I became interested in baseball some time around 1996, meaning that as a fan, I am entirely a product of the post strike League. As a result, there were times when I struggled to understand why fans much older than me expressed such negative emotions when thinking about the strike, and I especially couldn't believe that it would sour some people on baseball entirely. As I grew older, I began to understand them a little more, at least on principle. Now, I know exactly how they feel. I'm not sure what will happen with the current NFL lockout fiasco, but it has already question whether I'll come back to the game.
The gut reaction among many is that there is no reason why a bunch of millionaires can't figure out how to share their millions (actually billions) at a time when many people's financial outlooks are grim. I understand this sentiment, and agree with it to a certain extent, though I think it is important to remember that not every player is making massive, multi-million dollar wages.
Personally, my gut anger stems from the same issue which bothered me all last season - that the NFL is devious and hypocritical in regards to its treatment of concussions and their concern for overall player health. There are a lot of measures the League could be taking to better protect players, and most of them are things which still aren't in effect. Not to mention that no matter how much marketing money they spend to promote their initiative, it is impossible to ignore just how much big hits are celebrated by commentators and fans (keep in mind that those commentators tend to tow the party line for the League, in case of any future coaching positions). I used to scoff at anyone who considered football to be a bloodsport, but it is getting harder to ignore not only how violent it is, but just how much that violence is celebrated. How many other sports leave former players with such a strong potential to be a husk of a body? The first one to come to my mind is boxing, and it too has been the subject of huge controversy over the decades. But unlike boxing, football is the nation's most popular sport. Any calls for real change will be drowned out by cheering spectators.
Deep down inside, the NFL knows that people like the carnage. They know that the players have been trained to deliver it with greater and greater force over the years. They've gone down this path, and they know there's no chance of trying to reverse it. Players will get more and more protective gear, and rather than keeping them safe, it'll convince them that they can get away with more powerful hits. We have already seen many old players who, regardless of the money they made, are in shambles thanks to all the hits and concussions they suffered. We already know the League never gave two shits about their retirement, and I shudder to think as to how some of today's current stars might look in thirty years. Even with millions of dollars (which, again, they don't all have), there's only so much medicine can do to help a person with a broken body.
But it isn't just the players who are treated like garbage. Fans too have been slowly and systematically screwed over by the NFL. The blackout rules exist to try and get people to go to the stadium if they want to see the game. At the same time that ticket prices continue to rise, and homefield advantage dissolves as stadiums are instead filled with people who treat a football game as a place to be seen. If your team isn't blacked out, you might be able to see them on TV, but if all you have is basic cable, who knows what you'll get. Thanks to the League's TV deals, someone like me, just a 25 minute drive from the DC metro, can't be certain that the Redskins will be on TV (and as a Giants fan, I gave up on seeing the game every week). Of course, you could spring for a pricey NFL package, which can (and probably will) get even pricier over time. Or you could go to the bar, where you can't hear yourself think, let alone hear any of the calls on the field. With all of today's wonderful technology, I think it is actually getting harder to watch football. The League certainly wants my time money, but they also want to demand how I give it to them.
So if everyone is being treated like shit, when can we expect the tables to turn? I have no idea. Because despite everything the NFL has done, they still have everyone feeding out of their hand. They could screw over the next season royally, and people will still come back. Baseball didn't die from its strike, and I imagine that football will take little, if any, damage. And on top of all of this, I haven't forgotten that if the sport does go away, a lot more people are going to be jobless.
It really has become a fucking circus. I don't look forward to the end result.
To me, the lockout says so many things, not just about football, but the current cultural climate in general.
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