head injury problems. When you compound that issue by acting like the self-obsessed, moronic, clueless jagweeds I know you are but try not to acknowledge, well...

I may be close to the tipping point.​

More...
 
I'm lingering through the same state of mind though for different reasons.

elements of society are H-bent on destroying the game...and they will eventually succeed. I'm not hanging out to watch Rome burn.

It's a violent game Goal. how did you feel abt Sean Taylor - then or now? His deal was applied violence intended to draw blood.

As for Ray Rice: I respect your opinion/emotion on the matter. but I approach it from a different angle: in civil society no one should be striking anyone else. that is assault and battery. this whole concept of striking women not only belittles the overarching principle, but is remarkably funny when looked at from a different angle: the main thrust of 21st century feminism has been equality. so why single out striking women as somehow (implicitly) worse than striking anyone else?

let's look at a hypothetical: a Ray Rice knocks out a 150 lb male. what's the difference? I have a daughter as well. I'm gonna be po'd should it be a male or female who physically assaults her. why a special rule "it's wrong to hit women?"

It's wrong to hit anyone unless in self defense.
 
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I loved watching Sean play, FS. LOVED him. I haven't posted in the thread about the special on him because it's still a little raw for me.

As more information has come out, it's getting a little harder to watch, that's all.

As for the Rice situation, I agree completely with you. And my point stands as well. Regardless of who hit whom, the NFL's resultant actions were absurd. Sickening even.
 
Just food for thought ...

Lately I've been entertaining the notion that it's not so much the league that has changed, but me. Yes, the inexorable PC-ization of things is a serious drag. No doubt. But the underlying realities of violence and unsavory characters haven't really changed--they're just far more in our face given the new media world we live in. I'm thinking more and more that it's just me getting older and seeing my values and perspectives evolve accordingly.

I look at younger fans today--and by that I guess I mean less than ... 40?--and see the same unbridled, un-self-conscious passion I had when I was that age.

I wonder if when they hit their 50's, and have been around the block a few more times, if they might not start to experience the same feeling of wanting to kind of keep the game at arm's length just a little more.
 
I've been thinking about writing a piece on this theme (and I still might) but this is great, Goal. Echos a lot of what is going on in my head.

And Om, I am right there with you, if a few years behind you in age. Wondering if maybe it's me that is changing, although I frankly think there some change happening on both sides of the fence here.
 
Not watching football on Sundays would be as hard to me as not drinking beer on Friday nights.

Its what I like
Its what I do
Its in my blood

I dont like the nitpicking or horrible refs/owners/commissioner but I am still a big fan of the product on the field. If they make us change the name I will just watch random games on TV and enjoy the noise in the background while I go about my Sunday. But leaving football altogether would just be the most difficult thing for me to do.
 
I disagree, tr1. Totally.

I'm as big a Redskins homer as ever and I put my money where my mouth is, forking over for Sunday Ticket every year so I never miss a game even though I really only need it now for about 4 games a season.

What I am not any longer is as big a fan of the game. This last Sunday I watched two soccer teams fight over a spot in the relegation zone of the English Premier League rather than an NFL game. By choice.
 
I can't really speak to the psychology because there hasn't been any success to balance against the negative for a long time. 2012 was a start but now it feels to me like smoke and mirrors. I have been apathetic for years now. Yeah, I still watch every game but am no longer bothered by the result. I expect the result. Like a Brown's fan. Or like a Bengals fan used to feel.

I am thankful for one thing: I am thankful for the Raiders and the Jaguars.

Now it could be a age thing, though I would need to experience some good years to know for sure.

And the hope for that is exactly where age does become an issue.
 
This is the first year in forever I wasn't stoked about on the eve of the season. Normally, I'm counting down the days come August, but not this year. Got a lot going on at work, blah, blah blah, but really, the Ray Rice thing seriously damaged my interest and dampened whatever enthusiasm I would normally muster.

