Craziness on the Football Field

Football has changed. When I was a kid, I grew-up two miles from the Dallas Cowboy training camp.  Several players lived in my subdivision and since my older brother had a paper route, we got to meet the players when we went knocking on doors to collect payment.

These guys were big. Of course to a kid they seemed like something out of a Greek Myth.  They were kind to their fans and when they had open practice, we all went and watched.

How did they train?  Lots of weights and lots of food.  However, if you watch video of old football games you'll see some big guys who by today's game standards might not be considered to be in the best of shape.  They were big but with a lot of those players, it was all flab.  The coaches wanted weight to move linemen in order to make way for the running backs.

These days it's different.  The players these days are trained like warriors.  They are big as well but it's all muscle.  It's actually kind of scary.  Have you ever thought about facing a 240 pound safety that is over six feet tall, solid muscle, and can run a 4.4 forty?  That's not normal.  Compared to when I watched my favorite football players train 30 years ago, that's abnormal.

I understand sports has a much better understanding of training and nutritional science.  I agree that to be in top shape is a must in order to protect against injury.  But players today are scary.  More importantly, I also realize that players use performance enhancing drugs in order to become stronger and train more productively.  This is where I believe a problem comes into play.

I used to think that if I had to shell out a ton of money for a ticket, stale beer and a cold hotdog, I deserved to see Titans clashing on the field.  If someone got his bell rung during a tackle, it was an added bonus as long as the guy wasn't seriously hurt.

Now that I'm older I've backed off my position a bit.  Sure, I want to see competitive football.  I enjoy a good, physical game.  But at this point I'm afraid that things are going to get to be too much.  Too much for whom? 

Too much for young kids who see the direction pro football has taken over the years and who may be working towards pro football as a career.  I think the signals they might be getting will skew their perspective on the game and what's important.  I'm afraid they might begin to think that they too will have to use performance enhancing drugs just to survive in the game.  This is a message I'm not willing to send.