VIOLENCE IN THE NFL

The executive vice-president of the National Football League, announced something that made me very sad today. He said something to the effect that, "Players who intentionally spear, mutilate, maim or dismember other players will be suspended. There has been a "bru-haha" over concussions suffered by NFL quarterbacks this season. Huh? I thought these were tough guys! After all, NFL stand for "not for long". We as men all realize this simple point. Men who have played the game, like me want it bloody and violent. Old time football players didn't wear helmets. They beat the crap out of each other for twenty-bucks a game. The bar fights they engaged in after the games were even more brutal! I like the old ways. I like how Dick Butkus, famous middle-linebacker for the Chicago Bears played the game. He scared the hell out of anybody who faced him! Dick once said, "I'd like to hit a guy so hard, his helmut and head would roll around on the field after contact". My kinda' guy! This is football. This is war. This is violence. This is America. This is male. This is bloody. Most importantly, this is sacred for all American males who have been watching it for 40 or 50 years. This game is ours. Now they want to take it away. Pencil-necked office workers and league representatives want to feminize my game. Pretty soon, the players will have to play two-hand touch football. If someone cries, everyone will apologize to him, and wipe away his tears. A "quiet time" will be enforced by the referee. The mean, bad man perpetrator will have to sit in his chair, with his back toward the playing field, in the corner of the stadium. The game will be played in sneakers. Spikes can cause "ouchies". Everyone knows that! Aw, it will be a "touchy-feelie" kinda' game! How sweet! Teams will have sensitivity sessions together at half-time. All the men will discover their "inner child". The game will be opened for women and children. We don't want to discriminate! Everything about the game will be politically correct! No feelings will ever be hurt, and no one will ever feel any pain. Extra points and gold stars on foreheads will be given for finess and balletic moves. Dexterity and aesthetic beauty will count! Football will be judged by the panel of Dancing with the Stars! What a great idea!

I wonder what John Madden, great coach of the guys in black, would think about all of this. He coached the nastiest men in football. They all had bad breath, alcohol on their breath, criminal records, and loved to administer punishment and pain. They were an incredible team. They were known as the Oakland Raiders. They wore the colors of death. They were a raggedy crew of talented, sadist men who couldn't fit in anywhere else because they all were so damned mean! I watched them in their great days. Jim Ott, from the late 60's, early 70's was one of the Oakland Raiders. He was told by the team doctor, "If you play for the rest of the season on your battered leg, Jim, I will have to amputate it". Jim chose to play. At the end of the season, they amputated his leg. I think Jim really loved the game of football. Jim Ott is a Hall of Famer. I like football players like Jim Ott, and Dick Butkus. Let men be men. Amen.