thedrifter
09-12-07, 03:08 PM
OTHER VIEWS MY WORD
Football or war: What's more important?
Phillip Lenger
Orlando Sentinel
September 12, 2007
It's opening week of another exciting football season, and it seems that everyone I know is thrilled about it -- except for me.
For years I seldom missed a game, until I missed an entire season serving with the Marine Corps in the Middle East. Ever since returning, I've found that football has lost its appeal. It's a great sport, but I can't help but become overwhelmed with disappointment when I hear others speak so intelligently about this team's no-huddle offense, and that team's superb running game, yet stand silent when someone dare breach the subject of our war in Iraq.
When your country is at war, how can football statistics top an American's list of priorities? Right now overseas there are thousands of soldiers who would love nothing more than to come home and watch their favorite team over a few beers with their buddies, but they know they have a job to do first, and every single day they're out there doing it, without the million-dollar salaries and legions of screaming fans. Don't we, in return, have a job to do for them?
Imagine a scenario: In an effort to save money, your favorite team hits the field wearing paper-thin helmets. They look the same. They're cost effective. Only downside is that if you're tackled you have a 50 percent chance of getting a concussion. Would the players even take the field? How furious would fans be who lost Fantasy Football because half of their picks were plagued with injuries? How long before the fans would gather in mass protest against the team's cheapskate owners?
Oh, we wouldn't dare allow our guys to step foot on the gridiron with inadequate gear, not when we have so much riding on their performance. Yet for years our military has lacked the armored vehicles that can save them from the increasingly stronger roadside bombs, and where's the mass protest? Do you think if 40 million tenacious football fans used halftime to write their representatives in Congress something might happen?
Maybe it's because so few Americans have a vested interest in the troops serving overseas. But that could be fixed. Maybe someone should invent a Fantasy GI League, where you could handpick a team of your generals, combat units, air squadrons, etc., and bet on them. Newspapers would fly off the stands as millions rushed to check the status of their Dream Team: "No! My Rangers are taking a lot of IED casualties in the Anbar province. I better write my congressman and demand stronger equipment?" Or, "My Marines are struggling to quell sectarian violence in Southern Baghdad. They're far too undermanned! We need reinforcements sent immediately! Where's my picket sign, something has to be done!"
How self-involved are we? I know football stopped briefly in the wake of 9-11, but just because it resumed didn't mean everything was supposed to go back to normal. If football still tops our list of priorities when there are far more pressing matters out there, maybe the terrorists did win. Maybe they were banking on our apathy. I suppose it's not irreversible though. Perhaps in an effort to draw more public involvement, the government should steal some plays from the NFL.
After all, what genuine football fan fails to pay attention when there's a draft?
Phillip Lenger of Orlando was in the Marines from 1999 to 2004.
Ellie
Football or war: What's more important?
Phillip Lenger
Orlando Sentinel
September 12, 2007
It's opening week of another exciting football season, and it seems that everyone I know is thrilled about it -- except for me.
For years I seldom missed a game, until I missed an entire season serving with the Marine Corps in the Middle East. Ever since returning, I've found that football has lost its appeal. It's a great sport, but I can't help but become overwhelmed with disappointment when I hear others speak so intelligently about this team's no-huddle offense, and that team's superb running game, yet stand silent when someone dare breach the subject of our war in Iraq.
When your country is at war, how can football statistics top an American's list of priorities? Right now overseas there are thousands of soldiers who would love nothing more than to come home and watch their favorite team over a few beers with their buddies, but they know they have a job to do first, and every single day they're out there doing it, without the million-dollar salaries and legions of screaming fans. Don't we, in return, have a job to do for them?
Imagine a scenario: In an effort to save money, your favorite team hits the field wearing paper-thin helmets. They look the same. They're cost effective. Only downside is that if you're tackled you have a 50 percent chance of getting a concussion. Would the players even take the field? How furious would fans be who lost Fantasy Football because half of their picks were plagued with injuries? How long before the fans would gather in mass protest against the team's cheapskate owners?
Oh, we wouldn't dare allow our guys to step foot on the gridiron with inadequate gear, not when we have so much riding on their performance. Yet for years our military has lacked the armored vehicles that can save them from the increasingly stronger roadside bombs, and where's the mass protest? Do you think if 40 million tenacious football fans used halftime to write their representatives in Congress something might happen?
Maybe it's because so few Americans have a vested interest in the troops serving overseas. But that could be fixed. Maybe someone should invent a Fantasy GI League, where you could handpick a team of your generals, combat units, air squadrons, etc., and bet on them. Newspapers would fly off the stands as millions rushed to check the status of their Dream Team: "No! My Rangers are taking a lot of IED casualties in the Anbar province. I better write my congressman and demand stronger equipment?" Or, "My Marines are struggling to quell sectarian violence in Southern Baghdad. They're far too undermanned! We need reinforcements sent immediately! Where's my picket sign, something has to be done!"
How self-involved are we? I know football stopped briefly in the wake of 9-11, but just because it resumed didn't mean everything was supposed to go back to normal. If football still tops our list of priorities when there are far more pressing matters out there, maybe the terrorists did win. Maybe they were banking on our apathy. I suppose it's not irreversible though. Perhaps in an effort to draw more public involvement, the government should steal some plays from the NFL.
After all, what genuine football fan fails to pay attention when there's a draft?
Phillip Lenger of Orlando was in the Marines from 1999 to 2004.
Ellie