Sacrifice
by David Jacobs
In some measure, pro football is quite beautiful because it gives us human beings willingly giving up themselves for something they love. I don't have any real way to relate to that. The closest I can come (and this is not very close) is to imagine a world where I knew writing would likely knock a few decades off my life. I think I'm a little different from my peers, in that I've never felt fit for much else. Perhaps in that world I'd be prompted to discover I was wrong. But as I am, I think I'd lose the years.
This is a separate question from the responsibility of the viewer. There's no real reason why I have to sit and watch Hines Ward destroy his body. He may be welcome to the right, but I don't have to subsidize that right. In all honesty, I think I do because there's something of my own aspirations in the thing. To commit yourself so completely, to stand for a militant vivacity, instead of a bland longevity is attractive and inspiring. I think of Emmitt Smith and his separated shoulder at the most awkward, and seemingly, inappropriate times. I think of Muhammad Ali giving his body to George Foreman, and then refusing to punch as he falls, as a kind of masterwork.
via theatlantic.com
This is one of those "little themes" that FNL gets right 100% of the time. Think about it - whatever season you're in or whatever character you love - the show is filled with sacrifice. I think it's coincidental that we're now seeing what may end up being the NFL's last hurrah because of the concussion issue and the medical reality that the league may literally be ending the lives of some of it's stars, but it certainly adds to the resonance of the show.
Adriana is at dinner, so I am all the way Tami Taylor tonight, the wine is flowing.
