Commentary on the NFL
Not long ago, I did an unflattering review of the movie Draft Day which starred Kevin Costner. In effect, broken down to its basics, it was a movie doing little more than glorifying the NFL, which included Commissioner Goodell appearing on draft day itself.
Given what has been happening in the NFL, it is hard to pay attention to the entire sport. I’m sorry, but it plays in our society the same way the Coliseum played in ancient Rome when gladiators were fighting to the death.
Today, they don’t fight to the death, just to the edge of mental illness. The NFL has finally recognized the colossal damage done to its participants, yet they encourage kids to play the sport around the country. The days are long gone when we no longer cared about concussions, and do you really want your child exposed to that trauma?
And then we have the violence promoted on the field displayed off of it. It has long been swept under the rug, and many players have routinely beaten wives and girlfriends while the league turned a blind eye.
What is even more disturbing is the way the NFL promotes its players while ignoring the sad fact that many of them father multiple children with multiple women. If the heroes of teenagers on the street are acting in this manner, how do you expect them to act?
If you need any proof, look at the recent column in the New York Daily News where it is stated that Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is believed to have fathered as many as seven kids out of wedlock. He not only stands indicted for beating one of them, but a two-year old son died in October following an alleged assault by the boyfriend of the child’s mother.
Furthermore, consider that Marshall Faulk fathered six kids with three different women; Ray Lewis fathering six children with four different women; Bennie Blades fathering six children with six different women and the late Kansas City Hall of Famer Derrick Thomas’ seven children by five different women.
Yet in order to make their multi-billions, NFL owners want you to praise these guys despite promiscuous conduct that holds them out as examples for all youth to follow. If we want to criticize the breakdown in the family structure in our black communities, how about looking at the conduct of our white football team owners?
A new form of slavery is alive and well. While they no longer pick cotton, they are paid millions to dance and sing to entertain our white culture and have young kids follow in their footsteps.
