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Throwing around the pigskin has always been a classic pastime of Americans, along with sitting down on Sunday nights to watch two teams battle it out on the field. Tailgates, parties, the Super Bowl halftime show, all these traditions have risen out of the massive popularity of the sport. But with the imminent danger of football becoming more and more known to the public, such traditions may be subject to change.
Unlike anything else, football is something everyone knows about, whether they like it or not. This graph shows the viewership of single telecast TV programs in 2017, and among the most popular 4, they are all football related events. the Oscars is the first to come after them, and in between more football broadcasts and Game 7 of the World Series, the Grammy Awards are 9th. There may be lots of buzz in Hollywood when those events come around, but 112 million viewers is miles ahead of the views which those 2 events garner. People might talk about best film of the year the night after the Oscars, but everybody knows who won the super bowl the night after, even if the home team wasn't in the game. You can tell from the commercials, those companies who are advertising know how many people are watching. Football is more than just a sport in our culture.
A prime example of how football is cemented in our culture can be seen in the recent controversy over the name of the Washington Redskins football team. For years there has been protest from Native American organizations over the offensiveness of the name, protesting that it encourages a racist, insensitive outlook on Native Americans as a people. More recently in 2016, the issue drew attention from major news programs like CNN, and it was discussed more openly in the public eye. The term "Redskin" is generally known as an offensive term towards Native Americans, and is known to refer to the scalping of an Indian. Despite the obvious danger in making this term the mascot and name of a football team, the owners have refused to budge on the name change. In an interview with ESPN, Redskins owner Daniel Snyder explained that "A Redskin is a football player. A Redskin is our fans." Without much care for the meaning of the word to whom it actually refers, Snyder prefers to keep his definition fit for what he needs it to mean. And in his case, football is the main concern.
Much like concussions, there will likely be those who believe that the players ought to ignore these new discoveries and play through the pain, just like the game has always been played. Such change will undoubtedly be hard to implement, similar to how the effort to get the Redskins to change their name was extensively difficult, and ultimately failed. Football runs deep in this country, and for the powerful men who own the game, they want to keep it the way it's always been. So regardless of the danger CTE and concussions may have on the sport, as well as those who play it, the NFL and many other organizations who benefit from the sport will aim to keep it afloat, no matter the cost.
Citations
Skinner, David. “The Real History of the Word Redskin. It's Not What You Think.” Slate Magazine, Slate, 18 Dec. 2013, www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2013/12/18/redskins_the_debate_over_the_washington_football_team_s_name_incorrectly.html.
Allen, Scott. “Daniel Snyder on the Redskins Name Controversy: 'The Truth Is on Our Side'.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 3 Sept. 2014, www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2014/09/03/daniel-snyder-on-the-redskins-name-controversy-the-truth-is-on-our-side/?utm_term=.d77f8f6bcb43.
Statista. “Top 10 Single Telecast TV Programs in the U.S. 2017 | Statistic.” Statista.com, Statista, www.statista.com/statistics/214638/top-10-single-telecast-tv-programs-in-the-united-states/.
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