I am sorry NFL, but after 32 years... I think I have to say we are over

     So again it has been awhile.  This blog was literally in mothballs as I was using the space as a staging area for an other project.  It is now 1:24am and I can't sleep because this is something I need to get out long form to get my ideas to coalesce.  So I have restored this blog to it's previous state and here we are going into another sleep deprived rambling self exlporation....

(aka pompous pontificating)

     I have written about this before.  I grew up in a sports fan household.  Specifically I grew up in a San Fransisco 49ers fan's house.  My dad and grandad are both life long 49ers fans being from San Fran themselves.  During my dad's childhood the 49ers were historically not a very good team.  By the time he had moved up to Oregon Bill Walsh had come to the organization and they were winning.  So my earliest sports memories are of the Joe Montana lead 49ers beating the Bengals in the Supebowl (for the 2nd time.)

     I remember rooting for Joe Montana, and Jerry Rice.  Watching Roger Craig run and catch out of the backfield, and watching Ronny Lott lay the hit on receivers across the league.   I still remember my friends dad taking us up to the Kingdome to watch the Raiders take on the Seahawks when they had Warren Moon.  My friends dad was a huge Raiders fan, so watching Moon set a passing record and beat the Raiders made for an ugly drive home.  I remember being devastated as a kid as Joe Montana eventually went to the Chiefs and never being a Steve Young fan.

     This was Sunday, and Monday evenings.  My dad and I and then later my younger brothers as well would spend the days watching the games,.  We would be yelling at the calls, screaming at the refs, and cringing at the losses.  This is what I remember as something that brought us all together.  Eventually my youngest brothers would play peewee football, and one of them would even play Varsity High School football.  He was no starter, something he is now thankful for, but again football was always present.

     My dad has also been doing fantasy football for over 25 years.  He is part of one of those old school rotisserie leagues.  He used to have to compile the numbers by hand each weak on yellow legal pads on Wednesdays after the stats were finalized.  They now use a Yahoo league, except they still do it by hand for the play offs because no online league does playoff weeks the way they do.  So I also used to play fantasy football.  I remember the years were Trent Green with the Chiefs was the number 1 fantasy scoring QB for 3 years straight.

     So this is really hard to say.

     NFL, we are done.  I am not going to watch you anymore.  I am not going to wear your shirts anymore.  I will not buy your products as gifts.  I will not listen to your podcasts.  I will not watch your DVDs on the Superbowls.  I am done.  This is a decision I have been fighting with over the last 3 years or so.  There is no one thing that is making me come to this.  This is a cumulative decision that can no longer be pushed back any further. 

    There are so many factors, I don't know where to start.  So let us start with the explayers.  The NFL does not take care of veteran and explayers.  In fact the league often goes to lengths to prevent players who have visibly severe symptoms from their wear and tear disappear from public view.  There is no medical coverage for players hurt during the games, let alone practice, work outs, or any other phase of the NFL year.

     Let us talk about those injuries.  The research is coming in.  Brain damage from football starts young.  Peewee football young.  Advanced Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has been found in High School football players (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/league-of-denial/) .  This is something the league has known about for at least a decade.  In fact they resisted new more advanced helmets being issued to players out of fear it could be seen as an admission that the older helmets were not good enough.  Which is terrible reasoning both legal and health.

     We are better at rebuilding knees and shoulders, but Concussion Syndrome is not something you get over.  There are players who cant get the cushy TV job because they lights literally blind them and cause them such severe headaches they are unable to function.  That is not to mention the depression, the self medication, and the lack of support.  This is not something that goes away.
Jim McMahon was so beat up after his NFL career he had to have a hole drilled in his head to relieve the pressure on his brain from the swelling.

     Then while that is going on a body never really heals from those physical injuries, it only mends them enough to hold back together.  They stay with you.  Many veteran players have difficulty just walking with out pain.  NFL linemen who spent their whole careers unhealthily overweight may suffer even more with metabolic and cardiovascular issues.

     So here is something funny.  Did you know that each team and the league itself are all registered as not for profits?  They don't really pay much of taxes because the US Congress exempted them.  This is a multi billion dollar industry that is listed as a nonprofit.  Teams regularly hold cities and municipalities hostage for hundreds of millions of dollars of tax payer money to build new stadiums or improve facilities.  Yet they pay very little directly back and collect the profits themselves.

     For nonprofits they are run very much like a business, like a brand.  Players illegal gets hidden from those who would cause discipline because "the loss of that player would make us less competitive."  So what if he beats is wife, he is a 1000 yard back and we need him.  So what if he beats his kid, he is a league MVP and we need him to sell tickets (http://deadspin.com/ex-nfl-exec-says-teams-covered-up-hundreds-of-domesti-1644517506) 

     This is a sport that uses and discards people as quick as it can, hides its dirty laundry how ever it can.  And we haven't even gotten to the racial aspect of this yet.  Or the way the lack of pressure from the NFL keeps the NCAA from facing real reform needed, and hurts the NFL itself in my opinion as it gets less polished players in the draft.  Or how about the NFL's need to expand beyond North America but with no player base to do it?  Or about Direct TV's Sunday Ticket deal which is shady.  Then there is Thursday night football which is just terrible.  This list just keeps growing.

    And that is why I am done.  I know Sunday my Dad and brothers will gather around the TV and watch the games together, and complain when their fantasy players don't make the play.  But I won't join them.  The NFL won't miss me.  It will make its billions of dollars, and keep ticking just fine.  I will miss it.  But I can't be a piece of the support anymore.

So long NFL, thanks for 32 years.