It’s Not A Game: Why I Don’t Want My Son Playing Football

September 24th, 2012 - By T Hall

Source: Shutterstock.com

 

The air is starting to get crisp, the leaves will fall soon, and people are relishing in the football season. Fantasy leagues are in full swing and viewers across the country are chomping at the bit to get a little NFL action.
I hate this time of year.

For one thing, I don’t really understand football. The idea of 200 pound men knocking the crap out of each other doesn’t appeal to me, even if they do have on tight, print-revealing pants.  For another thing, I used to live in Pittsburgh. If you’ve been to Pittsburgh, you’d know that there is one immutable law:

  1. You will root for The Steelers.

It doesn’t matter if you grew up in a Ravens household, or if you hold the Dallas Cowboys dear to your heart. When you are in Pittsburgh, you are for the Steelers. Even if you are not a fan of the game, cleaving to the Steelers is a way to find common ground with anyone from the 412. It’s just a part of their culture.
When I moved there in 2007, I was both baffled and amused at how deep the ties were to the football team. I bought some Steelers paraphernalia just to blend in – nobody is going to question your loyalty if you’re wearing a Polamalu jersey. Let me illustrate how real it is: if the Steelers win game on Sunday, on Monday business professionals, from companies like PNC Bank and Alcoa, wear Steelers jerseys over their suits. Only after moving out of the ‘Burgh did I realize that it is not the only place where football is king. America is addicted to the sport.

Among my friends I am the odd woman out. Most of my homegirls love football, and have warned me about what would happen if I interrupt their NFL fix with my chatter. My boyfriend is a rabid San Francisco 49ers fan. On a recently trip to North Carolina my boyfriend and I attended a high school game and while everyone else was in the bleachers caught up in the ecstasy of the blows, I was waiting for the clock to run out.

The reason my relative boredom with the game turned into a full fledge dislike is that a few years ago I noticed an uptick in the press around its dangers. The high-profile suicide of San Diego Charger Junior Seau and other NFL players in recent years have forced American football fans to acknowledge the scary outcomes of playing a collision sport. A recent New York Times article highlighted the findings of the journal Neurology, which indicated that football players have an increased risk of death from diseases like Alzehimer’s and Parkinson’s.  Even though professional players are getting millions of dollars, their bodies are still sacrificed to fans and owners who want intensity on the field.

What is even scarier is that it’s not just the pros that are playing rough. High school and college kids are out there playing with force too. I want kids someday, and if I have boys, I fear for their safety if football is still as popular as it is now.  Because the sport is such a large part of American culture opting ‘out’ can have an ostracizing effect, and I’ve gotten more than a few sideways glances when say that I don’t want my kids playing football. The reality is that I wouldn’t want my son subjected to the physical hell that professional football players seem to suffer as a result of the roughness of the sport. In my eyes, it’s not worth the sacrifice, and the sport is not a game.

 

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com

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  • WakeUpEverybody

    I have surmised that a lot of ‘Our People’ have the tendency to vicariously live through their child/ren. They may have conceived their child/ren at a time in their lives where they hadn’t accomplished certain feats, and now want their child/ren to ‘do it for their sake and make their dream[s] come true’. It doesn’t help how society and the media have glorified, and encouraged the idolization of celebrity athletes (of ANY sport) and the material `trimmings; for which, their lofty incomes furnish. They may not have ever tapped into their own intellectual potential, and therefore lack the inclination to instill this ambition into their children. I suppose they watched the music video for “I Believe I Can Fly”, and [LITERALLY] ran with it! Too bad. Not every husky male child with a healthy appetite (and therefore ‘some meat on his bones’) is destined to be a football player. And it sure ain’t worth the physical and neurological health ramifications! #LetsEvolveBeyondTheUsual#

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  • BBBEE25TEE

    I love football,it’s such an intense sport. I can understand about the safety concerns especially when it comes to children. I would want my son to play when he’s young just as a passtime but I wouldn’t want him to go pro because football players don’t make a lot of money compared to baseball players and money is not guaranteed unlike baseball players. I think football players should make way more money because the risk of injury is higher than other sports.

  • Candacey Doris

    I wouldn’t want my son to play football either. Not only is it tough on the body, the culture the men there have is bad for a man. I don’t want my son to have groupies, baby mamas, or go bankrupt before thirty. This applies to pro basketball too. He would have to be better than Kobe for me to let him do that. I would allow soccer or swimming and definitely martial arts (not mma). Baseball is still iffy.

  • kierah

    My hubby is a former JUCO football player from TX and he already got the memo – my son will not play football. Basketball, soccer, tennis, golf, swimming, tae kwon do, etc… just no football or mixed martial arts fighting. It’s a shame because even as a baby we can see he has a footballers body type.

  • L-Boogie

    Since I do not have children, I will not have to make this decision. I “would” let my child decide.

    • You Say That Now But

      When you DO give birth to a baby boy, you will hold his warm, tiny, fragile, satiny head in your hands for the first time as his ‘soft spot’ pulses against your palm – and, at that moment – swear to use every molecule of oxygen in your lungs to make sure NOTHIN or NOBODY causes any harm to befall his precious head right along with ‘even one hair ON his head’! The health statistically-based side effects are indisputable. A collision sport of this nature is well-known for causing ‘minor concussions’ on the playing fields. The long-term side effects on your Baby Boy’s BRAIN aren’t worth it. Mom yet or not….facts are facts, sis!

  • Na Na

    I agree 100%! My son is a soccer player and avid swimmer and if he ever became interested in football I would do my best to convince him other wise, to me personally its just not worth it.

  • deedee

    I will leave that decision up to my child. Football is a huge part of my family, my brother started playing around 4 or 5.. so if my child wants to play I won’t say no.

    • I Feel You

      I am able to see your sincerity in wanting your son to have a say in the Direction he wants to take for his life – when he becomes of age! I am able to appreciate the sentiment in you wishing to introduce your son to a fond family tradition by the menfolk in your fam n all; but when your family and bro were playing football, there weren’t medical findings that show the risks for suicide, Alzheimers, Parkinson’s, and Dementia as a result of the neurological and spine/nerve damages incurred from such an intense collision sport. You’d be doing your son the best service to guide in to a path that has his optimum well-being as the main priority. Sometimes traditions have to change with the times.

  • Nikki

    My brother is in high school and has suffered from 2 concussions already. And depending on the school (usually a predominately black school) they play very dirty. I totally understand.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=8210721 Joy Kamille

    My hubby and I are football fans and he has 3 younger cousins all playing college ball in TX. Yet and still we insist our boys won’t be playing football. There are plenty other sports to get into and the horror stories coming out of middle and highschool games are so tragic. Their bodies are still developing. One wrong hit and they can be ruined for life. No thank you.