NFL 2011: Professional Football Is No Longer a Sport for Warriors

Will the real men, the true gladiators, please stand up? If you're wearing a jersey representing a team from the current NFL, then just remain seated. Pro football, more appropriately known as the NFL, used to be the land of the gritty, the dirty and the grimy. In 2011, with all the adjustments and rule changes the league has made to "protect" its players, its become more of a land for the pretty, the intellectual and the metro-sexual.

This by no means is a shot at the type of players that are presently in the league: this is a look at the current rules that penalize players for simulating those who have paved the way before them. Football players were known to have missing teeth, play with broken fingers and constantly have blood stains on their uniforms.

The names that were known to star and stand out in such environments were names like Butkus, Youngblood, Blount, Greenwood, Greer, just to name a few. These names will forever be remembered in football folklore for being the gridiron warriors and gladiators this sport was meant to have.

There are still some players who embody the character and ability to carry out the duties of a gridiron gladiator—names like Lewis, Harrison, Woodson, Revis, Matthews, Ware, Reed and Polamalu—but are hampered by the "new NFL," which now stands for No Fun League.

It is well understood that today's athletes are much faster and stronger than the players of the glory years, but they are also much more compensated in salary as well. So it makes sense that the danger in playing professional football is higher, theoretically, and the league minimum is also much higher than those past years at $220,000. But is it really more dangerous in 2011 than in 1977?

The gear that is worn is far more advanced than the uniforms worn in the 60's and 70's, as well as all the preventative gear that isn't even a part of the uniform. But even though you get to wear this new, aerodynamic helmet and maximum protecting pads, it is now illegal to hit a player, "leading with your helmet".

It's also now illegal to "hit a defenseless player," like when a receiver is going for a pass. But isn't a receiver almost always defenseless when he's going for a pass? So you have to wait until he catches it? You can barely touch the receiver after five yards, so what gives?

The rules that protect the quarterback are even more ridiculous. The quarterback is barely considered a football player anymore, considering what can't be done to him. I don't even know why he has to wear a helmet. You're just as good as suspended if you dare make any contact with it.

On average, pro football players are better compensated than boxers and MMA fighters, but are far more protected, but the sport is still looked at as the "man's sport." Fans cheer for a great tackle, a punishing sack or exciting hit, but if one actually happens, there will undoubtedly be a penalty for it.

It would not be surprising if in 20 years, the league has gone to being a professional flag football league. At least that way, they can take out all that gladiator aggression on pulling the flags as hard as they can and throwing them on the ground and stomping on them, but then again, they'd be penalized for excessive flag grabbing and taunting. After they game, they'd be fined $5,000, the cost of an NFL player's flag.