Do we love football more when the NFL turns up the volume on old-school hate and over-the-top violence?
Tell me the truth, Broncos Country.
As we gather at football church on this beautiful Sunday of Raiders week, are you foaming at the mouth like Denver linebacker Bradley Chubb, or preaching kumbaya like coach Nathaniel Hackett?
Nothing stirs the blood around here like Da Raid-uhs, with a history of silver and black villains we love to hate, from Kenny “The Snake” Stabler to that snake in the grass, new Vegas trainer Josh McDaniels.
“I hate them, to be honest with you,” Chubb said. I hate them. There are only a few teams in the league that I hate, and they are one of them.”
On the other hand, in 2022, perhaps we should adopt Hackett’s more awake approach.
“I really can’t hate anyone in this world,” Hackett said. “That’s too much energy… It’s another game.”
Football now preaches out of both sides of his mouth. Hate and kindness. Security and violence.
The NFL can’t decide what it wants. Good, clean fun where we want the best for everyone. Or gladiators on the grass, where everyone is out for blood.
We love the car crash sound of a big hit on the field, until someone hits Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa so hard in the head that he can’t get up and has to be carried off the field after suffering a head injury in a game for the second time in five days.
Miami coach Mike McDaniel insisted he is player-friendly and would never knowingly put his quarterback in harm’s way. I think he meant those words. But actions speak louder. So, with full knowledge that Tagovailoa had been hurt in a win against Buffalo, what were the Dolphins thinking? What were they thinking, other than a quarterback needs to rub his head a bit and get back on the field, when there’s a Thursday night game to win against Cincinnati?
“You guys should go to jail for letting him play five days after an obvious concussion that you covered up,” argued Chris Nowinski, a former professional wrestler turned neuroscientist. In a now-deleted tweet, he added that if Tagovailoa were to die “from second impact syndrome, I’m pushing for murder charges.”
In the NFL, the TV money is too big and the stakes for a coach who fails to win are too high to keep players out of harm’s way.
So anyone, from the insanely wealthy family who bought a Denver franchise for $4.65 billion to a working-class fan cheering a shocking South Stands entrance at Mile High, can tell you place more value on the safety of the player than our entertainment in a league that now schedules 17 regular season games?
While there’s a lot to admire about Hackett keeping his most valuable products on the sidelines during the silly summer showcase season, we all complain (including me) that perhaps one of the reasons the Broncos are averaging just 14 points per game is because they didn’t hit heads. enough to prepare for real, hard-hitting football.
When I asked Hackett last month if he would advocate scrapping the August football hoax that rips off season-ticket holders, he diplomatically refused to push for a more significant change in the way teams train. I suspect it was because there is simply too much money to be made from games that don’t count towards the rankings. Besides, who cares if a special teams recruit breaks his knee during a preseason game, as long as that hefty $245 million investment in quarterback Russell Wilson doesn’t go bad?
I know. There will be real football lovers who will criticize me for hating the violence in the game. No, I never played the game at a high level. But ever since 1983, when John Elway was an NFL rookie, I’ve made a lot of money glorifying our local heroes in The Post.
So, in my own way, I’m no holier than the Dolphins in the vexing debate of what’s best for athletes signing up for a violent sport.
We all know that a cheeseburger and fries are not good for your heart. We all know that soccer can damage the brain. But we like what we like too much to walk away. A guilty pleasure doesn’t cause too much guilt, as long as we don’t think about it too much.
So crack open a cold one and scream for blood against the hated Raid-uhs as the Broncos line up for kickoff Sunday in Las Vegas.
Just 100 hours later, the Broncos will be banging heads again in a Thursday night game against Indianapolis.
There is no such thing as too much guilty pleasure.
The idea of a warmer, kinder NFL, where violence and hate take a backseat to kumbaya kindness and flag football in the Pro Bowl?
It is an exercise in hypocrisy.
Source: news.google.com