The NFL and the military

After watching "Not Just a Game" in today's class I realized the numerous connections between the National Football League and the military. I wasn't surprised to hear Dave Zirin's argument about sports and politics. Politics are involved in almost every aspect of life, it not all aspects. But I guess I had never recognized how connected the two really are.

I don't oppose the honoring of soldiers during games. In fact, I totally support it. After all, these brave men and women do risk their lives for us. It's the propaganda that is thrown around during games that kind of bothers me - the throwing of propaganda at us when we're not really aware of it because we're focused on the game. As it was discussed, I agree that this propaganda is a form of creating "virtual citizen soldiers."

George Carlin's military analogy of football made it easy to see how it is that the two overlap. But with so much propaganda and honoring of military men and women in the NFL, it's hard to grasp the fact that NFL players have outrageous salaries compared to soldiers. 

The average salary for an NFL player is $1.9 million, compared to the $18,194-$28,285 pay for a soldier with less than two years of experience. To me, this is absolutely ridiculous. The fact that the bravery and sacrifice of these soldiers is being used as propaganda is just ridiculous when they're paid so little. Why is it that we pay NFL players way more than the men and women who are sacrificing it all for us?  

While I understand that heroic stories of U.S. soldiers may increase support for the military and increase recruitment, it's just wrong to basically take advantage of their stories and sacrifice.