Last week and over the weekend, I noticed a so-called honoring of Veterans Day that seemed to be little more than disingenuous commercialized sports symbolism. I can’t tell you how many times I heard the fraudulent cliché expressions that today’s game was a war.
Professional and collegiate athletes and organizations alike are fond of these trifling utterances and sham comparisons – sport is war – before and after the game. Some more misguided athletes have gone even to the depths of insanity, referring to themselves as soldiers. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Truth (With Military Help) Shall Set You Free
Without question athletes are not only finely conditioned but some are the most physically intimidating people on the planet. And yet for all the bravado and muscularity athletes display; athletes are sports persons not soldiers. With a few rare exceptions, even the “biggest and baddest” athletes have no interest in participating in real war.
War is brutal and unforgiving. War does not have time outs and substitutes. There are no trainers for cramps nor Gatorade to drink to replenish exhausted muscles. There are no do-overs nor is there hope to be found in thoughts of the next game. There is no guarantee contract after a big performance. There are no pristine stadiums or manicured fields. War comes with the type of finality no one but a soldier can appreciate.
Give the Camouflage a Rest
The closest most athletes ever want to get to being a soldier is when they are outfitted in one of those ridiculous camouflage uniforms. Uniforms which by the way, have little or nothing to do with celebrating the men and women who serve the country. Apparel that exists almost exclusively to market a sports league, sell more jerseys and fill the coffers of professional organizations and university athletic departments. Don’t believe me?
Then answer this: if the goal is to inspire patriotism, why don’t the professional organizations and university athletic departments just sell authentic military gear and send all profits – not a “portion of the profits” to groups like the Wounded Warrior Project.
This Veterans Day do yourself and your children a favor by making sure that they understand that athletes are not soldiers and sport is not war. Just in case, you need a few reminders about who the true heroes are and how to delineate the difference, I have prepared a few examples for you.
1. Veterans Day is For Soldiers Not Athletes
When a soldier says a bullet pass, the soldier is referring to a real live round of ammunition that was just shot at them or a bullet that unfortunately passed through some part of their body. Unlike the athlete, soldiers are not on a field that allows them to pound their chest or point in the air after throwing a football at high velocity or a making pin point basketball pass to a teammate.
For the soldier, a bullet pass is not a metaphor for a good play, it is a literal expression for a life or death moment. Such as, a bullet just passed through some part of my body or a bullet just passed by my head.
2. It’s Not About the Money
http://youtu.be/OaiSHcHM0PA
If a soldier tells you serving in the military is not about the money, you can take them at their word. Soldiers like other occupations that provide the foundation for our nation are among the lowest compensated professionals in the country. These patriotic people who elect to serve do so out of loyalty and not because they want Americans to show them the money. Athletes not so much!
With athletes it’s almost always about the money. Consider the following reality the next time you hear an athlete tell the bold face lie “it’s not about the money”. The Chief Commanding Officer of the United States of America earns $400,000 per year while the average salaries of the big four sports are NBA $5.15 million, MLB $3.2 million, NHL: $2.4 million, and NFL: $1.9 million. No matter how you feel about the President at the moment, you have to admit he should be paid more than Richie Incognito.
3. Veterans on the Red Carpet
Soldiers are not afforded athlete celebrity status. Soldiers don’t have nationally televised award ceremonies like ESPY, they aren’t invited to celebrity and red carpet events nor does the paparazzi follow their every move. In fact, the better a soldier does their job, the more clandestine future assignments are likely to be.
When a soldier is really good at their job, it is not unlikely to find them doing something that their government will disavow knowledge of if they are unsuccessful. Athletes on the other hand are celebrated for something so ridiculous sounding as kicking an “oblong ball made of pigskin through a big H“.
There’s Always More
I only listed a few of the numerous praise worthy things that could be said about the sacrifices men and women who serve this country make. The point however was simply to remind us that sport is not war and athletes regardless of their claims are not soldiers.
If you follow sports like I do, you can attest that if athletes were soldiers the results would be disastrous. Just imagine soldiers taking plays off; annual work stoppages; agents and parents attempting to manipulate authority; full effort only during the “big” battles; quitting and sulking when your regimen was losing; and regular public disagreements with management. I know you would agree – what an unmitigated nightmare that would be.
So the next time you see an athlete or team dressed in some comical military styled for profit uniform, remember who sacrificed and continues to sacrifice so that they can look as ludicrous as they do and claim that they are soldiers – Veterans.
How did you spend Veterans Day?