NFL Stunts

I think it's immature, and gives a bad example to the kids. Humility is what's lacking in many modern athletes today...

 

I agree Joseph

NFL = Not for Fun League

 

Don't like it. Too many parents have allowed pro athletes to be their children's role models and this is rotten role modelling.

Not fight here, fellas, I just don't like it.

 

I don't feel sorry for them at all. They are overpaid, some making millions to play a game.
If they don't want to 'burn up their bodies' then I would suggest that they don't enlist in the NFL. They DO have a choice. I enjoy football, and even the NFL. But I do have an issue with professional sport salaries. Millions to play a game, when most people earn little by comparison REALLY working? And ticket prices are ridiculous. Sorry Dr Bob, I've got no sympathy for these athletes.

 

I don't mind them spiking the ball and celebrating with their teammates after a touchdown, but some of the dances and stuff like the cell phone incident just make them look foolish in my opinion. If I was a coach I wouldn't want my players doing it because it looks like you don't have any control over them. To borrow a coaching term I have heard used, I think they should "act like you have been there before". I have a lot more repect for a player who scores a touchdown and calmly tosses the ball to the ref while heading back to the sidelines. But I think the NFL (and the NCAA and NASCAR...) tends to overreact to a lot of incidents by making rules too strict taking a lot of the fun out of the game.

 

I believe the FANS-those who make the big money possible by paying to see the games, patronizing the sponsors, & buying their team's "official" merchandise-should have the final say over what is and is not acceptable for celebrations, cheerleading, and other parts of the whole scene that they're paying their money for, to be entertained. The game is for the FANS, not vice-versa.

As a ten-year player in the "semipro" Ohio Valley Football League, where our "salaries" consisted of travel expenses, uniforms, helmets, & pads(We bought our own cleats), I know from whence I speak. We had diehard fans who simply loved to watch football and I played simply because I loved to play football. For us, it was a game, a very entertaining game, and not a way to make a living-and the FANS ruled! After all, THEY footed almost our entire expense since OVFL sponsors are about as common as hens' teeth.

 

A few years ago the baseball players went on strike. Perhaps the fans should go on strike...ticket prices, concession prices are out-of-hand!!!

 

Ya know, I gotta agree. Whenever i attend a sports event, I slip in my own cans of pop & eat before I go so I'm not tempted to buy that overpriced concessions stuff. But I AM tired of overpriced tickets, being charged to park my car, and overpriced food which is sometimes grungy.

But that's why I have a TV, complete w/instant replay...

 

The "example to the kids" thing is something that shouldn't be downplayed. In working with teens and sports just a little over the last few years, it's amazing how concerened they are not with playing the game and "having fun," but how they look while they do it. They emulate, clelebrate, and focus on individual accomplishments rather than team play- because that is what they see being recognized and rewarded on ESPN.

Another thing I find amusing is when I occasionally listen to sports radio commentary, and hear announcers begin to complain about athletes' salaries. If there wasn't that much interest in the sport, leading to people spending money, enabling athletes to command such exorbitant salaries- you would have nothing to talk about on your radio show! If we truly were incensed about pro athletes making what they do, we would refuse to watch, refuse to discuss, refuse to wear the apparel, etc. It's not unlike the whining of a less-talented junior-higher complaining "that's not fair" after he's been showed up by a peer posessing superior skills, strentgh, and knowledge of the game.

 

Athletes have been making the big bux for a long time now. The winners of the "Rome 500" chariot races were rewarded with their weight in gold. The top gladiators were honored same as today's less-lethal fighters. And virtually every society honors its best athletes now.It's simply a part of mankind.