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A positive take on youth football

A positive take on youth football

Rob Broggi

I coach youth football. Yup, I admit it. Sometimes when other parents hear this, they think I'm wicked cool, and they are of course correct. Lately, however, many reactions range from mild disapproval to scornful disgust. I tend to elicit that kind of response from people before they know I'm a coach, so that part doesn't bother me. What does concern me is that the one-sided negative coverage of youth football of late is dissuading many parents from learning about all the uniquely positive things this amazing sport offers, and how the game is changing for the better.  It's a shame that sweeping generalizations about youth football are prohibiting many kids from enjoying such a valuable experience, especially in my town of Wellesley, Mass.

First of all, let's just be honest: Football is awesome, and everyone knows it. Ever seen "Rudy"? Enough said. And youth football is the best of the best. Unless you've witnessed 11 pint-sized third-graders perfectly execute a read-option play, with each little critter making a proper block and running the correct pattern, you have not lived.  It's something akin to seeing a pack of wild ferrets break into a choreographed flash mob. There's simply nothing like it.

Should we change the name of Washington D.C.? Political correctness run amok
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Should we change the name of Washington D.C.? Political correctness run amok

Boston Patriot

There is a joke going around about the owner of the football team, the Washington Redskins. He is being besieged on all sides by politically corrects folks demanding that he change the name of the team. The name is offensive. It is so insensitive. It is hurtful to so many. Finally the owner agrees. He says, "OK! You're right. I will change the name. I will drop the offensive word – Washington."

With the politically correct demands being put forward on American campuses over the past weeks, some may soon be demanding that the name of our capital be changed. After all, George Washington was a slaveholder. In fact, one of the largest slaveholders in the South! And he only got around to freeing his slaves upon his death. Accordingly, he must be considered a "racist" by liberal and left-leaning students and faculty in the Academy. How can we have our nation's capital be named after a racist, regardless of the fact that he was the "Father" of the nation? Of course, that is a problem too, because as the Father of the nation, he was a part of the patriarchal society which oppressed women. Two strikes and you are out in this league.

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