The Ethics of Current Issues in Football

August 18^th has come and gone, but it is not to say that I don’t mark that day in the calendar in my mind. It is the date that we went to football camp. Some would say that they were the good old days, but I am struck by the state of play then and the state of play now.

First, after having a severe concussion myself it has provided more empathy from me to what happens on the playing field then and now. I can’t remember a single player who got a concussion during those days long ago.  Supposedly there were no days of confusion, headaches, forgetting certain things, and the time it took to be cleared to return to play then. Concussions didn’t occur, or did they?

Most males functioned in a culture of show no weakness or vulnerability. As the British would say, “Get a thick skin. Stiff upper lip.”

First, the equipment that we had was significantly not up to par for what future studies would show. It may have been different in a working-class public school, but practices were harder than today. Everything was measured by how athletic you were but also how tough you were. During one drill where you are on your back, the coach’s whistle blew, and you must get to our feet, and run straight toward a fellow player (one was the tackler and the other was the ball carrier). I severely injured a player who was a carrier of the ball. All the while one of the assistant coaches would be screaming run harder. He had a small man complex. Speaking of small I was 5’10” and weighed 120 pounds then.

Bernard Smondrowski transferred to our school, he had an immediate starting position because he was 6’ 2” tall and weighed in at over 220 + pounds. We walked to school together as he lived two doors down from me. The captain of the team, Kip Flowers, who was black joined us as he lived on the next block. After I injured a fellow player, his friends were angry with me and indicated they would get me after practice. but Bernie and Kip stood by me.

Sports build significant bonding which as Nelson Mandala indicated was a model to bring people together. But in those days if you had “your bell rung”, the coach simply asked are you ready to go back in. No one in that culture would respond with “no”. There were no concussion protocols.

But there are two issues today regarding the game that I feel are not good for the sport. Recall that whenever you have money, you have ethics.

It used to be when football was a sport, the emphasis was on the development of players. That skill was key and thrilling for a coach to see his players develop. Now It is no longer a sport, it is a business. Possible recruits are not seen as a way for the coach to experience the thrill of watching his players develop. I believe that is why Jay Wright, whose skill was developing players and not paying “the price is right” getting the most out of a playing becoming an expert in gaming the system with big bucks. It also relates to recruitment which is now a variation of the hunger games.

One of EA our parents who supports a team in the ACC visited the school and was introduced to the coach of one of the teams. This individual was so upset with his visit that he met with me right after he got home. He told me of his meeting with a women’s team coach. The coach told him that he had recruited an eighth-grade girl for the team. My friend was taken aback. “How do you know that she will grow into a great player?” The coach’s response was, “She could start for me right now!” Working the system is the criteria for great coaches and teams.

Yes, Indiana who is ranked 6^th in the football rankings now is not above doing this as well. Alumni have been bank rolling this pay to play making it a business. This happens if money from alumni holds out. All some alumni care about is winning.

I add betting on teams which was forbidden just a few years ago is multiplying and given time for ads when games are playing. Betting has always been a pathway to loss of morality in sports.

Now to the health part of football in college and the real pro players. One of the things that is present today that was not true in the past, is that players are bigger and faster than before, so they are engaging in bigger more forceful collisions, but the NFL is trying to protect them with advanced helmets. More important, is the concussion protocol that is in place.

I often wondered why a player making millions of dollars just doesn’t shake those symptoms off sooner. Having been through that experience, I now know what the stages toward health after a concussion are. You can’t rush it. But I do think that everyone’s experience is different from others, but I am sure the general fogginess and headaches are probably similar for all.

The other concern that I have was the question of how various multiple school transfers could matriculate through different universities. You can be watching a college game and discover that the player has been working the system so that they could be deemed a student. I learned that at the end of year 2 you must be 40 percent completed, end of year three 60 percent and at the end of 4 is 80% is part of the mandate. It hardly communicates an identity as a student and more the identity of an athlete working the system with support of coaches. The more valuable you become, the more money you will receive, and more likely the coaches will continue in their position with a hefty salary as well. The athletes also can go to summer school or take online classes.

A case in point would be Fernando Mendoza who transferred to Indiana, won the Heisman, and led Indiana to their first national championship. When the coach was asked why they did so well, he responded because, I (not we) win. Let’s hold all this preceding to the mirror. Does the current system focus on the power to change the world? Does it have the power to unite people in a way that little else does to inspire?

It looks like that now that money has entered college sports that the future may contain individual colleges or universities negotiating their own deals with the media. There is a rising movement that colleges/negotiators should not refer to themselves as such as student has been removed from their true intention which is another way of fundraising and winning.

Will we ever be able to get back to that proclamation from Kipling’s 1895 poem if you can meet Triumph and Disaster and treat those two imposters just the same?

Winning has taken over our cultural values. I am just as guilty as anyone else. If I point the pointer figure in judgement of you, know that there are three fingers pointing back at me.