Dear National Football League,
…And that’s not just an opening by the way. Since I was a young child I have loved football passionately. I still do mostly. I have literally a lifetime of football memories I carry with me, and you feature such a prominent role in all of them. There have been so many holidays we’ve spent together, with family. Late nights with dad and granddad, so many Mondays made livable by the promise of evening football. And now that I’m a dad, I spend the same time with my son watching, what has become the American pastime.
But in the last few years I’ve felt a growing distance between us. I don’t want it to be there, but it is, and it’s pretty much all your fault. So here are a few tips to saving our relationship.
- Quit tinkering with the game. There have been a rash of major rules changes and suggestions of rules changes ever since Roge… Uhhh, you know who, took over a certain leadership position. I realize that football is dangerous, but so is life. Fine, minimalize the danger but understand you will never remove it completely. Stop messing up the game out of fear.
- This is a minor one but pick a uniform and go with it! Every season half the teams in the league either add some new third or fourth color jersey, or change their uniforms entirely. Half the franchises now resemble European Soccer teams.
- And speaking of Europe, enough of the overseas games. American Football has been tried at least twice and failed there both times. Who cares whether or not they like it. We love it. Maybe think of Americans as your target audience. Just a suggestion.
- Lastly, and this one is really the most important… Stay out of politics! I watch sports to escape politics and social movements, (as do most people I think). I don’t care in the slightest about a player’s sexual proclivities, or his political affiliations, or even whether he supports gay marriage. I do not care! I can sit at the local sports bar with friends of every religious and political stripe I can think of, and the only thing that matters to me is whether or not we’re cheering for the same team. I’m sick of listening to Bob Cos… Uhhh, broad casters lecture me about gun control or the Redskins name. I already hate the Redskins. I’m a Cowboys fan! I don’t need to be offended by a seventy year old name to hate them. I hope they never change the name by the way. For my part I refuse to jettison tradition because a handful of people are determined to misinterpret its intent. And since we’re talking about social causes, here’s one for free. Let’s scrap pink this October. (I know it’s not going to happen) Of course I’m against breast cancer! But how about taking all the money you were going to spend on pink stuff, and give it directly to cancer research. I think it would have a much greater impact than wearing pink socks and towels.
So there is my list of requests. I still have hope for our relationship NFL. I desperately want to make it work. I want my son to have as many great memories of family getting together around the game at Thanksgiving time as I do. But it’s up you. Eternal success and prosperity is not a given. We fans could be driven away.