The Washington Post is holding a competition, looking for “America’s Next Great Pundit”. I entered it yesterday and thought I’d share my piece. Fingers crossed.
In America, You Can’t Hit the Quarterback
Two of the National Football League’s most compelling stories are connected. First, many have suggested that football’s repetitively violent collisions may lead to increased rates of dementia or other disabilities. It’s easy to show steady growth in player mass and velocity; it follows mathematically that the force of each impact has also grown. Second, the NFL has regularly expanded protections for one particular group of players: quarterbacks. A simple on-the-field “roughing the passer” penalty has morphed into a complex and unpredictable off-the-field system of monetary fines for impermissibly touching a quarterback.
A causal link snaps tight in considering the timing of these stories. The public is becoming aware of long-term effects of football on the human body. It’s not hard to imagine that the players have at least intuitively known about these possible consequences. It’s also easy to speculate that informed players have already lobbied the NFL for additional safeguards.
Why, though, would the league single out only one type of player for protection from the game’s unforgiving nature? Maybe because the position is undeniably the most glamorous, high-profile, and marketable. Quarterbacks are often paid more than teammates, especially if you consider endorsements and commercial opportunities. They’re often considered to be smarter. They’re often white. The quarterback is an institution; other players are grist for the mill.
The true connection jumps out in viewing these stories against the grander game of capitalism and high finance – a game also widely accepted as being violent and unforgiving. The nickel version of the current meltdown always comes back to a story of major financial players operating at least recklessly and our industry regulators acting at least negligently. Millions of Americans have lost careers, forfeited homes, and slipped a standard of living. Even in the wake of these cataclysmic events, it seems like there has been no significant impact for those quarterbacks of capitalism. They’re somehow insulated from the dangers of playing.
Most of us are not so lucky. We have a view from somewhere deep in the trenches. We’re the linemen of the market, colliding every day, and fail to fully understand or contemplate the trend towards special treatment for our fellow players. For a nation founded on equality, it’s disturbing that we could so easily accept a class of people exempted from the rules.