The New American Football

I was born and grew up with SEC college football. I was educated at The University of Tennessee, so I have orange blood in my veins. I have always said that SEC football beats hockey by miles and is exceeded only, sometimes, by bull fighting. Well, this Fall is the first in over ten years when I have had the chance to see live college football. I owe this to my 13 year old grandson, Peter, who I suspect one day may be an ESPN reporter. Anyway, Peter clued me in about ESPN 360, and I subscribed. For a few Swiss Francs a month, I get more college football live and archived than I can watch in a week. Some things have changed!

I know this sounds like an old man, but I am an old man. Growing up in high school and college, as well as 25 years living in the USA, I watched a lot of football live and on TV. The quarterback was the smartest guy on the team. He knew all the plays and led the squad. Each team member depended on him to tell them the upcoming plays, so they knew what they were to do. Today, it seems that the game is run by the assistant coaches and the head man. Most of this done while the assistants are sitting in the boxes high above the stadium talking into radio headsets to the head coach down on the sideline. He keeps a paper of some sort in front of his face so the lip readers in the area cannot tell what he is saying. Guys along the sideline with him then give all sorts of hand signals to different members of the team on the field. Before the ball is snapped, the team all stops and turns to the sideline to get instructions.

Football equipment has steadily changed over the years much to the well being of the players. Helmet design is a lot safer, as are the other pieces of equipment that players wear. Shoulder and hip pads were long time standards. Today, a lot of players look like they are in full body armor. They even wear gloves. They still seem to have a lot of injuries. I wonder if this isn't because they are so well padded that they can hit each other much harder. When an injury happens, it usually isn't terrible, but there are a lot of bad knees and shoulders in these player's futures. If your CAT scan and/or MRI scan looks OK, then you will likely be in the next game's lineup.

It took me a few views before I realized that some of the players did not have a real shag carpet hanging out from under their helmets. Some of these players are immense and yet still very quick on their feet. In my day, a lot of the team weighed at or near 200 pounds. Today, that is considered light unless you play quarterback or kicker. Three hundred pounds and 6-plus feet tall are the rule. Frequently, I feel like a spectator watching in the amphitheater, as the gladiators duke it out.

Maybe, I have this all wrong. Football is still a great sport, but I fear that the culture has left me a bit out of date.