The NFL is excellence explained.
It’s the best place in the world for young men with a particular skill set to work.
It’s where other men teach them how to refine their skill set.
Together, they are The National Football League in a nut shell.
In the early days the players were dedicated to the game of football, but the business side of the sport didn’t support their dedication.
From Sports History Network:
We do not present professional football as a major life pursuit nor a short bridge to fortune. It does, however, provide a young college graduate with means to tide over the perilous period between graduation and the time for deciding what shall be his life pursuit.
In the 1940s, the players continued to sample a variety of interesting off-season positions. Guard Lou Marotti was a welder.
Clint Wager played pro basketball and raised Chesapeake Bay Retrievers.
Defensive back Red Cochran sold sporting goods while two-way star Marshall Goldberg was involved in the sale of industrial machiner.
Mal Kutner was an oil scout in Texas.
Tackle “Cactus Face” Duggan was a member of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
The business side, the money, improved over time.
Eventually players played and when they weren’t playing, they were getting bigger, stronger, and faster.
Polite Society And Football
In the beginning polite society looked at athletes with a degree of disdain.
They were seen as big, sweaty, guys you’d never want to spend time with.
What’s changed?
They are still big, sweaty, guys, but now they are more personable.
Before television it was all about the sportswriters.
Before social media it was all television.
Now it’s podcasts, and signing events, and sports talk radio.
Before television you’d never know if a guy was articulate, or a mumbling goon.
Imagine the Roaring Twenties with today’s stars.
It would have been post-WWI during prohibition.
No champagne for them.
Their Excellence Explained
The modern NFL player is a seasoned football player by the time they turn pro.
They’ve played in big games, won big games, and lost.
If they don’t make it that far, they wish they had.
Through advanced workouts and diets and supplements they are peak performing human beings.
Fans see a game and think they could play, especially if their team loses.
They’re soft and weak, but they could represent better than their favorite players on a bad day.
As a twelve year old my Granddad in Dallas Texas took my brothers and I out to the Cowboy training camp.
We met a couple of guys, giant guys, and it left an impression: No way I could ever make a team.
They had legs bigger than me.
Instead of being critical of the losing team, unless it’s the Cowboys, why not appreciate the fact that they are among the best trained, best motivated athletes, in the world.
Instead of seeing them through the lens of a personal failure from a high school game where you caught a pass, or threw a pass, scored touchdown, and still lost, just give the players the respect they’ve earned.
Unless you’re a gambler with a point spread bet, an over/under bet, any bet.
Then you’re a player, too.
When you win, it’s a different example of excellence explained.
Did you win?
About David Gillaspie
