THE GOLDEN BOWL
When I ask what game is played by a bunch on millionaires
on lush green grass, most people respond with “polo.” They forget that in fact
there are twenty-two millionaires on the field at any given time during a
professional football game—America’s most popular spectator sport.
The analogy to
gladiators, which was common among sports sociologists in the 1970s, has been
replaced more recently with the “Forty Million Dollar Slaves” as a narrative
about the “The Rise, Fall,
and Redemption of the Black Athlete” (Rhoden
2007). Instead of Roman emperors orchestrating a diversion for starving masses,
American billionaires are ensconced in guarded balconies as their players slug
it out till concussions force them out of the arena.
No different from their predecessors, team owners buy and trade players
as if slavery hasn’t been abolished yet; despite the appearance of a trade
organization that is quasi non-profit, and despite a players union (currently
negotiating a landmark settlement to compensate retired players for their
debilitating injuries), the NFL has a salary cap (socialist marketplace?) where
over-all team expenditure on those million-dollar slaves is set by the league
(and enforced by a $30 million/year commissioner).
As we prepare to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday, and are entertained by
million dollar (30-second) commercials (ensured to air no matter what pace the
game should have), let’s check to see if billionaire owners are getting their
money’s worth from their “millionaire slaves.”
Peyton Manning of the Broncos is the 4th highest-paid
quarterback who earns an average of $17.5 million/year (in a multi-year
contract), while Russell Wilson of the Seahawks is earning a puny $1.2 million/year
9under his rookie contract). Can we therefore expect—to use marketplace value
comparison—a seventeen to one ratio between their abilities or performances?
According to SportingNews.com, the Seahawk’s 2013-1014 payroll is the
highest in the league with $124.9 million, while the Broncos’ is 5th
with a total of $119.2 million. Is it because Paul Allen (co-founder of
Microsoft) is wealthier than Pat Bowlen (oil drilling wildcatter)? But what is
an extra $5 million among billionaires?
The other two championship finalists were the 49ers (9th in
the league with $116.2 million) and the Patriots (19th in the league
with $106.3 million); were they a better bargain for their achievements as
compared to the two finalists?
But perhaps we shouldn’t fixate on money and think more broadly about
the cultural significance of football in America. Public Religion Research
Institute CEO Robert Jones reports that 26 percent of those surveyed “pray for
God to help their team,” while 25 percent “think their team has been cursed,” and
19 percent “believe God is involved in determining who wins on the court or in
the field.” Overall, “half of Americans fall into one of these groups.”
“As Americans tune in to the Super Bowl this year, fully
half of fans — as many as 70 million Americans — believe there may be a twelfth
man on the field influencing the outcome,” Jones confirmed. What does this say
about the intermingling of religion and sports? It’s not only that fans pray to
God for intervention or players thank God when scoring (“Tebowing” has become a
cultural signature behavior of players on the field), but the very terminology
used in sports is reminiscent of that classically invoked in religious
ceremonies and practices.
Whether the topic is belief, sacrifice, work,
competition, relics, pilgrimages, or redemption, similar vocabularies are used
with the assumption that one discourse is translatable to the other with the
same psychological and social impact.
We “believe” in our team (Broncos) and our “hero”
(Manning) using reverential words that we typically reserve for our faith in
Jesus Christ as our savior. We pray for victory against the heathens of the
northwest, and hope that the legalization of marijuana in both states (Colorado
and Washington) will not raise the anger of God. Did smoking pot have something
to do with our teams’ ability to chill and focus?
So, it’s not simply
that billionaires provide expensive entertainment for the masses; they demand
(with threats of moving their teams elsewhere) that the public pay for the
arenas. The Roman emperors built arenas and supplied slaves (admittedly in a
slave economy); our billionaires, working under capitalist pressures, ensure
that fans (indirectly) pay for their own entertainment (taxes and product
placements).
Since sports is
considered by some to be our American religion, and since we pray for victories
the way we pray for our souls, perhaps we should consider nationalizing
football teams (Packers?) and turning them to religious institutions where all
are welcome to seek communal comfort or salvation.
Raphael Sassower is professor of
philosophy at UCCS. His latest co-authored book (with Jeff Scholes) is titled Religion and Sports in American Culture. He
can be reached at rsassower@gmail.com See
previous articles at sassower.blogspot.com
