Friday, October 3, 2008

Football Sundays



As kids we grew up watching and playing football. Living in a community with a large group of kids it was just a natural thing to pick someones house to play a morning game of football, then watching it on TV. Yes even all the girls played to. We had people playing from the ages of 10 to 40. It was really a good time and the home team then was the Baltimore Colts. Of course you had your traitors that worshipped the Cowboys, Steelers, and Dolphins.




Back then which was the late seventies and early eighties you could pick any channel on TV and it seemed to host a football game. Now they want you to pay extra for a game of choice even though you are currently paying for cable. Remember when TV was free? I had never been to a football game until two years ago when Lisa's company gave her two tickets to see the Pittsburgh Steelers play the Baltimore Ravens at home. It was really a good game and I enjoyed all of the hype of being there in person. The tailgating is really cool also with the smell of barbecue in the air, and footballs flying over your head at any moment with everyone playing in the parking lots.




So I thought I would go online and purchase some tickets for the Philadelphia Eagles vs Baltimore Ravens game. I could not believe the prices! For a decent seat to see the players they want anywhere from three hundred and up per seat. I think the lowest ticket I could find was $135.00. Can you imagine that. These players are getting paid extremely too much and I for one would love to go but I am not going to pay that much for a ticket. Whatever happened to the old school sports figures that kids could look up to and have a chance to meet, and see them play. How can families afford to take their kids to games? Football, Baseball, Soccer, and Ice Hockey used to be family affairs but now cater to the well off with luxurious box seats and suites. What used to be the saying America, Baseball, and Apple pie? The only thing affordable these days is the apple pie! Athletes getting paid with multi-million dollar contracts while our kids are on the streets with nothing to do.




People are wondering why we have so much juvenile crime. Can lower income families afford the cable, sports channels, take their kids to baseball games, football games, Disney world, movies, and other events that kids grow up with. I truly believe that commercialism is too blame for much of America's demise. All of this glitz and glamour that cost the fans billions of dollars. Fans need to truly boycott these sporting events to bring down the cost of admittance to a more affordable price so families can participate providing our youth with some encouragement and positive growth. Let's get back to a more traditional family Football Sunday.

1 comment:

betty said...

this is so true Kelly; the tickets are outrageous and a player does not need a $20 million dollar salary; if they kept things more reasonable, more people could enjoy the games; I'm with you on this!

betty