Easy Way Out

Ironically, while many men play and watch football to compensate for a perceived lack of masculinity or virility, they are deemphasizing the very traits that historically and psychologically define being a man.

In western, or Judeo-Christian, civilization, self-control has been considered a hallmark of masculinity.  Every weekend, football players dance and strut and beat their chests like a group of deranged baboons.  Hyper-emotionality and drama queen behavior become the masculine norm.

Moral integrity is a cornerstone of true masculine identity.  Every week, we glorify steroid-riddled wife-beaters.  Moral laxity reins.

Real men have intelligence and wisdom.  In football, intelligence has become a liability.  Wisdom, the ability to reflectively determine prudent courses of action, has been replaced by impulse and instinct. 

Even perseverance has been denigrated.  Football is an incredibly inactive sport; for over two hundred minutes of telecast, the game is only actually played for only eleven minutes.  Each individual will play less than half of that.  For all their talk about toughness, football players actually DO almost nothing.  They get all dressed up, shout a lot, set their hair on fire, and sit on the bench.

Essentially, football is a triumph in modern America because it gives males the ability to FEEL like men without actually having to BE men. 

I’ll repeat this because it’s such an essential component to understanding – and eventually undermining – football’s preeminence as an American pastime.  If you’re a woman, or if you’re a man secure in his masculinity, this might seem foreign or difficult to intuit:

Football gives males the ability to feel like men without actually having to be men.