Another NFL career at an end
Today, I announce my retirement from the National Football League. With so many good years ahead of me this may come as a shock, but it’s time to step away from the game I’ve loved so long. I’d like to thank my friends and family who shared the excitement for being with me all these years. Leaving behind NFL Sundays will feel like I’ve disconnected from an essential part of the American experience.
I admit, it’s unusual for someone who’s not a player, coach or general manager to retire officially. I’m not even a season ticket holder. This announcement likely will be ignored. But if you knew what a devoted fan I’ve been, you’d understand how improbable this is.
The fundamental reason for retiring is a growing sense that the league is laughably unfair. The NFL can find inequity in every situation, on and off the field. At this point they’re better at being unfair than they are at showing football games. Lately on Sundays I’ve had to ask myself, “Is this really worth ignoring my children for?” After today, I won’t.
Let’s start with the moral issue. The NFL cripples its players, and contributing to that in any way is increasingly indefensible. My discomfort is mitigated by the fact that adult players make an informed decision, by now a fully informed decision, to put themselves at risk. More problematic is that the NFL appears to take no meaningful action to help its players. A rule change, like requiring defenders to attempt to use the fundamentals of tackling instead of their heads, would likely save lives and minds.
Such a change might be difficult for defensive players, but they would adjust and be healthier for it. It would not be unprecedented. NFL leadership has no problem making rule changes for its profit. Making the game harder for the defense creates more scoring, which leads to more excitement and more money. It also makes the game less fair. The field has tilted too far in favor of the offense. If the changes had the effect of protecting players, that would be reasonable. But in reality the changes disarm one set of players to favor others.
Most frustrating are the many games decided by arbitrary rules regarding reviewable plays. Technology exists to get just about every call right. Reviewing some situations but not others makes football a game show instead of a sport. For a scoring play they’ll make the fans and players wait until it’s been reviewed from each of 360 angles. For a penalty that can change a game’s outcome? Sorry, you lose a turn.
Then there are the events beyond the field. While dealing with the 2014 domestic violence charges against then Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice the league somehow did the impossible — they found a way to be too lenient and too harsh on a domestic abuser.
Tom Brady’s suspension will forever serve as the textbook example of the arbitrary abuse of league power. Odell Beckham was fined $18,000 this season for wearing multicolored cleats in a game to honor the oftcolorfully dressed announcer Craig Sager who had died days before. Were there ever an occasion for selective enforcement of the rules, which the NFL embraces when convenient, this should have been it.
With potentially decades of football watching ahead — and, may I say, the talent to do so at a high level — some may ask what it will take to get me out of retirement.
Using a sense of fairness that’s common to most others is all it would take. If the NFL does, I’ll be ready to dust off the couch, tell the kids I’ll see them Monday, and be a fan again.
With potentially decades of football watching ahead — and, may I say, the talent to do so at a high level — some may ask what it will take to get me out of retirement.