Saints Bounty System Reveals Culture of NFL

Well the NFL isn’t the USGA, we all know that. Players call penalties on themselves in golf for one thing. I have never witnessed that at Arrowhead.

Football is a team sport, golf isn’t. The list of comparisons goes on.

But in my mind what the Bounty System Scandal revealed to the world is the real, true danger of the NFL and the courage a player must have to step on that field game after game after game.

Winning seasons can mean untold millions to team owners, staff, and players. Likewise losing seasons can cost millions and ruin careers.

Individual players can and do mean the difference between winning and losing seasons.

Some players and coaches don’t mind sacrificing a career or two in order to reach the top.

I was shocked, surprised when the scandal first broke. I listened to the tape released yesterday with horror.

But I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised.

Football is war.

Helmets hide faces from the fans and to some degree the players creating a weird , impersonal environment that encourages brutality.

Prescription and non-prescription drug use in the NFL is prevelant, who knows what kind of effect that has on players abilities to evaluate right from wrong. It’s still unclear the effects  that steroids have to some degree. But it ain’t good.

Players perform on the field of battle like gladiators in ancient Rome in front of tens of thousands of screaming, alcohol fueled fans.

I tell myself if I played NFL football I would never take steroids, and never target other players.

Plenty of players don’t. I wouldn’t.

But the sad fact is some choices that NFL players make  can mean the difference between being wealthy cultural icons, and being poor uneducated failures, at least in the players minds.

It can be an easy thing to tell ourselves that we wouldn’t do the things some NFL players do if we  have never worn an NFL uniform of war.

Women, fame, and unimaginable wealth would have no effect on my morals.

My kids would be able to go to private schools, and the best colleges in the country if I succeeded.

My wife would never have to work again.

My parents could have that home they always dreamed of.

I could retire at 35.

I would be the cleanest NFL player in the league I tell myself. Whatever happened would happen.

What about you?