The addictive system

I recall the cover of a “Time” magazine that featured a picture of a 16-year-old boy who had died on the football field. Shortly after that we heard about three high school players who had succumbed as a result of collisions It makes you wonder how any parent who heard of any of those deaths could encourage, or even allow, their sons to play the game.

I won’t forget that in 2014, the San Mateo County Times published a study that the NFL released that revealed that one third of its players “can expect to suffer long-term cognitive problems, including dementia, after retiring.” And that is not the usual retirement around age 65 to which most people look forward. It’s retirement from playing football. And yet the American obsession with football and the resulting brain-rattling injuries continue as we sacrifice our boys and young men at the altar of this violent sport and athletic departments of educational institutions, along with corporate interests, continue in their attempts to cover up their complicity and try to protect against any potential liability.

George Orwell didn’t put it so mildly. “Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence.”

A very poignant article in “The Week” a year or so ago comes to mind. It sadly described a serious problem with some who are obsessed with the game. It was about a 6-year-old boy whose life has been terribly changed forever by his fanatical father who was trying to use his son to fulfill his obsession for his son to become a star football player. When the father found out about the extent of the boy’s injuries caused by the game, it was reported: “The boy’s football-obsessed father struggled to come to terms with the idea that his son may never play again.” The unfortunate boy, who may suffer the rest of his life from his sojourn with tackle football, had been used by his father to live vicariously and bolster his own ego. There is no mention of a feeling of remorse for pressuring his very young son to play a game that threatened brain damage. It appears that it’s all Dad. “Mike wants his son to be a football star — what would his own life be without football.”

But not to worry! We then read about the “improvements” that those involved in promoting the game are planning. This includes regulating the amount of contact during practice, banning full contact — like blocking and tackling — in youth football during the off-season, changing the head in a tackle, and having an athletic trainer at all games and practices to evaluate the extent of a player’s injuries (of course, after the fact). Really, does anyone think that such changes can make much difference?

Every year during football season, all of the above comes to mind. Shouldn’t this game be outlawed? Of course, those who worship at the altar of the All-American game want to preserve it. There’s too much at stake. After all, it is an American icon and those with vested interests want to preserve their jobs and continue the monetary rewards connected with it. And when a few more deaths and concussions occur while they’re trying to figure out how to alter and save the game, well, that’s the chance you have to take.

The above is a perfect example of what Anne Wilson Schaef wrote in her insightful book, “When Society Becomes an Addict.” She wrote: “The addictive system invites us to compromise our morality at every turn. Furthermore, it gives us all of the tools to do so. Self-centeredness, the illusion of control, abnormal thinking processes, denial, defensiveness, fear, frozen feelings and each of the other characteristics of that system are handed to us as ways to avoid being moral, responsible persons. They silence the voice inside us that speaks the truth.”

Since 1984, Dorothy Dimitre has written more than 950 columns for various local newspapers. Her email address is gramsd@aceweb.com.