Robofootball: Doublespin

The National Football League: A Culture of Violence, A transcript report by Dr. Isabella Mendoza, CDC, joint session of Congress, January 22, 2016, Hearing #678-66-1066:

“There is no argument against the concept of violence as it pertains to American football; rather, it is a given fact. Our results conclude that not only is this concept undeniable, it is actually promoted, marketed, and even glorified. One need only watch weekly highlights on such sports stations as ESPN, the NFL Network, and Fox Sports to name a few. Aside from illustrating exceptional physical abilities such as athletic catches, speed or power runs for touchdowns, and other scoring plays; inevitably, the focus shifts to violent hits, crushing tackles, quarterback sacks, and of course, plays that result in injuries. Such terminology or jargon that has been developed with the sport to tag this unique form of savagery includes the forearm shiver, the clothesline, the stiff arm, chop blocks, crack back blocks, helmet spearing, jacked up, and so forth. We are able to view this mayhem from 12 different camera angles including sky cams, floating cams, dirigible or blimp cams, and those in super slow motion too so that every agonizing detail can be aggrandized over and over again.

Violence in an arena with eager viewing spectators is certainly not new in human history. From the gladiator and Olympic games in Greco-Roman times to modern forms of boxing, wrestling, cage fighting, tough man contests, mixed martial arts, and of course, the main subject of our report, American football. Violence is found to be thrilling and addictive, especially in the demographic group of boys and men aged 11 to 44. The allure of mayhem and rampage is real despite its destructibility to the overall health of the athletes who readily participate in football. As we have seen in past reports, the safety gear or personal protective equipment is woefully inadequate, and will likely never be acceptable given the basic physical forces involved in hitting, blocking, and tackling; forces that have intensified over time given the ever-increasing size of players throughout the evolutionary history of the sport.

Many youngsters get their first taste of this savagery in video games that are readily promoted by the NFL. We have a few video clips to illustrate how these games deliriously dramatize bone crushing hits and brutal tackles. The sounds of grunting, hitting, and pain are overly emphasized as well. Some networks have even gone as far to equip certain players with microphones with the hope of catching some ungratuitous act up close and personal. The “Jack-Up” concept of violently striking the opposition is often credited with positive reinforcement, and bubble NFL players, either those on the practice squad or pre-season team, desperately trying to make a precious roster spot, are obviously given more recognition and consideration for how they jack-up the opposing players. Aside from television and computer games, we have a large variety of digital video disks directly released or at least promoted by the NFL with such catchy titles as “The NFL’s Greatest Hits,” “Bloodsport: The Art of Football,” “How to Tackle Like a Pro,” “How to Hit Like a Pro,” “Hit ’em Low, Hit ’em High,” “Tak’m Out: The Art of the Linebacker.” And so forth.

Another one of our conclusions at the CDC is that violence sells and is an inherent part of the NFL revenue generating business model. There are no two hand touch or flag football leagues that draw $4 billion in annual revenue. There are no amounts of fines, penalties, suspensions, ejections, or even banishments that will change the fundamental nature of a sport whose basic premise is built on the concept of extreme physical collisions. Better pads, mouth guards, and helmets have been developed here and there over time, but they have had absolutely no effect on injury rates and long-term health problems. Billionaire owners dangle this violence like a carrot on a stick, mostly to attract the poor. The poor in turn are paid millions to wreck their bodies along with the opponents they fight. The general public shows up in droves to perpetuate this never-ending cycle, readily paying exorbitant prices to witness and support this physical destruction of human life.

At this point in our society, there is much like a complicit acknowledgement that violence is just a part of the game, and has always been so. The erroneous assumption is that the violence is somehow contained, and downright acceptable. It is our general conclusion at the CDC that it is not, and that it has become a form of disease. Even more alarming is how this violence spreads to off field activities. Former NFL players are 4.8 times more likely to commit suicide than the general population. Many suffer from depression and other effects such as an early career ending injury. Both current and former NFL players are 7.2 times more likely to abuse their spouses, children, or significant others. They are 8.1 times more likely than the average adult American to be incarcerated for assault.

About the only positive statistical issue we at the CDC have discovered is that the percent of Americans saying that it is getting harder and harder to like the game that they love because of the violence now exceeds 40%. A quarter of the adult population, with nearly 80% of this figure being adult women, support an outright ban of all basic block and tackle football, an almost doubling from what our research indicated barely a decade ago. In conclusion, Americans appear to be developing a conscience about what happens to players, especially those who suffer concussions and other serious injuries. To reiterate, the sport of American football is exhibiting disease like symptoms that may only be eradicated by outlawing the sport.”

“All You Need is Love.”

The Beatles