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Increased violence equals increased popularity in sports

It's the start of the football season again, just as the war in Iraq officially ends and the one in Afghanistan proceeds. And, as always, there's the old
Frank Deford|
Increased violence equals increased popularity in sports
Increased violence equals increased popularity in sports

It's the start of the football season again, just as the war in Iraq officially ends and the one in Afghanistan proceeds. And, as always, there's the old cliché that football is a benign substitute for war. Ground attack, flanks, bombs, blitz and so forth.

But it is a truth, not a cliché, that our football has gained in popularity in the United States as we have had less success with our wars. It makes me wonder if, ironically, football doesn't provide us more with nostalgia for the way war used to be ­­-- with clear battle maps, focused campaigns, simple battle lines.

And, of course, football games have neat conclusions -- they're simply won or lost. But our wars are precisely not settled that way any more; their goals are vague and imprecise and they just drag on and on, without resolution.

Of course, all that aside, the increased popularity of football may be explained by the fact that it has become so much more violent than our other team sports ... as indeed we prefer more violence in most all phases of our entertainment today. Mixed martial arts is more violent than traditional boxing, auto racing is more violent than horse racing, and professional wrestling makes comedy out of brutality. Our movies and television, too, are more violent, and our children grow up devoted to incredibly bloodthirsty video games. Even our music, that which soothes the savage beast, is more savage today.

It's been glib to say that violence in America is as traditional as apple pie. I don't think so. The new violence is show biz. Rather than traditional, it's trendy -- a fashionably entertaining part of everyday life, not any by-product of our aggressive heritage. And for all the beautiful excitement in football -- the spectacular kickoff returns, the long touchdown passes -- the one constant is the hitting. We very much enjoy watching football players hit one another. That makes the highlight reel.

The NFL has belatedly begun to acknowledge that the potential for damage to athletes' minds and bodies is probably much more the case than we have been prepared to admit. It is almost as if we didn't want to recognize that in a sport where hits to the head are so common, concussions are bound to happen. But then, since we no longer pay that much attention to our wars, it's easy to overlook casualties there, as well. Football and war today seem to have that in common, too.

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Frank Deford
FRANK DEFORD

Frank Deford is among the most versatile of American writers. His work has appeared in virtually every medium, including print, where he has written eloquently for Sports Illustrated since 1962. Deford is currently the magazine's Senior Contributing Writer and contributes a weekly column to SI.com. Deford can be heard as a commentator each week on Morning Edition. On television he is a regular correspondent on the HBO show Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel. He is the author of 15 books, and his latest,The Enitled, a novel about celebrity, sex and baseball, was published in 2007 to exceptional reviews. He and Red Smith are the only writers with multiple features in The Best American Sports Writing of the Century. Editor David Halberstam selected Deford's 1981 Sports Illustrated profile on Bobby Knight (The Rabbit Hunter) and his 1985 SI profile of boxer Billy Conn (The Boxer and the Blonde) for that prestigious anthology. For Deford the comparison is meaningful. "Red Smith was the finest columnist, and I mean not just sports columnist," Deford told Powell's Books in 2007. "I've always said that Red is like Vermeer, with those tiny, priceless pieces. Five hundred words, perfectly chosen, crafted. Best literary columnist, in any newspaper, that I've ever seen." Deford was elected to the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. Six times at Sports Illustrated Deford was voted by his peers as U.S. Sportswriter of The Year. The American Journalism Review has likewise cited him as the nation's finest sportswriter, and twice he was voted Magazine Writer of The Year by the Washington Journalism Review. Deford has also been presented with the National Magazine Award for profiles; a Christopher Award; and journalism honor awards from the University of Missouri and Northeastern University; and he has received many honorary degrees. The Sporting News has described Deford as "the most influential sports voice among members of the print media," and the magazine GQ has called him, simply, "The world's greatest sportswriter." In broadcast, Deford has won a Cable Ace award, an Emmy and a George Foster Peabody Award for his television work. In 2005 ESPN presented a television biography of Deford's life and work, You Write Better Than You Play. Deford has spoken at well over a hundred colleges, as well as at forums, conventions and on cruise ships around the world. He served as the editor-in-chief of The National Sports Daily in its brief but celebrated existence. Deford also wrote Sports Illustrated's first Point After column, in 1986. Two of Deford's books, the novel, Everybody's All-American, and Alex: The Life Of A Child, his memoir about his daughter who died of cystic fibrosis, have been made into movies. Two of his original screenplays have also been filmed. For 16 years Deford served as national chairman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and he remains chairman emeritus. He resides in Westport, CT, with his wife, Carol. They have two grown children – a son, Christian, and a daughter, Scarlet. A native of Baltimore, Deford is a graduate of Princeton University, where he has taught American Studies.

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