Courtesy: Hillsdale Athletic Department
President Donald Trump says the sport we watch on Sunday afternoons is “sissy football.”
The NFL has instituted a new kickoff rule this season in hopes of reducing the number of injuries and increasing the number of kickoffs returned in the game. The new rule is unnecessary, and the league needs to rescind the rule immediately.
Football has always been a violent sport. In Medieval Italy, men played Calcio Storico Fiorentino, a mixture of football, rugby, and wrestling. The games included fists and fighting, and people loved it.
Last week,Trump took to Truth Social to address the latest kickoff rule in the NFL.
“The NFL has to get rid of that ridiculous looking new Kickoff Rule,” Trump said. “How can they make such a big and sweeping change so easily and quickly. It’s at least as dangerous as the ‘normal’ kickoff, and looks like hell. The ball is moving, and the players are not, the exact opposite of what football is all about. ‘Sissy’ football is bad for America, and bad for the NFL!”
Trump is referring to a new rule that prevents any players other than the kicker or the returner from moving until the ball touches the “landing zone,” touches the endzone, or is caught. The kicking team lines up along the opponent’s 40-yard line, and the receiving team lines up between their own 30 and 35 yard lines. The landing zone consists of the area between the goal line and the 20-yard line.
The NFL did not need to make such a silly change to fix either problem.
Kickers kick the ball further today than they ever have in the game. So, to increase the number of kickoff returns, move the kickers further back. Historically, kickers have kicked from their own 35-yard line. This means kickers could have been moved back upward of 35 yards before it was necessary to implement a radical new kickoff rule.
Football is an aggressive game. It always has been. Like Trump suggests, the new rule changes the sport altogether, a sport that Americans love. Regardless of whether the football players are five yards or 30 yards apart, they are still going to run at each other and hit each other. It is what they do. To increase the safety in an inherently violent game, football players could wear extra pads.
Football players do not play football because they want to be safe. They play because they love the extraordinary physicality that is required of them. They do not want to be seen as “sissies”; they want to be looked at as the biggest, baddest, and strongest men alive.
NFL, stop messing with the rules and let the men play the game they love.
