I hate to get on this issue again, but violence in football continues to be a hot topic. This week there were some very violent hits during NFL games, prompting the NFL to levy some fines and, because of one player’s comments that fines really don’t bother the players very much, to threaten suspensions for violent hits.
The response of defensive NFL players was not surprising. James Harrison (who had two hits that were singled out by the NFL for fines) said this: “I don't want to see anyone injured, but I’m not opposed to hurting anyone. There’s a difference. When you’re injured, you can’t play. But when you’re hurt, you can shake it off and come back, maybe a few plays later or the next game. I try to hurt people.”
This comment is a blatant statement about the violent nature of the sport, and when I read it I thought of the words of a respected, successful Christian high school football coach: “When I was in high school, I loved to hit people. The football field is one place where it’s legal to hit people. If you hit people in other places, you can get thrown in jail. But on the football field, you get to hit people, and I loved to hit people.”
There’s a very small area of distinction to be made here. How, exactly, do you “hit people” without seeking to “hurt” them? Can you intentionally “hurt” someone without significant risk of “injuring” him? Can such a distinction be made, especially in the excitement of the moment? And how should a Christian coach react to such a distinction? Does this mean that a Christian school football team will be at a disadvantage because they won’t intimidate the other team by “hurting” them? Or can a Christian coach teach his players to only “hit” an opposing player, or only to “hurt” the other team enough so that they don’t lose the edge, while still avoiding “injuring” the opposing player? How, exactly, does “hurting” an opposing player reflect the sorts of values – sportsmanship, honor, respect, skill – that God-glorifying competition should display?
The bottom line is that football is a violent game. Brian Urlacher, the Chicago Bears’ hard-hitting linebacker summed it up when he said, “You know what we should do? We should just put flags on everybody. Let’s make it the NFFL — the National Flag Football League. It’s unbelievable.” In the same article, Chris Harris, a Bears defensive back tweeted, "This is a violent, barbaric sport. You have a split second to make decisions when making a hit."
We expect hard-hitting – violence – in the game of football. But as Joe Posnanski suggests in his excellent essay, we also expect to see the players get up after the hard hits like Wile E. Coyote gets up after his cartoon mishaps. We don’t want to see the gruesome injuries like Joe Theisman’s broken leg, or see a player motionless and paralyzed on the field. We want them to get up. We forget that they may have long-lasting damage from the violence of the game, including damage to brains that have horrifying effects – including death.
Can football be played in such a way that skill, honor, technique, and sportsmanship are revealed for all to see, in such a way that “hitting” is skillful without “hurting” or, worse “injuring”? If football is made less violent and barbaric – and more skill-full – will anyone want to watch? There’s a lot of money involved in the NFL and NCAA tackle football, not to mention high school tackle football. But will anyone want to watch the NFFL?
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