The LuLac Edition #2725, September 10th, 2014

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WRITE ON WEDNESDAY

NO MORE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE FOR THIS FOOTBALL FAN!

We haven’t had a “Write On Wednesday for a while. This week I came across a very timely topic with the start of the season, the new information on Ray Rice and just a general obsession with a sport that was once so simple. Dr. Joe Leonardi weighs in. Why he is no longer going to be glued to the TV set watching a game played by millionaires.
I have been a football fan ever since I can remember, and that love affair with the sport started with the National Football League. Sadly, now, the more I come to know, the more I have come to realize, that this league is not only an anachronism, but an abomination, an abomination that exists and thrives because of fans like me.
Over the last several years, we have learned that those who rule the NFL, care not for those who have made them wealthy, but only care about their own continued accumulation of said wealth. I am a strong supporter of capitalism, but not at the expense of human beings, and the National Football League has allegedly lied, exploited, and has shown little regard for the players of their league. Their loyalty extends only as long as the player can make them money, once they are used up, the player is disregarded and tossed out like dirty bath water --- unwanted, undesired, and uncared for. This is not a recent development, no this has been the league’s way of doing business since its inception, however, the vast amounts of money that has been brought in has turned this from a method of simply doing business, to exploitation, or perhaps, even worse.
I understand that we usually make comparisons based upon our own lots in life, so for many, it is hard to appreciate how millionaire players are being exploited. Actually, in my opinion, it goes beyond exploitation, to out and out indentured servitude.
The players are paraded in front of bidders, assessed and chosen, not for their talent alone, but for their ability to make the owner money. And, once chosen, if a player desires to play, he must play for the owner who chose him, he can’t say no, and go to a different team; because the NFL teams only compete on the field of play, everywhere else they are a socialist state, utilizing the principles of communism to line their own pockets. So, the player, the means to profit, must acquiesce to the owner, and thus do the owner’s bidding.
Yes, as I stated, they are well compensated, but that is compared to us, the general population. Compared to the money they bring in, they are paid at a rate that would probably equate to sub-minimum wage. The players’ potential to earn is once again, collectively and socialistically held down by an arbitrary salary cap. This cap does not ensure the player receives maximum compensation for their effort; it suppresses their compensation at below market value, giving the owners maximum profit, with little regard to those that are actually responsible for that profit. And then, there is the lack of guaranteed contracts. Of the three major sports, the one most likely to have a short career, shortened further by injury, is football. However, do these modern gladiators receive guaranteed contracts? Of course not, that would be fair and just. Isn’t it funny, that the commissioner of the NFL, received more than forty million dollars in compensation last year, yet he didn’t put his body, his health or his future mental wellbeing on the line. I can’t think of a single player that is compensated at forty million dollars for one year, yet, this one man receives so much, and he won’t be worrying if his role in football will one day have him in a vegetative state.
This is only one factor that has pushed me away from the National Football League. Due to this plantation owner mentality of giving the labor force as little as possible, the league has also used deception and suppression of information, to squeeze as much profit from their human labor force as possible, once again, with little regard to the health and wellbeing of those that are making them extreme amounts of money. We have learned that players have been misled for decades concerning the ramifications of repeated concussions. Many would like to believe that this information is new, yet, we in the healthcare community have known of chronic traumatic encephalopathy since the 1920’s, yet the NFL had kept their players in the dark, often times having them “shake off” their brain injury and return to the game only moments after having suffered said injury. Then, we have recently been made aware of players being given strong pain medications without being told of the risks. Again, many scoffed at this notion. Have they never seen North Dallas Forty? Additionally, they question the likelihood that doctors would actually give these drugs without informed consent.
Really?
Doctors are people, and they too can be profit driven. In my own time in practice, I have watched doctors of all disciplines prostitute themselves to insurance companies and employers, cutting off needed treatment, simply because of who was writing the check. Why do the players go along with this? Because they do NOT have guaranteed contracts. If they desire to keep their jobs, they will go along with this insanity, because if they don't, they will be cut, released and unceremoniously kicked to the curb.
If you are interested to the extent that players are medicated simply so they can earn money for the league, read Dan LeBatard’s profile on Jason Taylor, it is eye opening.
And finally, the latest incident, the Ray Rice incident --- how could this league simply standby, and give a two game suspension for such a brutal act? Yes, they have done the right thing now, only after the video of the assault was made public --- but where were they in the past? And, how many times have they looked the other way, because no video evidence existed? Are those that run this league simply cowards, or worse, does their disregard extend past the players they profit from, onto others in society. Is maintaining the profit margin more important than the lives of their fellow human beings?
A man, a person of the male gender, contrary to what Stephen A. Smith previously implied, is never justified in striking a woman, period. Imagine the power of a professional athlete, a man whose field of play is practiced violence, a man whose strength is greater than the general populace, and imagine the force it takes to knock out a woman with one punch --- that is the force that was used by this man. And, then, did this man express any remorse for the power he unleashed on a woman? Did he realize that his muscle may have done more than simply injure her? Did this man attempt to render aid and care for a person he claims to love? No, he stood over his fallen victim much the same way a boxer does who has repeatedly knocked out opponents. Then, when the elevator doors open, he attempts to kick her out the door as one may try and move the carcass of an animal to the side of the road.
But this isn’t about this man and woman, this is about the men who run the league. What was the National Footballs League’s response to this? A two game suspension and hope that the full truth never came out --- heaven forbid we stop the business of the league, which is not football, but money.
I have come to the realization that my being a fan has helped contribute to the ills of the National Football League. From the time as a child who idolized and worshiped the men who played on Sundays, to an adult who patronized those who sponsor professional football, and isn’t it strange that one of the biggest sponsors of football is the purveyors of beer --- you know the drink that tends to make us stupid and mentally malleable?
People may think I’m ridiculous, wrongly believing I am defending millionaire athletes, to whom those millions will mean little to them when they are former athletes, as they lie in a hospital bed, unable to communicate, being fed via a tube, while the billionaire owners who exploited them, are at expensive parties, dinning on prime rib, lobster and caviar.
So, for me, the NFL will no longer be part of my life. I will no longer waste hours of my valuable time glued to the television. I will make better use of my time, and simply enjoy my life, at peace with the fact that my actions will no longer contribute to the culture of exploitation and destruction that is today’s National Football League.
Doc Joe Leonardi
Author: Obesity Undone
www.ObesityUndone.com

http://rantrageandrampage.wordpress.com/2014/09/09/no-more-national-football-league-for-this-football-fan/