Note: this post, and the subsequent audio clip both have "Strong" Language, or however the fuck you want to classify that.
Ever since I could walk and crawl, there has been one sport that was always talked about everywhere I went. It dominated sundays in my house more than Church, Breakfast and the overstuff Sun-Times combined.
Football. More specifically, Chicago Bears Football.
But even if the Bears had a 12pm game, we'd still see the west coast game at 3, the night game at 7 and definitely tuned into Monday Night Football on ABC (the way it should still be to this day)
Over time, my early obsession for football dwindled. The Bears kept sucking in the 90's (although I still love the bastards) and the changes in the game were becoming more prevalent, even to someone my age who only saw past clips and reels of the Golden Era of Football (1952-1986)
Fast forward to the 2000's. I started to watch a ton of College Football thanks to the expansion of cable coverage, and I only watched the NFL under 3 conditions:
1. Bears are playing
2. Have money on the game
3. It's the playoffs
While I discovered betting on football at a young age, I realised that I needed something to supplement the weaker talent on the field in order to commit 3 hours to a game.
It's well documented that football players have become softer than in year's past. Guys who used to play with several broken fingers, scrapes, cuts and blood running down their arms and faces have given way to guys sitting on the bench over a sprained wrist or turf toe. All of these things are painful, granted, but when your job is to hit, punish and sacrifice the body, and your job pays very well (at least 6 figures) you better get your tender ass off that heater and get on that line.
Which leads me into the hottest NFL topic of the off-season. The New Orleans Saints alleged bounty scandal. The reports are out and Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams was running a bounty system for his defensive players to earn extra money for taking out key players on the opposing team. When word got out on this, the NFL started an investigation and led to the indefinite suspension of Williams, a Year-Long suspension to Head Coach Sean Payton (who covered up things to block the investigation allegedly), large cash fines for the team and loss of draft picks.
This past week, This Audio
was leaked by a film maker who was traveling with the team working on a new project. It was Williams' walk through Saturday speech before their Playoff game vs the San Francisco 49ers.
For anyone who has played football at a High School level or higher has heard everything that Williams has said on this clip. The only mildly questionable comment is when he talks about blowing out a guy's ACL. But everything else that is mentioned, "Kill the head and the body will fall", "don't fucking apologize for the way we play" ,"we need to see if (Michael)Crabtree (Wide Receiver coming back from a concussion injury) is going to be a fake ass primma donna or if he's going to be a tough guy." This kind of shit is said in the locker room all the time.
And there's nothing wrong with it, because it's Football.
This sport was built on blood and violence, it's the ultimate contact sport. It was so violent in the early 1900's that death was a common occurrence and that President Teddy Roosevelt decided to either force rule changes in the sport or ban it altogether. Over time, equipment became more prevalent and sturdier and the game went on. Yes, people got hurt, that is inevitable in any sport, but especially in a contact sport
If you've watched a NFL game in the last 5 years, and this is super true if you saw any games from last season. Contact with Quarterbacks are drawing more and more penalties. It seemed that last season, every decent hit on a QB was a roughing the passer call, and every great highlight hit that SportsCenter rolled 684 times that overnight into monday morning, would lead to a tuesday phone call from the Commissioner's office and a fine or suspension from the league was handed down.
The point of Football from a defensive standpoint is to get the ball back for your offense. One of the top ways to achieve this goal is to Hit the Ball Carrier. The Quarterback starts the play with the ball 98% of the time, so he should be hit accordingly. And I understand protecting players from serious injuries, but you wanna know why these QB's and Wideouts and Kick Returners get hurt all the time?? Because They Can't Take A Fucking Hit!!! The only way you learn to absorb contact is to take contact, and the NFL, with all of it's corporate family flash bullshit has, for lack of a better term, Bitchified this game to a weak version of 2 hand tag, and even then, I've seen tougher games on playgrounds.
This is a tough sport made to be play by tough men. If you can't handle the sacrifice of the body and mind that it takes to properly perform and win ballgames, then go ride a bike or work in a office, and leave football to the tough guys.
And to Mr. Roger Goodell (NFL Commissioner) and all the other Suits in the NFL who sit in a nice chair and collect the blood money while feeding the public contradictory bullshit, I would like for you all to sit and watch Hours and Hours of back film from real quality football games and players, clips from Dick Butkus, Mean Joe Green, Chuck Bednarik, The Purple People Eaters, Ronnie Lott, Dick "Nite Train" Lane. Go back and watch what make this game popular and take close notes as to how this game was ment to be played and needs to still be played.
As for Williams, the only thing I don't understand is why he had to offer extra incentives to get the desired and deserved effort out of his players. What he said in that locker room, shouldn't even have left that locker room, but since no one gives a fuck about the sanctity that is a locker room anymore, we're going to hear stuff. What he said in that locker room, in my opinion, isn't crossing any lines. The objective is to hit the ball carrier and play as hard as possible. If he gets hurt, chalk it up as a loss to the game.
"Don't fucking apologize for the way you play the game." - Gregg Williams.
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