Conflict

Football season is here and I have not watched a single game. I turned on the beginning of a couple of games but after all the fireworks and the blasting graphics and the talking heads I turned them off before the second period.

Now football was my sport of choice, but I didn’t follow any one team. The game was simple enough that I could follow it and enjoyed what the coach’s strategies were.

The game, as I understood it, was eleven big men in colored costumes faced another eleven big men in different colored costumes and they would run into each other and knock each down to get a ball that wasn’t really a round ball but more spherical with points at both ends. The ball was given to one man and he would run to the left. If he got knocked down, they’d start all over again and he would run to the right. If that didn’t work, the ball would be thrown downfield and if it were caught (preferably by one of your teammates) he would run with the ball to the end of the field. Each team had four tries to get the ball 10 yards or score and if not the other team would get the ball and head in the opposite direction.

My town had no football team and neither my father nor older brother talked about sports so football was introduced to me in junior high school. Coach Parchell and Coach Jones would bring in black and white films of Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts during gym class and discuss the plays. This was better than doing jumping jacks and sit-ups so I watched with some interest. Our school had a little team but I never went to any of the games. In high school we had Friday night football but I found better things to do than watch our team lose every time. Great school spirit, right?

The first Super Bowl and all the hype got me hooked. Every Sunday afternoon, the TV was switched to football as background noise. Many times the sound would be turned down as the behemoths bumped into one another. I do a play-by-play for the Super Bowl for between all the commercials and breaks and talk there is barely time for the game.

I understand sports and competition. Get a group of folks about the same size and weight and run down a track and the fastest wins. Pick up a heavy weight and throw it and the one who throws it the furthest wins. Sports like NASCAR that is nothing more than a commute around the block driving very fast has calmed down with fewer wrecks and fights, Ultimate Fighting has picked up to look like a video game where two people get face-to-face beating the pulp out of each other as the audience cheers as if in the Roman Coliseum. Thumbs up or thumbs down?

We all complain about stress but enjoy the conflict of sports. If we can’t handle our life we can live vicariously through our team.

“Family Feud”, “Battle of the Stars”, “American Idol”, “Survivor” and even the “Dating Game” were stressful competitions, many extended with conflict.

Most of our personal family crisis or dramas don’t turn into physical conflicts like football, or do they? “I don’t like your haircut” or “I don’t like the way you pray” or “I don’t like what you look like” or “I don’t like the…etc.” would maybe create some fuming or some shouting or maybe a swing or two, but the times they are changing. 

Since I’ve been on this planet, there is war. War is sometimes called a ‘police action’ or a ‘conflict’ but the results are the same. Like in football, each team has different uniforms and branded advertisers and logos and banners and jewelry but the difference is they have guns. The other difference is when a player is down, instead of dragging him or her off the field of play, they are dropped in a hole. Maybe whether they win or lose they should be called ‘heroes’ and ‘patriots’?

These conflicts causes more stress than any ‘NCIS’ or ‘COPS’ series, just check YouTube because all the Wars are taped now. If the documentary is not good enough there are remakes and make believe movies to add to your PTS.

So maybe I won’t plug in the TV? I’ll just stream the highlights and skip all the commercials of explosions and reckless driving.

I’ll still find a way to watch the Super Bowl. Have they played the World Series yet?