Football and Violence

Hello, friends,
The University of Georgia football season begins next Saturday. I don’t see myself as a person without angers toward violence, but so many young men injure themselves early in mind and body for later life. Much of the football system captures them as youngsters and keeps them from learning more rewarding ventures. You really can’t be more than a spectator after forty. And it’s so driven by our form of uncriticized capitalism. Covid-19 is a good time to rethink the sport — currently, UGA has reported one of the highest infection rates of any university. Again, look at the poem for more ideas. And remember the helmet photo of me on the gridiron — Jesuit spirituality drove me away from it. Thank you, Gene.

Football and Violence

Was it Jesus or Buddha who turned me against football?
Or was it barba Johnny, my kindly house-painter uncle,
who was dismissed from the army
because he didn’t want to bayonet people?

100,000 visitors flooded Sanford Stadium in Athens
to watch the Georgia-Notre Dame game.
I apologize to lovers of the sport,
who will call me a killjoy.

It took time to develop my stance.
In high school I shouted with fellow students:
“Hit him again! Harder! Harder!”

Now I view the game as an exemplar
of deeper violence in our culture,
based on fear of others who threaten us.

Few really want to make the game safer
and duller by curbing big hits.
Our tough culture even celebrates
risking the brains of children
that may increase mid-life dementia.

I admit the excitement of the long run or pass,
but are such exploits worth broken minds and bodies?
Yes, danger exists in all sports,
but football violence reveals a cultural sin
against fellow beings and our natural home.

The next morning, I awoke to the sound of small jets
returning the rich to the joys of money-making.
Al Gore thinks we have a chance against global ruin
but the powerful in those jets may win the game,
and spike the ball in our final endzone.