Sports, Politics & War

Personally, I absolutely love sports. I've grown up with them my whole life and have played on various sports teams including; softball, soccer, gymnastics, dance, and cheerleading. I love all aspects of the game and what comes along with it. When I hear all the negative and bad things that come along with it, it upsets me because I feel like the good that comes along with it is overlooked. For instance, I never once thought that sports or football in particular idealized war. I just always saw it as a way of paying respect to those who serve our country. Our family are season ticket holders for the Colts and when a soldier goes out onto the field and gets applauded or when the planes fly over the stadium, that should never be looked down on. It always makes me smile. I do however understand what the man on the documentary was saying how it's a form of propaganda but I genuinely don't think its all bad. I think sports brings people together and gives people something in common whether it's a love for a certain team or just a love for the sport.
  
I had no idea just how political our nation’s sports organizations were, especially the NFL. The interesting part of this to me is that the coaches and the players have absolutely nothing to do with the politics that go on behind the scenes. We learned earlier in class that our military uses various forms of simulations to recruit our nation’s youth. The “Citizen Soldier” is a great example. I have just come to terms with that we will always be exposed to war, whether that be in a video game, sports or education.  It's difficult to watch any NFL game now without seeing a commercial with the phrase, “the NFL supports (insert branch of military).”  This is probably because so many people associate the NFL with this this war idea. It's that whole manly idea that the most manliest men either play sports or are apart of the military. My dad is in the military and has never played a sport in his life. Does that make him less "macho?"