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12.3 What's it all about?

Football is in many ways a unique sport. George Carlin has monologized at length on its contrasts with baseball, which is traditionally called "the American pastime": Football is about "ground control" and played on a "gridiron" of exact dimensions, while baseball is about "going home," and played in "parks" that are all different from one another, and so on. Such observations, however humorous, would be widely regarded as at least hints about some of the nature and significance of the game.

12.3.1 Character building

It is a widespread American doctrine that participation in team sports, including football in particular, inculcates worthwhile habits and values in the players. Leadership (at least for quarterbacks and exemplary players), identification with a group, aggressiveness where called for, the setting of personal goals, and sustaining commitment to these, are often mentioned.

12.3.2 Football scandals

There is a long history in the second half of the 20^th century of controversy over the tension in college football between values important to the institution's academic mission and the team's win-and-loss record. Many observers attribute to football skill an excessive role in gaining admission for prospective players; they by and large regard this as an ongoing scandal. Measures that are seen as effective in maintaining players' academic eligibility but not in furthering their graduation or competence in their fields of study attract similar criticism.

In the decade of the 2000s, the increasing economic stakes in sports, changed attitudes outside football regarding acceptable behaviour towards women, and the perception of uncontrolled use of steroids, all have played a part in an increase in public concern about football's role. Many suggest that the status and other rewards accruing to players encourages arrogance in general, and in particular, both an assumption of privilege and an expectation of immunity from consequences. It is also suggested that

• steroid-using players are markedly more aggressive both on and off the field,
• their teammates and opponents grow accustomed to excessive aggression, and
• both groups are predisposed to treat women they encounter, especially in the presence of their sports colleagues, in a disrespectful, aggressive, and sometimes sexually coercive manner.

This issue came to a head early in 2004 during a series of sex scandals that rocked the football program at the University of Colorado. The school's head football coach, Gary Barnett, in responding to the charge by his only female player that a teammate had raped her, accused her of being an incompetent player. Almost immediately after his remarks, Barnett was placed on administrative leave, but was later reinstated after a committee that reviewed the Colorado football program placed most of the blame for the scandals on higher-ups. The aggressive image of football and the amounts of money involved can support the perception of its being the "last bastion" of sports administrators likely to wink at abuses; close scrutiny and drawing of parallels with Barnett can be expected in any case that is claimed to suggest coddling anti-social players.

13 See also

• American Football League
• Arena Football League
• National Football League
• National Women's Football Association
• German Football League
• American football glossary
• List of American football players
  • Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Football
  • Canadian football
  • Comparison of Canadian and American football
  • Rugby football
• List of defunct sports leagues
• Fantasy Football
• Flag football
• Shotgun formation

14 External links

• NFL History and the basics
• NFL Digest of Rules - (a basic guide)
• NCAA Playing Rules (complete college football rules are available as a pdf file)
• About anabolic steroids
• Movie of 1903 football game between the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan

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