NFL Lockout: Why the Lockout Might Actually Be an Issue of Public Safety

The NFL lockout is something that we are almost forcing ourselves not to think about.

Thinking about Sundays without pro football is just immensely depressing: thinking about not being able to have parties with our friends to watch the games, not being able to keep track of our fantasy football teams, not being able to see the overtime game, not being able to see the new players on your team, and not being able to hear Chris Berman give us the highlights after the game makes us feel like an essential part of our lives is getting taken away with the NFL lockout, and this is about more than just missing a couple of games. 

What drives all (if not a high percentage) of people to football is the hard hitting nature of the sport. 

People love to see the big hit in football like they like to see the wreck in NASCAR or the collision at the plate in baseball. 

Many philosophers believe this is because of our urge as human beings to see "contained violence:" a violence where no one is seriously hurt, but a violence that still stimulates us. 

A hope for this violence leads us to watch every Sunday and praise the men delivering hits constantly. 

So with the impending lockout, we would be missing the hitting part of football along with the rest of the sport in general.  But how will the players be affected by this "non-contact" period?

You have seen the feature at least 10 times on SportsCenter.  You know, the feature about the pro athlete who got his family out of an hostile environment because someone introduced him to the sport he is a professional in right now.

The player says that if this person did not introduce him to the sport that he might be still involved in gangs.  The player yells that he would be in jail if it was not for the coach or the friend that got him involved with the sport. 

The player then shows the mansion he bought with his first contract and the feature is over.  We do not really think about it anymore.

We stop thinking about the feature because we see the players remarks as nothing short of hyperbole.  We think he is a good guy, so even if he was not in professional sports, he would probably not be in a gang. 

Heck, even if the guy was in a gang, he probably would be one of the "good gang members" who would never hurt anybody. 

We know this because we have seen the guy go through the PR gauntlet of community service,  being filmed when he is going to church, and constantly giving credit to God, his teammates, and his family for his success. 

This guy would never hurt anybody!  If he had to live without his sport, he would probably just go preach somewhere or help the needy!

Now imagine that the features are over, the cameras are off, and there are no games to be played.   We know for a fact that this can bring out a completely different athlete.

The negative influences from the athletes past never totally go away (see Mike Vick) and there is suddenly a boredom without the sport (in this case football). 

The human urge for violence is still there, but because billionaires are quarreling over even the dullest of pennies, there are no shoulder pads or helmets in sight.  What does a player do with his time now?

Some players might go hit a punching bag, practice MMA, or pick up another sport to help them get rid of their urges to act violently.

But logically with most of these players still surrounded by the negative influences of their past life, they will have the urge to act in a violent way that would "break the law." 

This may seem far-fetched, but having an NFL lockout may take the violent game from the players but it does not mean the urge to act violently is taken away.  Some of these players will get caught in situations where they are going to break the law. 

Even in the earliest stages of the lockout right now, we have seen a pretty significant rise in the number of NFL players arrested. 

As time goes on and these players do not have football as an outlet, would it not be logical to see crime go up even more?

It would not even surprise me to see violent crime increase among the general public. 

The NFL popularity can be essentially tied to two things: the parity that the league presents (any team can get in the playoffs just about every year) and the violent nature of the sport. 

The people who watch the NFL would probably not tune in week after week if it were a flag football game.  A lot of fans also release their urges to act violently by watching these games; these games serve as a lawful release of testosterone for many male fans. 

Without this release being presented to these fans every Sunday, they may choose other "law breaking" way to get their release.

And since most of these fans do not have the money to pay for boxing lessons, MMA training, or to get involved in other sports, they might even be more likely than the NFL players to commit violent crimes.

If NFL games are not aired on Sundays, a lot of us are going to miss watching the games with our friends, managing our fantasy football teams, watching our favorite players, our hearing our favorite personalities call the highlights. 

But the biggest issue with the NFL lockout may actually be an issue of public safety.  The players and the owners should work on getting a deal done as soon as possible because we do not want to see our favorite players not just locked out but locked up. 

This is exactly why the players and owners should not spend years debating dollars and cents and just spend an hour debating safety and sense. 

If they do this, football will start when it was supposed to but if they do not, our safety could be in danger.  The stakes have never been higher......