When The Game Stood Tall
Tomorrow Super Bowl LX (60) will be played. I can remember Super Bowl I, and some quick math might lead you to conclude that I’m old, and you would be correct. If you know anything about that first Super Bowl you’ll recognize Bart Starr, legendary quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, pictured above. Growing up I was a Green Bay Packers fan, which means I still am. It’s a kind of life sentence being a Packers fan, a type of DNA that just becomes part of who you are, like your eye and hair color, or that weird birthmark you try and keep hidden. Other Packer fans should understand this. Anyway, one reason for my writing today is to inform and educate younger readers, readers who may not have the benefit of their elders experience and knowledge about Sunday’s “Big Game.” Take it from me, tomorrow’s Super Bowl will not be on a level with that game played January 15, 1967, not even close.
A quick aside, the halftime show will be the only part of the entire eighteen hour long broadcast day, that will be more insufferable than the game itself. The last watchable halftime show I can recall was Tom Petty (2006?), who’s been dead for some time now. (R.I.P. Tom).
The Super Bowl should be the greatest game of the entire football season, it is after all the culmination of months of preparation and competition, grueling battles fought week after week on the gridiron for the express purpose of winnowing out the “nearly greats,” in order to arrive at the two best teams, the “Alpha Dogs” of the football. The two elite armies of highly skilled athlete warriors who will take to the battlefield in one epic game, for the honor of being crowned World Champions. That certainly was the way it used to be. It used to be about football, simply and completely about The Game Of Football. Period. Today, in my opinion, the Super Bowl has lost its former prestige, fumbled its once deserved position at the pinnacle of athletic excellence. It has instead fallen in stature to a place of mediocrity, because it’s no longer about the game, it’s about personalities, pageantry and of course money. As football goes, the Super Bowl is arguably the least interesting game of the year, pro or college (the college game, by the way has its own unique problems). So how did the Super Bowl, and professional football generally, get to where it is today? Let’s start back in the 1970’s.
Rule Changes
Jack Lambert, Middle Linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, famously said in 1976 regarding rule changes being added to protect NFL quarterbacks: “they should wear dresses.” Today, a large percentage of NFL quarterbacks might not take that in the spirit it was meant, as an insult. That, in and of itself is a problem.
Just look at that beautiful face, now that’s a football face, missing teeth, disheveled hair, just a mean and nasty looking guy, sitting on the sidelines apparently leering at some poor soul unlucky enough to cross into his field of vision. The true definition of toxic masculinity. HELL YEAH! Nothing at all like the modern player with his coiffured hair, flashy clothes, colored and polished fingernails. POLISHED FINGER NAILS? Are you kidding?
The “In The Grasp” rule was implemented by the NFL in the 1970’s to protect the quarterback from getting hurt, and was the first of many rule changes that took a cleaver and carved a huge chunk of “tough” out of what had always been a tough game. There was only one QB back in those days, George Blanda who played well into his forties, he was 48 to be exact when he retired in 1976. Blanda was not just a quarterback though, he was also a place kicker. As he got older he primarily kicked, coming off the bench as the Raiders backup Quarterback only when needed, but still performing his backup duties at a very high level. As a backup he was of course not subject to the same level of physical punishment as full time starters were. (Note: Blanda, like many players of that era, smoked, drank alcohol and ate meat). Today, it’s common to see Quarterbacks not only playing well into their forties, but still starting every game, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers come immediately to mind. No doubt this generation of QB can still be starting at an advanced age because they aren’t taking the same physical beating week in and week out, as in Blanda’s day. Sometimes even today though, that rare QB comes along who is willing to throw his body into the game, hurl himself head first at a defender rather than take a slide in order to avoid contact. I’m thinking here of players like Brett Favre or Josh Allen. Their gutsy toughness endears them to real fans, because that toughness is so rare anymore.
