American Football

There are so many potential topics for this Monday morning, and I guess I have chosen a surprising one. I bet no one would guess (given my interests in English church music, spirituality, the arts, etc.) that I used to be quite a football fan. Yeah, the American kind, complete with helmets and shoulder pads. I grew up in a New York Giants household, so fall was pro football. In the 1980's when I lived in New York City, this intensified somewhat, although I never did attend a game in person. However, "for a woman," I knew an awful lot about the teams, their quarterbacks and records, the rules of the game, etc. I just unashamedly enjoyed watching. After Thanksgiving meals, and a cursory effort to clean up the dishes, I would inevitably drift into the room where the men were watching football.

So, yesterday, I saw that the Giants were on, and I turned to that channel and watched for literally about ten seconds. I had to turn it off. I tried another game, and the same thing happened. Watching men attacking each other, even in a sports guise, was too upsetting. It's been a few years since I've watched football, and I certainly can think of several reasons for this change, not the least of which is reporting about football head injuries and the horrifying actual violence in the news. But more than that, it is a change in me. Watching these images is not exciting or fun, if it ever was. It hurts me. I literally feel the pain in my whole body and soul. It may only be a small symbolic act to turn away from violent entertainment, but increasingly I am doing so, as I guess I have said before.  

I ended up watching US Open Tennis, which comes a little close to the conflict line without going over it (yet, anyway...), with some back and forth to golf. Sorry, football, you've lost me.