I saw today that my beloved Steelers are scheduled to play (again) on Christmas Day. Not everyone celebrates Christmas, and this is not the only holiday on which professional sports have begun to trespass. It is, however, in my humble opinion, a disturbing trend.
Now, some will argue that the players are paid big bucks and that they should not complain. It is true that they are paid to entertain us. So, to an extent this is a valid argument. But, it is not only the players who have to work. Think of the countless, ushers, vendors, security personnel, etc. who are needed to run the stadiums, and the personnel who are necessary to televise the game. These all have families. These all might just want to stay home with their families for Christmas. Sure, they benefit from holiday pay, but at what cost?
The idea of football on a holiday that presents an opportunity for quality family time is disheartening. It is disappointing because the NFL is only scheduling these games because people will watch. Now we can argue chicken v. egg here, but it doesn’t make a difference if someone in an NFL meeting said “If you build it, they will come” or some poor fan suggested that he wants to go to a football game on Christmas Day. The reality is that the pattern to avoid the opportunity to gather as families and neighbors to celebrate one another has become all too common in American society. It is a symptom to much greater underlying issues in our society.
Now, I trust that some are thinking that sitting on the couch watching our NFL teams battle is “family time”, and this is just sad. It is sad and pathetic. Between television and electronics, we seem to have lost any sense of relationship in our society.
Countless problems facing our society can be traced to our decreasing abilities to communicate and socialize. We are less and less able to relate to one another in meaningful ways. I am not naïve enough to think that not scheduling a football game on a holiday will fix this, but it goes to the “tragedy of the commons”. Every small “it’s no big deal” adds up to a big deal. Maybe we should begin to take a bit more of a stand?
Carpe momento!
Image: http://images.pitchero.com/ui/343346/1350998014_0.gif