You can learn teamwork in band and choir too

A dream life?

I get perceived as negative for making questioning comments about the sport of football. What disappoints me is how so many people will stretch to give the benefit of the doubt to football. Why this loyalty to a sport that would seem to have no obvious benefits for its participants? Learning teamwork? You can gain that through any organized activity. Band? Choir? 

When you see players with their "helmets," shouldn't that ring immediate alarm bells? Or the pads too? To soften blows? Helmets may prevent cracked skulls but they don't prevent the brain from being shaken up. "Repetitive head trauma." 

So why am I thinking about this on this day, August 8? You might think it's because we're getting close to the new football season. I remember seeing pre-season workouts at the old school property along East 7th Street at the time of the fair. So, the fair ushers us into fall? Well yes, probably more than usual this year because of the very cool temperatures expected through the fair like today (Thursday). Heavens, a jacket would have been recommended this morning. 

Last night I thought I might grab something to eat at the fair. Egad, too much congestion with traffic and parking! A nightmare. I might have walked or ridden bike but the weather was not cooperative. I certainly will use non-motorized for the rest of the fair. 

 

The subject is football

I am thinking about football not just because our high schoolers are going to be put through their paces - I am thinking about it because of Steve McMichael being inducted into the Hall of Fame. McMichael established his whole identity as a famous pro player. How cute his nickname: "Mongo." Many people might not make the association with the movie "Blazing Saddles." 

"Mongo" was the nickname for the Alex Karras character in the Mel brooks movie. And, what a "time capsule" movie the "Saddles" movie is. We have read over and over "Blazing Saddles could not be made today." Blazing Saddles found amusement with racist terms. The people behind the movie were anything but racist. Their idea was to cheapen racist language and this included the "n" word. 

My generation of the boomers was in its prime for irreverence (foolishness) when this movie hit the big screen. Remember Cleavon Little: the sheriff? And Mongo was the tough and bruising character played by the former pro football player Karras. His most famous scene was giving a roundhouse punch to a horse. Imagine the precision that was required for that scene. 

We were totally amused by "Mongo." We saw it in line with the tough guy football image of Karras. We all were nothing but worshipful about football. Some of that worshipfulness has diminished. But not enough. 

 

Shrine to football in Morris MN: "Big Cat"

Cross to bear

And so here people will pounce on me for my "negativity." And it becomes real piercing if my "negativity" is seen as extending to high school sports. Look at the "shrine" we have for high school football out by the UMM campus. "Big Cat Field." A young boy might stand there, looking out over the beautiful green expanse, and feel awe. The awe translates for many to a dream of getting out there someday, winning the cheers. The stands are filled with enthused Morris people many of whom no doubt never felt the pain or dealt with the risks of such a punishing sport. 

One of the things about football is that the players can be of sound health over the short term only to develop problems later. And why do so many people deflect by saying "you just can't conclusively prove" the connection between football and later health crises. Again, why so eager to give football the benefit of the doubt, to make apologies for it, to run cover for it? 

Steve McMichael today, at center

Steve McMichael, former Chicago Bear, is said to have ALS now. He's in a quite sad condition. ALS "rings a bell" as it has come up with other former players. I will make the connection because I am not going to be a "salesman" for football. I will not sing its praises just because in the short term it gives us exhilaration and entertainment. 

This is what is behind the defensiveness: how we have allowed football to become an entertainment opiate. People are in denial about this. The problem grew exponentially starting in the mid-1960s when the quality of color TV broadcasts of football improved substantially. Football pushed aside major league baseball. The leaps of enthusiasm exposed more young men to make themselves bigger, stronger and faster. 

And so the average size/weight of big-time football players, Division I and pro, went up markedly. Each play out on that glorious green field became like a traffic accident with the nature of the collision. But fans feel none of the pain. The players have to feel it but they weigh that against the praise and glory they can achieve within their communities. I have seen poster photos of the top MACA players outside of Big Cat, in full color. You know the message this sends. 

I submitted a comment to Yahoo! News in connection to the McMichael story. In part I noted that "Lou Gehrig may not have died from Lou Gehrig's Disease." Very possible if not likely he did not. So someone responds to me and says Gehrig did not play football. This person's impulse was to defend football. I happen to know that Gehrig did play football. He didn't play pro but he played at Columbia College at a time when the game was rougher. He certainly would have played enough to have consequences, plus he may have gotten hurt in baseball too. 

The Star Tribune gave us an article in July of 2014 about one of our revered "purple people" of the Vikings. You smile at my reference to that era of the Vikings. Warm memories outside of the four Super Bowl losses of course. What price was paid for all that football success? The Star Tribune headlined the article "The truth behind the death of Vikings legend Wally Hilgenberg." 

His family gave his brain for research in Boston. I share here two paragraphs from the article.

 

Through 16 seasons and four Super Bowls, Hilgenberg had played a vicious game with a devil-may-care attitude. On the last Christmas he was alive, confined to a wheelchair and slipping to a point where he could only communicate by blinking his eyes, he gave each of his four children one of his Super Bowl rings.

The preliminary diagnosis for his death at the age of 66 was Lou Gehrig's disease. But two years later, doctors in Boston, where Hilgenberg's brain was studied and still sits in storage, suggested something else: that Hilgenberg instead died from repetitive brain trauma brought on by more than 20 years of high school, college and pro football.

Clean slate

I could be selfish here and say I'm thankful I never had the talent or interest to play football. Well I am thankful. My father never had positive words about the game. He didn't know all the scientific research but he thought the game was just dangerous. Us kids in the neighborhood played some pretend-like football. I simply thought it was painful. People can say I'm negative. I just think I'm prescient.

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com