Football culture has always perplexed me. The level of obsessive fandom and ownership exhibited by followers of the teams seems to come before everything else in life, arguably more so than it does for fans of baseball, hockey or basketball. Perhaps my hatred for the sport and annoyance for its fans comes from growing up in a rabid Green Bay Packers fan house (gross), with my parents often missing a concert or play of mine or picking me up an hour late from after-school activities in favor of watching whatever important game was on.
Because football before everything.
I had this adorable thought that moving out of my parents' house could get me away from the football-is-life mentality -- ha! In Chicago and beyond, football season permeates our offices and homes with talks of fantasy lineups, Twitter feeds with play-by-play exclamations throughout the weekend and even our sidewalks when jersey zombies pour out of the neighborhood bar after 12 hours of drinking and screaming. We can't escape it, no matter how much some of us try.
But despite non-fans not being able to escape all things pigskin, there's one thing fans seem to have no problem overlooking when it comes to their teams, at least until it's impossible to ignore thanks to the media: the violent and criminal transgressions of football players off the field, and the NFL's consistency in ignoring and, by proxy, supporting them.
Over the past few years, we've seen scandal after scandal leak through the cracks of the NFL's public relations department -- how do these idiots have jobs? -- and subsequently get looked over by said rabid fans. This dilemma of conscience of whether to support a public figure or agency whose actions don't align with your morals is not unlike many of the conversations had in other industries -- "Is it OK to listen to and like Chris Brown or R. Kelly despite their various run-ins with the law?" -- with the big difference being that the NFL and its teams, unlike most record companies or big music fests, have consistently supported players behaving badly with laughable "punishments" and a steady stream of paychecks.
Evidence that the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell have known for a long time that concussions suffered during the game could and have led to suicidal actions and violent outbursts later in life, taking zero responsibility in its role in and lack of prevention of said actions? Shock! Awe! Damn, my fantasy team is sucking right now!
Because football before everything.
Line after line of DUI arrests, drug charges, domestic assaults and dropped charges for football players? Players who post bond and go right back to work gaining yards on the field? Put that jagoff in jail! Bad role model! Stop ruining my hopes and dreams of a winning season for my [team name], guy!
Because football before everything.
A video of a woman being dragged from an elevator while unconscious from a vicious punch to the face by her running back fiance warrants only a two-game suspension? And the eventual termination of his contract happens only once video of the actual blow ticks off enough people on the Internet to scare the bigwigs into doing what they should have done seven months ago? And football fans go back to throwing remotes at their TVs on Sunday and emptying their savings accounts for stadium seats and sporting that $150 jersey they bought from NFL.com, like nothing ever happened?
Because football before everything.
OK, so maybe the NFL's public relations department isn't all that bad. It has, after all, convinced the American public to completely overlook the NFL's and the teams' roles in downplaying the significance of the players' -- their employees' -- transgressions off the field. They propped up an assault victim to deliver carefully constructed statements at a press conference next to her attacker (now-husband), while the Ravens sneaked in in a tweet that is about as victim-blamey as it gets.
Because money and image before everything.
I will never be able to understand how we as human beings can support -- with our time, with our wardrobes, with our pocketbooks -- an organization that has consistently shown a complete lack of respect for its fans by assuming they won't care that one of their heroes knocked a woman, the mother of his child, unconscious without much regard (and reportedly lied about it to his teammates). That fans will continue to rally for this guy's team that has done little to punish him for his actions.
... Oh. Right.
Football is an all-American sport, and your team is your city. I get it. But this is as anti-American as it gets, and it has to stop. The NFL is nothing without you, its fans, and it's time to let them know that you will no longer support its bullshit. Stop going to the games. Make your own jerseys. Hit the owners where it hurts, their pocketbooks, and maybe Goodell and crew will finally have to listen.
Jessica Galliart is RedEye's Social Media Lady. She'll show up to your Bears party for the cheese dip but will probably just stand in the corner.
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