There are a lot of things that can be considered "American traditions." One of my favorites is watching football on Sundays. Sure when I was younger, it was just something that I knew my dad loved which sometimes meant that him and my mom would make really great snack foods that we normally would not have; In the last few years, it has become something I have truly come to enjoy. Now, I look forward to Sundays in the late fall and early winter because it means that I can curl up on the couch and spend the day watching football and discussing it with my dad. After that, I get even more involved by joining my family’s fantasy football league which inspired me to understand the logistics of the game.
The game itself is so much fun. Like any other form of entertainment, sporting events are a tool for the every day American to use to forget about their real lives for a little while. It is also a source of admiration for millions of children who grow up wanting to be like the athletes that play these sports. But now-a-days, football has become more of a side show than a sporting event. More time is spent on talking about the players' and coaches' personal lives than talking about what happens in the games themselves.
While I enjoy the sport as much as the next person, in recent years the way the NFL has run and how they appear in the media has made them a bit of a joke. And this is not meaning to come off as another Patriots fan, disgruntled by the way the NFL has been treating “Deflategate.” I believe that no matter what team has your support, the ridiculousness surrounding the sport as a whole has gotten old.
As the playoffs happen and the Superbowl approaches, it seems that there are more things being said about the players' characters and personal lives than their talent and their records. The thing is, I would not just blame the media for this. The players, coaches and administration of the National Football League often make it hard not to bring the attention to themselves. In the last few years, multiple players have been accused of domestic abuse and are still allowed to play. Now, not only are people talking about how horrible these people are for what they did, but they are also talking about whether or not the NFL should have done more in regards to punishment and whether or not they have their priorities straight when it comes to what offenses deserve more of their attention.
Going beyond the illegal activity with the players, they seem to love getting attention by overly trash-talking each other. Now I understand trash talking in sports, but they seem to be going a bit overboard with it nowadays. These are grown men who tweet insults at each other just for attention. It is really sad that they stoop so low as to be telling millions of people that your game strategy is not to practice hard and do your best but to attack your opponents in places where they have been injured before. In my opinion, it is a disgrace to the game itself. It might do them all good to take a Bill Belichick approach to the game. Focus on the game, and that’s all.
