Violence "scandal" in the NFL? Sure the Gregg Williams tape looks bad, but how bad is it really? Most fans have not ever been a spectator inside of a high school or college football locker room or on the sidelines. We like to watch our sports from the stands or on our tv sets in our plush living rooms, and most of us don't realize quite how brutal the talk can get. Initially sure, I was shocked, but after thinking on the issue I realized that what Williams was telling his players isn't much different from what players tell each other.
The difficulty comes when we consider the example that this sets for our young athletes. Sure, football is a sport that is based (generally speaking) on violent actions. Tackling is a "violent" action, and often can result in injury. We've come to accept this as a part of the game - which is why most high schools and colleges require athletes and parents to sign waivers acknowledging the fact that there is a very good chance they will be hurt playing the sport. How though do the actions seen in NFL games run down and influence younger players?
In all honestly I'm not sure that there is much of a trickle-down. Middle school and younger football players play quite a different game from that of high school level and above. Youth football programs see far less injury, likely because the kids are there for fun alone, and are not under the influence of outside factors like fans, peers, and of course the big one - testosterone! Once our kids hit high school age, the locker room and sideline transform into a place where the encouragements of violence that Gregg Williams spouted are frankly commonplace. What may surprise some people is the source - not the coaches but the players themselves.
Williams' words might be shocking to some, but I have heard the same things on high school and college sidelines and in locker rooms, not from the coaches but whispered, spoken, and shouted by individual players and their peers. I would be a millionaire if I had a quarter for every time I've overheard a player decide that they're going try and injure an opponent. Emotions run high in football, as in many other contact sports. I've seen it in soccer, football, ice hockey, lacrosse, field hockey, even basketball and baseball on occasion.
Athletes learn these "violent" behaviors at the high school age, and rather than a trickle-down it seems to be a trickle-up. Players establish an in-game pattern whereupon they reach an emotional high then following a bad play or an error of some sort, decide that they want to take it out on another player. I would imagine that this behavior is learned based on a combination of observation of peers actions, encouragement of older teammates, and of course the heightened emotions that are brought on naturally in our teens.
When we realized that spear-tackling was dangerous and were seeking to ban it from the game, we started with youth sports. When we needed to change the equipment rules, we started with youth sports. If we do want to change the nature of the game and steer athletes away from seeking to remove their opponents from the game then starting at the pro-level will be unproductive. Sure, we do need to continue to penalize NFL and NHL players for dangerous hits, especially with all of the new concussion knowledge we are equipped with, but if we really want to make the game safer we need to start where the action starts - in our high school sports.
Coaches and other sideline personnel are aware of what their players are doing and talking about, but when a kid comes off the field and forcefully insists that they're going to injure an opponent, most of the adults on the sidelines turn a blind eye. We'd all like to win our games, that goes without saying. Sometimes a deaf ear is turned to the sideline conversations of players because of this. We can't babysit our kids, and we certainly shouldn't coddle them, but perhaps we as adults should start encouraging our players not to go after their opponents with intent to harm them each time we overhear a threat of violence on our sidelines. Yes, it's one of those things that takes extra effort, and yes we all probably have just about enough to think about during games without having to remember one more ridiculous thing, but it takes two seconds. It might be a pain in the butt, but if we have any concern for the future of the game, especially when we factor in our steadily increasing knowledge of head injuries, it is probably something we should all heavily consider doing.
