We have before us a man who found himself in the middle of a murder investigation in 2000 but was allowed a plea bargain in order for testimony against others. He is a self proclaimed Christian who lives with a partner, and has fathered six children with four different women. Now he stands accused of using steroids in order to return more quickly from an injury.
And we are supposed to look up to him.
This is not to single out Ray Lewis. But it is to illustrate that there exists, among football players perhaps more than any other sport, the idea that winning is everything, the individual is a demigod if he produces on the field, and that the football mentality is to be seen separate from personal morals and sportsmanship.
Can we separate who we are on the field from who we are in daily life? Can we with any real legitimacy excuse actions on the field, or actions designed to stay on the field, without a consideration of what those actions say about us or our gamesmanship? Al Kaline and Alan Trammell seem the same guys on and of the diamond, and are praised for it. Ty Cobb is similarly condemned. Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are now shunned in the baseball world for actions which call into question their integrity, both personal and athletic. Whither football?
Do we, at the altar of football, sacrifice our integrity for the sake of a mere game? Because this isn't all about Ray Lewis. It's about his coach defending a hit so brutal that it was fined by the league as, basically, 'that's football'. It's about the New Orleans Saints, ironically, given the team name, putting out bounties on opposing players. It's about a game, and nothing more than a game, where fathers who played it won't encourage their sons to follow in their footsteps due to the sheer barbarity involved. It's about a sport where thousands of former players are going through traumatic experiences due to its effect on them. True, they weren't forced to play. Yet they were surely encouraged by a mentality which preyed upon them, and told them to do whatever they had to to be stronger, faster, and more savage.
This is what football brings to the table. Play the game, do what you must to yourself to win, and all other offenses will be forgiven. Because you are a football player. What applies to the general public does not apply to you. Sportsmanship? We'll slap you on the wrist with a little fine if you hurt someone, because we really want you to do that. We want you to hurt someone. All the charity work in the world will not and cannot excuse the Colosseum mentality which pervades the NFL. Win there, and you're a hero. The fallout is irrelevant.
That's football, Americans. It's high time we began to question its legitimacy.
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