If I Ever Had A Filter, I Lost It Long Ago
“If I Ever Had A Filter, I Lost It Long Ago.” That’s the official motto of Williams World. So here is my humble, unfiltered opinion as to the real reason why the modern NFL has become unwatchable. “CHICKIFICATION.” From the New Generation Dictionary:
Chickification (noun):
1-The process or phenomenon of rendering something more appealing or suitable to women or girls, often by altering its content, design, or marketing strategy to align with female preferences.
2-A derogatory term referring to the perceived tendency of certain industries, products, or media to streamline or simplify their offerings to cater specifically to a female audience, often at the expense of depth or substance.
Well, that seems pretty clear.
Football is a simple game, start with a ball (duh), 100 yards of grass marked off in ten yard sections. Each team gets the ball for four downs to advance said ball ten yards. If they do that they get four more downs. The object of the game is to move the ball down the field and across the other teams’ goal line and score. Do that more times than your opponent and you win the game. Well, that seems pretty clear. But what if you take this simple game and start adding stuff? Stuff, like for example:
Players sporting painted fingernails, and slogans on their uniforms. CHECK.
Taylor Swift TV cut aways after every other Kansas City Chiefs play. CHECK.
Players arriving at the stadium dressed like flamboyant movie stars walking the Red Carpet (Cam Newton was particularly known for this). CHECK.
An endless cadre of skinny twenty something blonde J-school grads holding microphones, asking dumb questions of coaches and players (most of whom can’t help but wear their disdain for the whole painful process on their faces). CHECK.
Word salad spewing announcers calling the game in the booth (I miss Howard Cosell, Don Meredith, and Frank Gifford, at least they were entertaining). CHECK.
Take all these ingredients and more, then add in a heaping helping of “Now Play Safe Boys” rules, blend it thoroughly and what you get is Chickified Football. CHECK.
In spite of all this silliness going on around the game, the NFL has managed at least to remain, for the most part, a meritocracy on the field. The best team, even within the parameters established by the new Chickified rules, still usually wins. It’s the only reason the league has any credibility left at all. How long will it be though, before “the best team wins when the final whistle blows” won’t be enough to expand the audience, grow the market, or satiate the Social Justice Warrior busy bodies? After all, the love for money these corporatists in charge have, seems limitless. So, at some point will the “on field” product be affected by Chickification? Or is that already happening?
Super Bowl XXXI
In 1997 the Packers secured their first Super Bowl victory since Super Bowl II and the play of the game, the play which cemented their victory, was Desmond Howard's 99 yard kick off return for a touchdown in the third quarter. Howard became the first, and only special teams player ever named Super Bowl MVP. So why is this important to our discussion? Because it segues into another rule change that has damaged the game even more than “In The Grasp” did fifty years ago.
The kick-off has long been an exciting, I would even argue, the most exciting play in football. It was physically demanding of the players, and was often a quick momentum shifter (as in Super Bowl XXXI). While a TD run back is relatively rare, the potential is always there and when it happens, it’s every bit as huge and exciting as a long touchdown pass. Under today’s bizarre kick-off rules, with the funny looking lineup and “Landing Zones,” a kick-off almost always ends in a touchback, or a predictable SAFE runback to around the receiving team’s 25 or 35 yard line. Since players no longer can build up a head of steam running down field before making contact with the opposing team, injuries are reduced, the primary reason for the rule change. Everyone is playing it “SAFE and BORING.” So, should all players, not just Quarterbacks, be wearing dresses now?
One More Thing On Kicking, And On Kindness
The Onside kick has also been neutered. In Super Bowl XLIV (44), a close game at halftime, the New Orleans Saints trailed 10 to 6. They opened the second half with an onside kick, a play named ambush. They recovered the kick and went on to win the game over the Colts. Today, under the new rules an onside kick can’t be executed except by the team behind on the scoreboard, and only in the fourth quarter. Furthermore, the kicking team has to announce ahead of time their intention to onside kick, so an AMBUSH play is no longer even possible. BORING!
