Frazz by Jef Mallett for September 25, 2011

Football is the most corporate of sports: the Board of Directors (the coaching staff) sits on the sidelines, issuing directives while taking none of the risks; the CEO (the quarterback) is a highly-paid superstar protected both by sacrificial underlings (the offensive line) and special rules (like “roughing the passer”); there are a few key executives (like the star running back and wide receiver), and finally the nameless, faceless, interchangeable working stiffs who get their butts kicked on the line, play after play after play… and are prohibited (again, by special rules regarding “eligibility” to touch the ball) from any chance of rising above this status..As such, it IS great preparation for adult life.

I think it was George Carlin who once said that football was uniquely American because it consisted of violence punctuated by committee meetings.

Fopotballers don’t need a college degree to play pro ball…they go for the 3 to 4 years of bulking up to be able to compete in the pros. You might get a LeBron James once in a while who can go into pro basketball right out of H.S. but I can’t recall ANY highschooler moving directly into pro football. And most basketball pros went thru college to get bigger and stronger, too.

That’s about the funniest thing I’ve ever heard!! Thanks for a good laugh! I have to agree with Ulan about soccer and other fast-paced sports. I’m not totally convinced that golf is even a sport but it’s easily more intellectual on an individual level than football can ever claim to be. Sorry, but in football, the only one that ever does any consistent thinking is the coach. Maybe the QB. Everyone else just follows orders.

In nerds vs jocks, I usually vote for the nerds, but even if the class is PE, you gotta do the work to pass. Unless you’re saying you had to go out for the team in addition to taking the class, then I sympathize.

I HAVE heard that there have been athletically-promising players who’ve washed out because they were simply to dumb to understand the playbook, but there are also plenty of NFL players who’ve made good useof the opportunities provided by their scholarships.

I’d like to see them take the money out of college football and set up real minor leagues. If you’re 18 and you want to skip the college experience, you can go pro at whichever level is appropriate for your abilities (or your POTENTIAL). If you want your playing skills to give you a foot in the door for a college education, that of course would be grand. But in addition to your time on the practice field you’d still be expected to carry a full course load (with REAL classes). Let’s put the “student” back in “student athletics.” Baseball manages quite nicely on that scheme.

You can train earthworms to run “plays.” Don’t confuse memorization with intelligence. Football is inherently dangerous, engendering sometimes fatal injuries for the sake of sport, and appeals to precisely the same human fascination for our own frailty that did the Roman gladiator arena. It has nothing to do with intelligence. Not to say I don’t enjoy watching it sometimes, but I don’t lie to myself about the reason for that. They’re getting hurt, not me.

I love the little boy’s response to the little girl at the end.This strip reminds me of Peanuts when the team would all be around the pitcher’s mound having these big discussions.

Still true today as it was a 400 years ago. Who said " the kings & leaders of the world were made on the playing fields of Eaton"? (that is the football fields)