This Too Shall Pass

Dear Football Mom,

Not sure you can answer this question, but going to give it a shot. Our son signed as free agent with NFL a few years ago. He was cut before he played a down. My question to you: isn’t the team franchise responsible for paying travel back home? As his dad, I’ve been miffed that they didn’t pay a cent toward his travel expense home. He hasn’t wanted me to step in, and his agent won’t return phone calls. It’s not about the money—it’s the principle of the matter.

Dear Reader,

Well, let it never be said that those NFL-ers don’t have an over-active amount of gall and guts. Or the slightest lick-a-sense.

My initial inkling is there are no hard and fast rules to release players and pay for the return trip back home. I would think it depends on the circumstances of the cut and how generous the franchise feels at the moment. As with the signees, the owner often pulls a lot of weight as to who is signed and who is expendable.

But since I do my best to be accurate and research what I can as “The Heart Behind the Gridiron,” I phoned an NFL franchise to pose your question. Turns out, my thoughts were purdy-much right on and correct to a point.

Depends on the circumstances all right. If a player was highly paid guy, one of the Queen Anne black-eyed variety, then there should be no problem returning home to sign with another team. But the smaller, plain ole garden peas gets the shaft! That’s what ya call, a pea-pickin-shame. It boils down to what was in their contract. Shame on your agent for not at least calling you back and splaining things.

A loaded question for sure and one I’m glad you shared with us.

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Dear Football Mom,

Our state is closed to playing any football right now. Covid, the culprit. We have a peewee player rounding his last year playing for our county team. Given the statistics moving forward, what do you suppose is going to happen to the game? Be honest. Given the untold injuries like broken bones, heat exhaustion, and the dangerous traumatic concussion issues that may go unreported, yet continues to plague football and its safty. How can this game survive?

Dear Reader,

Since your state is not open to playing the game, you can rule out heat exhaustion at this point … It will take more than this crazy Covid to bring down football. That said, I get where you’re coming from. I really do.

Playing football for youths far out-weighs any risk involved with the game. The benefits are stacked in favor of football, not against it. Most certainly many fellers would do themselves a favor to sign-up and play instead of joining a gang, for insistence. Guys want to be part of a club—it’s within their natural DNA to be part of something. Ask most any high-risk youth why they joined up with a gang in the first place. The answer is not only the environment in which they lived, but because they wanted to feel like they “belonged.” This is my opinion, but many experts agree, and the stats are sadly true.

Regrettably, I don’t see many treehouses anymore where boys could gather and hang out with a no-girls or members-only sign on the door. That once-upon-a-time freedom to climb a tree, play kick the can, run the neighborhood till dark, camp out in a friend’s pasture, and even let your best buddy hunt for snipe holding a bag. All gone to putt, seems like. But those kind of things kept boys out of real trouble and gave them a sense of belonging just the same. Like a football team does.

In football, a fella can run off steam, release some emotions, throw off pent-up anger, and stick it to the other team all without repercussions. Football teaches teamwork and creates that sense of belonging to the club. Football is a good thang for guys.

No one can answer your underlying question, should my son continue to play? That could possibly be your real question and my answer to that is, only if he wants to play.

A parent can encourage playing a sport, but never force-feed it upon a child. In my opinion again, that is where most injuries come from. A fella has to play full throttle, and if he doesn’t really want to play, then he’s not all in. That is a huge problem. If a kid has a lackadaisical attitude, that sets him up for injury quicker than a sneeze.

No ma’am, I don’t believe football is going anywhere anytime soon. So, breakout the team colors, put your concern away, and hike up those bleachers as the proud mama you are!