Ray Lewis says lock up your children, bring in the livestock and hide your valuables. Without the NFL this fall, the United States of America will soon slide into total chaos.
“Watch how much evil — which we call it crime — watch how much crime picks up, if you take away our game,” the Baltimore Ravens linebacker told ESPN. “There’s nothing else to do.”
It’s an interesting comment. Lewis isn’t saying NFL players will cause trouble given idle time. He’s saying NFL-industry workers idled by the lockout and fans without an outlet for violence will release their own bedlam onto the public.
Instead of peaceful Sundays when everyone’s watching football games, Lewis says evil will return to the land. Sounds like Stephen King’s thriller “Under the Dome.” Arnold Schwarzenegger does have some free time to star as a robofan on a rampage.
And just think what will happen in Las Vegas without football betting. All those gamblers with nothing to do can’t be good. They might have to get real jobs.
Monday nights will mean watching Ashton Kutcher in “Two and a Half Men.” That lets the trolls win, says Charlie Sheen.
Lewis is a violent player who has never lost his sense of the streets. He’s right about football filling the same needs that gladiators delivered in the Roman Coliseum. And Lewis has a small point about unemployed workers frustrated over being caught in this senseless lockout could do something drastic. But they’re no more inclined to create chaos than anyone else who has lost their job during the recession.
Some fans transfer their aggression through watching football, but it’s not like some 150-pound accountant suddenly becomes a serial killer because the NFL isn’t playing.
What Lewis forgets is college football will fill the gap. The networks will surely find a few programs willing to shift games to Sundays and Mondays given they play practically every day anyway. Any reservations by college administrators will be silenced by checks with seven zeroes.
Virginia Tech built its program by playing on Thursday nights even when a hurricane whistled past. It turned a backwater program into a prime-time program that dominates the ACC.
The NFL’s loss will be colleges’ gain. Not all NFL fans enjoy the college counterpart, but in the absence of pros many viewers will seek alternate games. That’s what the UFL is banking on right now.
Would you rather do yard work or watch George-Florida? Go shopping at the mall or tune in to Michigan-Ohio State? See, it won’t take long for many fans to find a favorite college team.
The streets will be safe this fall should football not return. Lewis’ vision of smoke clouds over cities is simply another player overestimating their importance.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or email [email protected].