Tr1, I can rationalize the Skins performance. We've looked good in two games, crappy in two games. One of the bad games was a Thursday night game, which are generally regarded as inferior product games, so it's not something I stress out about too much. The losing sucks, don't get me wrong, but I just don't get as worked up as I used to, kind of like Chris I think.

Bob, it was a joy to do something else with my Sunday to be honest. I feel antipathy towards the game as a whole, and doubt I will play in fantasy leagues next year, excepting maybe this one here.
 
Words of wisdom from Dr Sydney Freedman.
 
well....on one level....I simply find the game less entertaining. or, rather, too homogenized. back in the day a great team or two or three could surface (skins, gints, 9ers) and sustain excellence for upwards of 10 years. the roster featured stars who lasted more than a couple years. now? with free agency and cap? it is more even...and a heck of a lot less entertaining.

it's a lot harder hating the boys when they have sucked for so long (like us). there are no targets of excellence to chase. just money changing hands.
 
For me, fantasy football is the only thing keeping me somewhat entertained... and even then, when the Skins lose, it's hard to enjoy.

I keep finding myself disgusted with my own state of being every time I think of the Skins (way too much) and start to tear up at how there's seemingly no end in sight to the mismanagement, misfortune and general poor play. I think of how ridiculous I am wasting these emotions on something like the Skins when so much is going in the world that deserves my empathy on an immeasurable level in comparison.

But I'm just stuck on this organization. Just... stuck. It's awful.

The only redeeming quality of this fandom at this point that I can tell myself, in order to keep some semblance of dignity (self-deception?), is that I get to meet some quality folks like you guys through it. And that maybe we learn from each other and can benefit each other long term. But that's it, honestly.
 
Man, do we ever need a win.
 
Well...I haven't thrown a chair through my wall in 14 years, so there's that.
 
Yeah. I got so mad at one point in the 90's that I threw a red sharpie against the wall and it, of course, exploded. It was early on in our marriage, probably 98 or so, I'm guessing. Em still gives me shit about red sharpies. :)

We were renting a townhouse at the time, and when we asked for our security deposit back, they laughed...
 
Guess I'll post what I posted on your Facebook page when you shared a link to this piece...

The more I've learned about the CTE cover up by the NFL (especially after watching Frontline's "League of Denial," good LORD), the more I've found myself fighting with my conscience over supporting the NFL. Now, with the Ray Rice scandal and the lack of accountability shown with regard to both the scandal and domestic violence in general, I'm really having to fight with myself to give a rip every Sunday. The only thing that keeps holding me back from completely throwing in the towel and not watching my Skins is my love for the tradition of the Redskins and how many fond childhood memories I have of football Sundays watching the Redskins with my family.

However, as a woman, and especially a woman who works as an advocate for women's issues in both my professional life and private life, I feel like an absolute hypocrite supporting a league that has made a clear statement through its actions how its leadership truly feels about females and DV. It's especially ironic they've been so careless with this issue knowing full well females comprise a significant portion of the NFL's fan base and profit margin. They really just don't give a crap. I am not sure I'll even really tune in this weekend/Monday. Not just because we're playing Seattle, but also because I think I'm going to get sick seeing NFL stadiums bathed in PINK like the organization truly gives a rat's about women's issues. Please.
 
As Skins fans, we came as up close and personal to the corruption within the NFL as anyone when they applied the cap penalty on us and the Cowboys. Not only was it proof that these owners colluded against the players, but it was incredible that they let the teams know literally minutes before Free Agency in 2012 started. The fact that it was a divisional rival who was the driving force behind it all was just the icing on a big fat disgusting cake of evil.

I haven't ever looked at the NFL the same, to be honest. None of the recent events have surprised me at all.
 
Well said, K. My wife has been disgusted with the whole situation, and has vowed not to give any money to any NFL team for the foreseeable future. Duplicitous bastards.
 
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