what was that? is that all there is? who is this? this is it.

I’ve been paying attention to the NFL since 1977. But the more I watch it, the more it starts to look like Rollerball, the 1975 movie. In my mind I’ve blended the story line of Rollerball into the story of the NFL:

In a futuristic society where corporations have replaced countries, the violent game of Football is used to control the populace by demonstrating the futility of individuality. However, one player, Colin Kaepernick, rises to the top, fights for his personal freedom, and threatens corporate control.

Perhaps it’s my superbowl hangover talking. I’m still a football fan, but an aging, skeptical, cynical, father of two, who wakes up with random aches and pains in the morning. I am fully aware that these guys are killing each other on the field. All the while the NFL makes billions of dollars and hopes that the broken retired players quietly fade away.  

The NFL is so good at what it does, that we’ll talk way more about Dr Dre and Snoop Dog than we ever will about Adrian Peterson, Frank Clark, Tyreek Hill, Ray Rice or whatever domestic violence case du jour swept under the rug.  The countless unflattering issues the PR hacks put their spin on, have a way of disappearing quickly.  

I’m not going to stop watching football, but I’m watching less and less. I have to look away from all the slow motion injury replays and the helmet to helmet hits. 

I do not look away from the stories of retired players unable to function on a basic level in their daily lives because of multiple head injuries they sustained in their playing days from Pop Warner on up to the NFL.    

The game of Rollerball was so realistic that the cast, extras, and stunt personnel played it between takes on the set. At the time of the film's release, Howard Cosell interviewed Norman Jewison (Director & Producer) and James Caan on ABC’s Wide World of Sports showing clips from the film and with the two of them explaining the rules of the game. Audiences who saw the film so loved the action of the game that Jewison was contacted multiple times by promoters, requesting that the "rights to the game" be sold so that real Rollerball leagues might be formed. Jewison was outraged, as the entire point of the movie was to show the "sickness and insanity of contact sports and their allure."    –from the Wiki 

3 Comments

https://youtu.be/rtlW-LwpWM4

Agreed. I have also been watching less and less football, since my late 40's. Not sure if it's me that's changed, or the game(and the commercial shitshow that surrounds it). Probably bits of both I'm sure, but I find it harder and harder to relate to the millionaire players. And the billionaire owners, who get to pad their obscene fortunes by putting elite athletes through the NFL meat grinder. Next man up bro.

From a recent article on Erik Dickerson: Deacon Jones told Eric his monthly pension check from the nfl was $250. It’s important to remember that the nfl is a nonprofit organization.

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