Professional football is well past its best-before date. Its legitimacy is rapidly eroding on two fronts, each of which is bigger than the NFL.
Colin Kaepernick kicked off something that's starting to snowball and have repercussions. The politicisation of sports isn't a fad that's just going to go away. I'm of two minds on that. On the one hand, it's a shame. I'm not a serious fan, but I can appreciate the athleticism of a great pass or an exceptional touch-down run.
On the other hand, the NFL and pro sport in general have for too long prostituted themselves as cheerleaders for a militaristic faux patriotism, which effectively politicised sports long before Kaepernick took a knee.
The other front is the rapidly growing public awareness of the CTE scandal. When a guy like Ed Cunningham walks away from his dream job, he's making a statement every bit as courageous and important as Kaepernick's. The NFL money guys might have thought they put the brain injury thing to bed with that billion dollar payout last year, but that was just the beginning.
There is no end in sight... other than the end of the NFL itself.
The NFL is toast.
"The NFL is toast." Respectfully disagree. Budweiser, Ford" (Built Tough!) trucks, along with Doritos Corn Chips, dominate ads, indeed biggest spenders, amongst NFL advertisers. And who do they market to? The crowd that have "jobs', not "careers". Check out Facebook, they're there. In terms of education, it is always "School of Hard Knocks". Tattoos, well, they got them, etcetera. They won't go away, EVERY bar in BC opens at 10:00 to accommodate them and the promotions that they incessantly sell. In any event, I could go on, but 'Charioted By Bacchus' (Greek God of Wine), I take my leave-glass needs to be refilled.
ReplyDeleteTrust you and yours had a pleasant Labour Day; we did here.
Ken
Ya, I could be wrong... I did think Apple had peaked four years ago...
ReplyDeleteBut! We'll see if the BLM folks take up the cause with demos at NFL games once the the regular season starts. On the CTE front, the NFL is a juicy target for any personal injury lawyer looking for deep pockets to sue. That will filter down to College level and high school, where the cost of insurance is going to kill football programs after a few more multi-billion dollar legal decisions. Once football=brain injury in the minds of the public, Ford and Budweiser will be outta there.