But wait there’s more. In 2026 the NFL hires a Chief Kindness Officer. What? Say that again. The National Football League has hired a guy named Dahr Mann to be its Chief Kindness Officer. Some of his first important initiatives include “Be kind to your rival” and “Kindness Wins Big.” These two new slogans may soon be competing with “Choose Love” for space on the back of players helmets and shoes, or maybe even emblazoned in the end zones. This is not satire. This is Chickification. On steroids. (That loud rumbling noise you may have just heard was Vince Lombardi rolling over in his grave).
When The Game Stands Tall - De La Salle’s 151 Game Winning Streak
From 1992 until 2004 De La Salle High School won an incredible 151 games straight, a record that stands to this day. By comparison, the longest regular season winning streak by an NFL team is held by the Indianapolis Colts at 23 games from 2008 - 2009, and the longest college football winning streak stands at 47, held by the Oklahoma Sooners from 1953 - 1957. The De La Salle streak was the subject of a movie entitled When The Game Stands Tall.
The movie is certainly worth a watch if you’ve never seen it, and as you watch it you might find your mind being transported back to a time when football felt different, more noble somehow, and not just high school football, but the game at every level. A time when standards were higher, not just in athletics but in everything. Noble, that’s an interesting word, not widely used much these days. The main character, Bob Ladouceur, portrayed by Jim Caviezel considers himself first to be a teacher of young men, and second a football coach. More than any other team sport, football helps teach valuable life lessons that shape a young mans’ character. That had always been the traditional role football played in American life. And yes, it was “FOR MEN ONLY.” The physical nature of the sport precluded women from playing it.
Throughout the movie you see a coach who puts God and teaching, above winning games. Ironically, the teams he coaches over a twelve year span end up winning more consecutive games than any team ever did before, or since. Today, the game at the High School level is not corrupted, not the way it is at the college and pro levels. Not yet anyway.
I could have chosen any sport, not just football as the subject for this article without having to alter the storyline at all. For that matter, I could have chosen any subject outside of sports and not altered the storyline much. Politics, entertainment, healthcare, corporate culture, the state of the modern church, no matter, the story would essentially remain the same. The problems with the NFL are not unique to the NFL. Professional Football is just one of many mirrors reflecting an image of a broken culture back at us. Our society, our culture, are badly broken because “We The People” are badly broken.
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” -1 Timothy 6:10-
Anything can be made into an idol, and idolatry is everywhere we look today. Money, in and of itself isn’t evil but the love of money is, and the motivating factor driving changes, not only to the sport of football, but to many facets of modern life, is a love of money. Turning money into an idol is wrong. So where does that leave us today, on the eve of Super Bowl LX? Let’s wrap it up back where we started, around the time of Super Bowl I, in the 1960’s.
This Is A Football
Vince Lombardi opened up the first Packers team meeting in 1961 by saying: “Gentlemen, this is a football.” This followed a season in which the Packers had just lost the championship game to the Philadelphia Eagles. It was Lombardi’s way of conveying a message to his team that they were going back to the basics, beginning in training camp on day one. That year they won the championship and Vince Lombardi never lost another championship game again. Perhaps it’s time, not only for the National Football League to return to the basics, but for this country, all of us, to do the same. The same basics that were front and center for Bob Ladouceur during his coaching career at De La Salle High School, the same basics of life that have served humanity well for millennia, basics that go above and beyond a mere game, in fact go above and beyond all human endeavors. Maybe it’s time we go back to the ultimate basic of basics, given us by the creator of the universe. “Gentlemen, and Ladies, this is a Bible.”
So enjoy the game tomorrow, if you choose to watch it, and please don’t get me wrong, everyone should certainly decide for themselves how to spend Super Bowl Sunday. This critique was never intended to be some kind of “Guilt Trip.” As for my house though, I think I’ll do something else tomorrow. Perhaps listen to a good sermon in the morning, and then maybe watch an old movie, one I haven’t seen in a while. Have a good weekend everyone.
I'm a diehard cheese head too!