[easyazon_image add_to_cart=”default” align=”left” asin=”161219415X” cloaking=”default” height=”160″ localization=”default” locale=”US” nofollow=”default” new_window=”default” src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51H10KgttBL._SL160_.jpg” tag=”douloschristo-20″ width=”112″]Page 2: Steve Almond – Against Football
Throughout the rest of the book, Almond brings out issues that most fans don’t (or won’t) consider. Most fans recognize that there is indeed a case to be made about the damage that is done to a football player’s brain and body. But Almond raises concerns that, at the very least, should make a fan stop and think.
He devotes an entire chapter to money in the game, and the incredible corruption taking place among owners. He focuses on the ways in which the owners fleece tax-payers in their teams’ respective cities in order to build stadiums, and then essentially use the facility nearly rent free. The profit from the stadium goes directly to the team owner, even though tax-payers foot the majority of the costs for the stadium to be built (up to 75% in some cases!). Meanwhile, many of these cities are falling apart all around the stadium. One city Almond highlights is in terrible debt and runs a deficit on the budget—and yet somehow finds the $350 million to get a stadium built. Beyond these issues, Almond points to the non-profit status the league was somehow able to get—the only professional sports league to enjoy such privilege.
Almond continues in subsequent chapters by making a credible argument that the league promotes sexism and homophobia (while simultaneously being latently homoerotic). In another chapter, he discusses the way the league essentially recreates the plantation owner/slave relationship, and how players of ALL colors are taught that they are valuable not for the content of their character, or their creativity or intelligence, but for how fast they can run, how well they throw and catch, and, especially, how hard they can hit. Violence is ingrained from a young age and is held up, for those trapped in poverty, as a means to a rescue.
Though mostly focused on the NFL, Almond also takes on college and high school football. Again Almond showcases research done on brain damage, but this time focusing it on younger athletes who are displaying similar patterns in brain scans as veteran boxers. Almond makes what should be an obvious statement: that these institutions are for education. It’s what our tax dollars go to these institutions for. And yet when most people hear the name of a state school like University of Texas or Alabama or Michigan, they don’t think of the college at all. A football team is the first thing that comes to mind.
The main strength of this book is that Almond raises questions that are not often asked about our love for the game of football. He raises issues that are not commonly raised when one thinks of the game. He does so with tremendous humor, and throughout the book you sense the struggle that he has a lover of the game.
Where it falls short is in the solutions department. At the end, Almond makes some very brief suggestions, but it is obvious he needs to do some more fleshing out of these ideas. He does a tremendous job, however, of putting the fan in charge. We often rationalize that someone else—the NFL or the owners, sports journalists, etc.—will address these concerns and clean up the corruption. However, we as fans have far more power than that. We subsidize ALL of it, with our tax dollars, ticket purchases, and so on. ESPN spent BILLIONS of dollars to land the contract for televising the college football playoffs. Why? Because we make it profitable to do so.
We have to ask the tough questions about our love for this game, why we are so passionate about it. Steve Almond’s book is a great place to start.
C. Christopher Smith is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com
 Reading for the Common Good From ERB Editor Christopher Smith "This book will inspire, motivate and challenge anyone who cares a whit about the written word, the world of ideas, the shape of our communities and the life of the church." -Karen Swallow Prior Enter your email below to sign up for our weekly newsletter & download your FREE copy of this ebook! |
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