Nfl Pink Ribbon

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the NFL has taken up the mantle of this cause. For three weeks now players have been accessorized with pink trim on their shoes and chinstraps, pink towels, and pink wrist bands. The pink breast cancer ribbon is splashed on almost everything. I don't know what to make of all this pink.

I have a good friend who is a doctor and treats breast cancer only. He sees and treats women with breast cancer day in and day out. He is also a big fan of the NFL. So, I gave him a call and asked him what he thought about all this. His answer surprised me. I figured that the last thing he would want on a Sunday afternoon was to be reminded of what he did all week.

He thought it was a great idea for the NFL to do this, explaining that there is probably not a player, coach, or front office executive who hasn't been affected by breast cancer in a family member or friend. He did remind me, also, that many of these athletes will enthusiastically mention the women in their family and their role in their eventual athletic success. For many of these players, I guess, it is payback time to recognize the role of the women in their lives. And the NFL is playing right into this sentiment.

Initially, I looked at this campaign cynically as a way for the NFL to bring more women into their viewership and figured that it wouldn't work. I still doubt that you are going to see many women cracking open a few beers on Sunday afternoons and watching a bunch of burly, high testosterone guys beating the crap out of each other simply because they see pink and the breast cancer logo everywhere. Of course, there are many women who love football, the NFL, and their team and follow the game intently. I just can't believe, though, that they are going to draw that many marginal female fans into the fold with this campaign. Maybe it's the gear. Maybe the NFL figures the women will buy large amounts of NFL gear in pink.

So what is the point of this campaign for the NFL? Why breast cancer as a cause for the league? Certainly, prostate cancer more directly affects the players and the predominately male audience than breast cancer. September was Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and little fanfare was made of this. Why not take up the cause of domestic violence towards women, or rape? Why not a campaign to raise awareness and money for trauma induced dementia that so many former players seem to suffer from after they stop playing?

From my point of view, there is something incongruous about this campaign taking place in the context of an increasingly violent game. Perhaps the fact that it seems so incongruous is why it is so successful. Maybe many who wouldn't be inclined to think about breast cancer and the women in their lives on a Sunday afternoon while watching football will have their thoughts jarred by this campaign. Who knows?

Maybe the NFL, ever mindful of the pedestal football players and athletes are placed on, are trying to develop a narrative to counter the sometimes misplaced hero worship that is in play for so many men who watch and follow the game. Maybe it's about time that we recognize that the struggles and exploits and failures of women with breast cancer are far more important than the narratives about the triumphs and sufferings of professional football players. Maybe there are some other narratives in our culture that deserve attention and the NFL is trying to elevate them and their lives. Maybe the breast doctor or the caring nurse is as important or more important than the good general manager or coach who constructs a winning team.

The NFL campaign says something good about us guys. I have listened to some talk radio ramblings and blog posts lamenting the feminization of the game, as if paying attention to women's issues will force the evolution of the game into a flag football, non-contact encounter session complete with therapists and gender sensitivity trainers. This assertion is, of course, ridiculous. I don't think you are going to see players wearing four inch heels and pink boas and asking for directions when they walk out of the locker room simply because they were just involved in a violent struggle with pink trim on their cleats and chinstraps.

Rather than looking at this as the feminizing of football, why don't we look at it as the masculinizing of the effort against breast cancer, as some have suggested. Maybe the effort against this disease can be accelerated by all the male energy on display on any given Sunday. We should welcome this; it is saying something positive about men. Maybe we can take part in all these male rituals and not lose sight of issues of importance to the women in our lives.

I guess on balance this is a good campaign for the NFL, a good move on their part. My friend the breast doctor agrees, hoping against his own selfish interests that campaigns like this will help put him out of business.

Now what about heart disease, pancreatic cancer, childhood obesity, Alzheimer's, and PMS? Still I wonder: where are we going with all this?

For more sports analysis like this visit http://www.BigSportsBalls.com

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