Conservatism, Football, and the Constitution

The proposed NFL rule changes lead some to question if “football” will still be football

What is football? Being an avid sports fan in America, football is my favorite sport – I spend just about every Saturday and Sunday watching it. Part of what makes football so unique is that it’s our only major sport not played in other parts of the world. Basketball has spread to Europe and Asia; baseball is huge in Japan and Latin America; and hockey is much more popular in Canada and Scandinavian than in the US. But, football is just ours – it’s our one solely American sport. The prospect of not having the NFL to watch is so terrifying I don’t even want to think about it. Recent discoveries and research of severe brain damage among former football players is a problem for the game’s future. I just saw a story on ESPN about how LeBron James won’t let his kids play football, because it’s too dangerous.   Things like this bring about difficulties for football, as they try to retain the cornerstones of the game while also making it safer. And, akin to the ideologies of Burke and Tracy – though traditions of football must be upheld, the game must also conform and progress like everything else.

For Marc Tracy’s question of “when is football no longer football?” I have two main arguments as to why football must change with the times. First: the game adapting to modern times would not make it different from the history of any other sport or even the history of football itself. Second: every institution changes and progresses through time, as I’ll show through the case of the US Constitution. In essence – conservatives’ prioritizing traditional and important values is fine, but when progress is needed and available it should not be avoided.

The sport of football has changed greatly since the game’s founding in the late 1800’s

As Tracy notes, the NFL is moving in a direction of a “safer” football, limiting violent hits and possibly eliminating kick-offs. Though pretty significant changes to the game, it would not in my opinion damage the tradition of the game or be any different than the history of any other sport. Was basketball still basketball when they added a 3-point line to the court? Was baseball still baseball when they made ballparks shorter, making it easier to hit home runs? Was golf still golf when they transitioned from wooden to titanium clubs and courses became 1,000 yards longer? I think you get my point here – all sports change and evolve – it’s just the nature of sports and games.  And – to my second point – it’s not like the game of football hasn’t changed before. It essentially evolved as a hybrid between soccer and rugby, developing differently in different places. When Walter Camp founded the modern game, it was five yards for a first down and five points for a field goal. It was only until 1956 when grabbing an opponent’s facemask was made illegal and 2001 when the addition of “challenges” revolutionized the use of instant replay.  Football is a dangerous game and will always be a dangerous game.  But, would it really pain me to see bone-crushing hits like this one start to diminish? If it considerably helps reduce player injury and long-term brain damage, I’d consider it a small price to pay. So yes – eliminating kickoffs would change the game – but it certainly wouldn’t be the first time the rules have changed.

Edmund Burke is considered by many to be the founder of modern Conservatism

Conservatism is not a new concept, famously described by Edmund Burke in his book Reflections on the Revolution in France. Though he was known as a supporter of the American Revolution, Burke asserted that the French Revolution would end in disaster and unjustly ignored the previous traditions of society. Burke argued for gradual reform instead of revolution except in the most extreme cases (America) and that France did not meet the criteria. The question for Burke relating to Tracy’s discussion might be whether the proposed NFL rule changes would qualify as “gradual reform” or as “revoltution?” I think it would be more the first, leading me to think Burke would have no problem with the progressive nature of football and that yes – it would still be football.

But, aside from sports, how do the rules of other institutions change? Let’s look at the world of politics for example, as this is after all a political theory class. There are two main views of the United States Constitution: the conservative “original intent” view that the ideals of the document should be upheld rigidly to the founding fathers’ intentions; and the “living document” view that the Constitution, written hundreds of years ago, should be adapted to modern civilization and its dilemmas. I actually don’t think it’s either of those – I think the United States Constitution, when viewed fully, is a “progressive” document more than anything else. The Constitution can’t be viewed as simply the original document ratified in 1807 – it also needs to include the twenty-seven amendments ratified by Congress since that time. When including the amendments, the Constitution in my view shows to be progressive in ideology. Through the abolition of slavery, the New Deal of Roosevelt, the civil rights movement in the 60’s, and the expansion of suffrage, the Constitution has gradually improved and expanded human rights and equality.

The US Constitution is a perfect example of institutional progressivism

In fact, the founding fathers put in place the very measures to amend the Constitution, knowing full well that it would need changing throughout time. Similarly, the NFL has always had procedures and rules set in place to change the rules, as they know nothing is set in stone and rules will always need changing. It was absolutely necessary to reform the parts of the Constitution that advocated slavery, as it was a complete disgrace to human rights and morality. Is it necessary to reform the parts of football that make brain damage likely among its players? It very well might be. Does that make America is any less “America” or football is any less “football”? Come every Sunday, you can bet I’ll still be watching.