{"id":6909,"date":"2014-09-23T00:00:05","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T05:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.walkingwithcake.com\/?p=6909"},"modified":"2014-09-22T21:26:56","modified_gmt":"2014-09-23T02:26:56","slug":"too-smart-for-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.walkingwithcake.com\/?p=6909","title":{"rendered":"Too Smart for Football"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Walking<\/a>

(James’ first day of kindergarten.)<\/p><\/div>\n

Since the latest NFL controversy, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’ll tell my boys as they grow older.\u00a0 I grew up in Texas, attended a large football school, and have relatives who played college football and coached high school football.\u00a0 I completed my student teaching semester with the wife of the district’s head coach and athletic director, and we taught Brian’s Song<\/em> and watched Remember the Titans<\/em>, too. Football is part of the culture here, and I absolutely loathe it.\u00a0 I’ve never understood the game, or the point of it to begin with, and the camaraderie and hero worship that begins in childhood is baffling to me.<\/p>\n

We are not a football family.\u00a0 Ryan doesn’t watch it and the boys have had minimal exposure to it, only seeing kids practice on the middle school field as we drive by after school.\u00a0 We’re not into sports, and while the boys take gymnastics as a way to run off some extra energy, I would prefer them to focus on more academic interests as they get older. I never thought I’d be the kind of mom to prevent my children from participating in certain activities, but I will not let them play football. I don’t think it’s safe, for one thing, and the overall culture, as shown by recent events, is archaic and disgusting.\u00a0 I don’t want my boys to become a part of that.<\/p>\n

I’m hoping, as they get older, to encourage their interests in other areas and to help them pursue the curiosity that comes with learning new things.\u00a0 So far, we’ve had a few short conversations about the sport, and I’ve simply told them that football can hurt your brain, which I believe is true.\u00a0 My boys are too smart to play football, and that’s what I plan to tell them.<\/p>\n

Dr. Bennett Omalu<\/a>, the pathologist who discovered Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) after conducting an autopsy on a former NFL player, was warned by an NFL staff doctor to stop talking about the dangers of playing football<\/a>, because “if 10 percent of mothers in this country would begin to perceive football as a dangerous sport, that is the end of football.”\u00a0 I’m in that 10 percent, and I’d love nothing more than to see football disappear.<\/p>\n

While the recent events within the NFL are incredibly shocking, they aren’t surprising or unexpected.\u00a0 And the NFL isn’t alone when it comes to men behaving badly. Most professional sports have had their fair share of controversies, and our own local college football team is often in the news for the players’ poor choices regarding alcohol, drugs, and even sexual assault<\/a>.\u00a0 I realize that not all football players are abusive, angry men, but the sport sure seems to attract a certain type.\u00a0 Remember O.J. Simpson?<\/p>\n

I’ve never been a football enthusiast, so it’s easy for me to turn my back on the sport and its sponsors. We don’t wear Nike products and Ryan is too much of a beer snob to buy Anheuser-Busch, but companies like CoverGirl and even Vogue have paid or accepted NFL dollars in exchange for advertisement time and space, and that’s unacceptable to me.\u00a0 I’m not watching Monday Night Football, so I can’t hurt the ratings, but I can avoid spending money where NFL items are sold.\u00a0 If you feel strongly<\/a> about the actions of the NFL, I encourage you to do the same.<\/p>\n

I’m not naive and I have no faith in the NFL. I don’t believe that recent mandates or proposed classes will change anything.\u00a0 But I can educate my boys and raise them to be responsible men, and hopefully, keep them safe in the meantime.\u00a0 My boys are too smart to play football, and yours are, too.<\/p>\n

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