How are Football Games any different from the Roman Colliseums
 

It seems like we have not progressed very far from the old days. All the peasants are being appeased by the royalty with games of breaking bones, injuries, and head trauma. Granted,
there are less lives lost because we are now civilized. Have we really progressed from thousands of years ago or is human nature the same, a scary thing.

This is not a condemnation of football, far from it, it is just an observation that mankind has not really changed that much. Are we really more civilized or is the veneer just thicker or more shiny/ blinding ? :22yikes:

Hmmm
 

No one is killed for enjoyment

Oh boy....cant wait to hear your commentary on the UFC! :1rotfl

*btw, interestingly, UFC president Dana White was negotiating with Italian officials on the possibility of hosting an Elon Musk vs Mark Zuckerberg MMA fight....at the Colosseum

Read what George Orwell had to say about football ...It helps keep the masses under control. That is why Roman leaders built coliseums and provided entertainment therein, to keep the masses distracted and happy.

It's the same.

I agree people don't pay attention to real problems, but ignorance is their choice. There is no secret society promoting football to hide nefarious activity.

Sponsored by Draft Kings! ;)

IMO we have choices, don’t like it don’t contribute. NFL has never gotten dime from me.

Gladiators were celebrities in the Roman Empire and were usually the survivors of most battles put on to entertain the spectators. But the condemned prisoners and the like were often eaten by all kinds of animals they brought from around the territories the Romans controlled. Trampled by elephants, eaten by crocodiles, ripped apart by some of the massive dogs--Molossian Hounds--that the Roman armies had. It was an incredibly bloody event.

Bread and circuses. The same principle at work now as it was then. We're just a bit more polished about it.

Gotta appease the Great Unwashed, yanno....

Really? No one gives the NFL anything. One might buy a ticket that goes to the local ownership. But if you have ever bought any product that has advertised during an NFL game... they paid the NFL and you paid a higher cost to offset the cost of the advertisement. So that would include any car, almost any adult beverage, insurance products, Walmart, Movie studios, McDonald's etc etc etc. So Tops, you have given much more than a dime to the NFL>

Agree
You forgot BioPharma too. Just sayin’! :1rotfl:

The NFL has lions, tigers, bears, jaguars. Maybe not too different.

It looks like the Romans killed 1,000,000 animals in the various games in that single Colosseum over the 390 years the games were there.

Can we add rodeos and car racing?

At least no one has developed Rollerball.

Well, few players actually die on the football field. The deaths from repeated concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy take a LOT longer to happen than a gold old-fashioned spearing with a trident.

Uh, there is a zero expectation for death
 

Perhaps there is a zero expectation for death? Granted the sport is rough, but not nearly as bad as European rugby where there are way more players and deaths occur more often. I can’t remember the last time a death was reported during a pro football game except for Lamar Hamlin who is of course now playing again anyway.

I did not see much of if any safety precautions taken at the rugby games at the Paris Olympics.

No need. We still have hockey.

Many other sports can have more severe consequences
 

One of the most dangerous sports with a much more sinister result on the human body than football could ever produce is of course gymnastics.

Many gymnasts who have shortened the statures and worn their bodies out suffer greatly from a vast array of consequences from the gym floor. The musculoskeletal problems and pains that develop are unbearable for most. All for a little fame in their 20s.

People were forced to fight to the death in the Roman arenas, football players voluntarily play the game and there are no death matches. Big difference.

Some of the people. There were those who chose to be trained as gladiators and the like. And some of the gladiators became very powerful and rich celebrities. And those in charge did not want to kill the person bringing in a lot of money.

Different then the way I played the game "back in the day", no for me it probably wasn't much different. Hitting was everything, we were taught to punish the opposing team which I was quite good at. Never got flagged for a cheap shot, all my tackles / hits were "clean" and allowable by the rules, I just happened to really enjoy that part of the game. Trust me when I say I was far from alone.