My Evolving NFL Fandom

I’m a big NFL fan. I watch almost every Atlanta Falcons game and I’m also in three rivalry-heavy fantasy football leagues, so I have a little too much emotional investment in the league. But NFL football is SO fun to watch. It’s a sport involving some of the best athletes in the world trying to stop each other at high velocity. Each game has great catches, long runs, and what most fans pay to see, the huge hits. I've had emotional highs and lows and everything in between following the NFL. And I’d never regretted it. Until recently.

It’s not just the high-profile nature of the recent domestic violence incidents (count ‘em: Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Greg Hardy, Ray McDonald, Jonathan Dwyer) and that this seems to be a problem for NFL players in general. It’s not just how poorly both the league and teams of these players handled the situations. It’s not just that many players leave the sport with traumatic brain injuries. It’s not just the league doesn't do enough to help them. It’s all of the above and more. We as a society look back on gladiators, for example, and can scarcely imagine that they did what they did. But what does it say about us that violence is still seen as entertainment? How long from now until we are looked at with shock and disbelief?

I don’t know what my responsibility is. Boycotting the NFL will do little as ratings are higher than ever. I was heartened to see some of the league’s corporate partners call for the NFL to take strong action on domestic violence, but at the end of the day, money talks. Everybody’s happy to ride a PR wave; nobody wants to sacrifice profit to take a stand. As long as the NFL continues to bring in massive amounts of money, I’m skeptical of seeing lasting change. Call me a cynic. And domestic violence, as mentioned, is just one of a myriad of problems the NFL faces. 

But even as I write this, I realize it’s highly unlikely I will stop being a volume consumer of the NFL. Is it enough to have thought about these issues? Is it enough to have brought it up on social media, in hopes of getting others to think about them? I don’t know.

What I do know is that “I don’t know” will be a common theme for me in this space. The more I know the more I don’t know.