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Sez Me …
Is it worth your life, your physical, mental and fiscal health and overall well-being to attend major sporting events?
Especially football?
Has the gambling element, now embraced by the NFL’s greedy, and money-mad college system, made it too dangerous for human attendance?
It’s starting to look that way. To the point that I can see a time when we won’t be building ridiculously expensive stadiums, but tearing them down and replacing them with detention centers.
So seats are unnecessary. Games played without the presence of fans.
The sport now seems to be more brutal off the field than on it.
The United States of America was founded on violence. There was a Revolution, which we started, first with tea, then with gunpowder.
In the two-and-a-half centuries since the world heard that first shot, we have not lost our taste for blood.
As with the divided nation, for which it stands, football also was founded on violence. Colleges first, and it was so savage, Teddy Roosevelt, no shrinking violet (top cop, hunter, governor, Rough Rider, president) wanted the game banned.
But there’s more to worry about than violence on the field, although it gets all the attention, such as the Texan Azeez Al-Shaair on Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence that got him a three-game suspension. The NFL has softened its game.
It’s hard for me to go onto Unsocial Media — especially X/Twitter — without seeing fights in the stands, some of them brutal. At last week’s Buffalo snow game, an 8-year-old girl, who had just held up a sign stating she had beaten cancer, was thrown down the stairs by a drunken fan (she was fine).
I see videos of men fighting men, men fighting women, women fighting women. I see flag planting. I see fans berating coaches — and coaches berating them back. The finish of the Ohio State-Michigan game featured an on-the-field melee in which pepper spray was the condiment of choice.
What can be done about it? Games went on without fans during The Pandemic, and every team, every school, remains active.
The NFL started it all by making the home-viewing experience superior — and far less expensive — than attending the events.
Gambling has added to it, simply because some people who know nothing of gambling get overly ticked when losing their ass.
Eliminate drinking? Fans just get drunk in the parking lot before games. They can’t put 5,000 cops in the stands.
Given our current temperature, I don’t know if anything can be done. Civility no longer can be taught. But hatred can.
There are people celebrating violence, or quickly dismissing it.
All I know is, from what I’m seeing, going to a game is risk greatly outweighing reward. …
Justin Herbert hasn’t thrown an interception for 10 straight games, second only to Tom Brady’s 11 since the AFL-NFL merger. As Sinatra sang, up there … where the air … is rarefied. And, with the exception of super rookie Ladd McConkey, his receivers have separation anxiety. …
Man, Kirk Cousins threw some passes vs. the Judases last week that would have been awful if he’d been in the NFL three hours. …
Russell Wilson, supposedly well-done to the point of having a fork stuck in his buttocks, had nine completions of 20 yards or more vs. Cincy and 254 yards after the catch. Joe Burrow is playing like the best quarterback and his team stinks. …
The League has to do something about offensive tackles, who line up in the backfield anyway, because they can’t pass block, from constantly jumping, because they can’t pass block. And getting away with it. …
When an official damaged his knee last week, Twitter was awash with how much it affects the Chiefs’ playoff chances. It’s not just me seeing it. You know who doesn’t see it and does anything about it? The NFL. …
The Chiefs have won nine games by seven points or fewer. Most in history during a 12-game span. To take K.C. you have to beat the team, Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo, their criminal attorneys, Patrick Mahomes’ skill, luck, Arrowhead Stadium noise, and the officials. …
Saquon Barkley is on pace to break Eric Dickerson’s NFL single-season rushing record. If the Eagles clinch the NFC No. 1 seed, Saquan should sit instead of risk injury. They’re not going to the Super Bowl without him. …
RIP, Joe Zizzo. A loving father and grandfather, a man of great energy, who grew up in Nazi-controlled Sicily. I always told him he was a bit too fond of soccer for my taste. …
Jim Harbaugh has given every player a lunch pail for “busting their ass.” Sighed Judases owner Fredo Spanos: “I told him paper bags. This guy is going to spend me out of business.” …
Jeff Bezos may buy the Bears. But that’s on hold until he completes the purchase of the City of Chicago. …
Georgia QB Carson Beck: “I really don’t enjoy watching football.” So that’s it. …
Ryan Day-to-day. …
I think Lincoln “Edsel” Riley has failed at USC. Notre Dame used the Trojans as bowling pins. He lost most games in the fourth quarter. Great coaches win those games. …
Riley appears to have had a strong recruiting class, so we shall see. But recruiting classes aren’t what they used to be. …
I’d like Aztecs freshman forward Magoon Gwath if he couldn’t play. Magoon? Come on, man. He is going to be greatly feared. If he isn’t already. …
There is a Gaboon Viper. We’re looking at the 7-foot Magoon Viper. …
“Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story,” which I thought was about K.C. and officials, was the most-watched show on cable last weekend. Bad weekend for cable. …
Did you see the Lions fan in the stands at the Packers game in Detroit with a cheese grater, grinding a loaf of cheddar? Now that’s innovative. …
I’m all for coaches taking risks. Lions coach Dan Campbell going for it there fourth-and-1 vs. the Packers on Thursday night would be stupid on the surface if not for the fact that his defense had 13 people on injured reserve, we’re in December, and he didn’t believe his gassed D could stop Green Bay in OT. Not quite as gutsy as it appeared. …
The NBA Cup rapidly is becoming the most important sports prize on Earth. …
Memo to San Diego State football: It can be done. Arizona State. SMU. The miracle of UNLV. I’m about 50 years into hearing State is a gold mine. Not enough to fill a tooth. …
Amazingly, Rob Manfred has nixed the remarkably stupid idea of the Golden At-Bat, which would allow a team, once per game, to send its best hitter to the plate regardless of where he is in the batting order. …
Say there’s one out. Bases loaded. Shohei Ohtani strikes out. He can come right back up? Why can’t baseball leave baseball alone? …
That was a great shot of Texas coach Steve Sarkisian sitting alone in front of the bus to the stadium spitting his dip into a cup. Later sold to a Longhorns backer for $3 million. …
I pay — and have paid — for Social Security. It is not a privilege. It is my right. …
If Canada becomes the 51st state, I’m moving to East County.
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