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There have been some shocking events involving football players and coaches this offseason. My fear is that with the recent transgressions by these individuals, the overall effect on the football culture in the United States could change. Football has experienced a huge bubble. Much like the housing market experienced before it finally burst a few years back.
Read the headlines on any sports page of current news happening in football, college or NFL, and there will usually be at least three stories of players or coaches getting in trouble. Penn State ex-football coach Joe Paterno has been dominating headlines because of the shocking developments in his enabling of child molester Jerry Sandusky. Dallas Cowboys Wide Receiver, Dez Bryant, assaulted his mother last week. Tennessee Titans Wide Receiver, Kenny Britt, arrested for DWI on a military base. Seattle Seahawks Running Back, Marshawn Lynch, DUI.
The list could go on and on. If you look at human nature and what happens when people obtain power, status, wealth, etc., it's easy to understand what is happening here. They get to the point where they think they are above the law. They can do whatever they want. When that happens you can see that the fall from grace will be especially hard.
Could this lead to a decline in the popularity of football? I believe that it will and it is the responsibility of these adults to be more responsible. If not, there will definitely be a football recession.
Hey Drew. I like your blog. Big sports fan as well as music. I'm not sure I agree with your prognosis of a bursting bubble with football though. The truth is that there have been scandals in big time sports all throughout their history. Just look at the Black Sox scandal of 1919, Pete Rose, Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Steroids, Spygate, Bountygate, etc. All of these were huge when they happened, and deserved to cause legions of fans to abandon the sports they were tied to, but we as fans have short memories and immense tolerances for transgression when it comes to our heroes. I cant imagine what kind of magnitude any single scandal would have to carry to burst that bubble.
ReplyDeleteJake
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some great examples of scandals but they are of different sports and not as frequent as the incidents that seem to be plaguing football as of late (except of course for spygate and bountygate).
The spygate and bountygate are two more examples of what I am talking about with the potential for football to be on the decline in popularity (Michael Vick, Bobby Patrino, Terrell Pryor, Jim Tressel, the list could go on and on). I hope that it isn't trust me, I am an avid football fan!
Each of these scandals and violations of the law that I am talking about seems to be happening more and more frequently every year. Much like what happened with the NBA when they had problems not even ten years ago, the same could happen with football.