Thursday, November 26, 2009

They treat objects like men

So the NFL Network is advertising their live and in-depth coverage of the NFL combine.  For those not in the know, the combine is a battery of tests that aspiring football players go through prior to the draft.  The media folks, GMs, scouts and other talent evaluators show up to watch the players in action, ultimately rating each according to his... personality.

Players with really fast personalities or really big personalities or personalities that earned them acclaim in college don't have much to fear.  They'll be making major money, it's just a matter of who's making more than whom.  For  those, on the other hand, whose personalities are a little less exceptional, this is the make or break moment.  The ones that don't make it will be forced to fall back on the college education that they undoubtedly took very seriously.

The lucky ones will gain entry into the NFL, where their career will last an average of 3 years.  More than three in four will fall into the pick-your-poison stat of "bankrupt or under financial stress due to joblessness or divorce."  Then there are the bad knees, the bad health from excessive weight, the concussions, and all the other things that come from spending two decades engaging in high speed collisions with others.

So the industry is hugely popular among men and makes bajillions of dollars, most of which accrue to media magnates, producers, owners and such.  A few workers do make their names and their millions.  Most who make it though don't earn much and are done long before they leave their twenties.  Most who try to make it don't.

Yeah, so this is basically the critique of the pr0n industry that you heard all the sociology and women's studies majors making in the dining halls when you were in college.  Except the pr0n industry is a fair bit further along in fighting STDs than the NFL is on concussions and knee blowouts.

1 comment:

Melch said...

I don't know about that. They can fix an amazing amount of things. I wonder if football is to the medical field as NASA is to things like velcro...