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- Week 13 in the NFL had numerous injuries and suspensions and raised the volume on criticisms of football’s inherent violence.
- Former ESPN broadcaster Brent Musburger tweeted out his support of violence and sex appeal in the NFL, calling those who disagreed “Snowflakes.”
- Attitudes towards violence in football have shifted in recent years as the public’s understanding of the sport’s effect the brain has grown.
Former ESPN broadcaster Brent Musburger took to Twitter on Tuesday night to defend the violence of the NFL after a weekend that included a primetime game filled with scary injuries and suspensions for illegal hits.
“Yo, Snowflakes.” Musburger tweeted. “Quit preaching. The Violent World of Sam Huff sold NFL football to the masses. The Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders gave us a little sex with our violence. Deal with it!”
The tweet came just a day after Monday night’s divisional matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers showed just how dangerous professional football can be, with two players — Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier and Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict — carted off the field. Shazier’s injury was so scary, many wondered if he had been paralyzed.
JuJu Smith-Schuster was suspended for one game for his hit on Burfict, while Shazier remains in the hospital and is being evaluated for a spine injury. Bengals safety George Iloka was also suspended one game after hitting Antonio Brown in the helmet as he made the game-winning grab.
Additionally, Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White was carted off the field on Sunday after Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski delivered a late, illegal hit. Gronkowski was suspended one game for the incident.
While such violence was once more commonly celebrated by the greater NFL audience, interest in the explicit violence of football has waned in recent years as more has become known about CTE and the longterm effects of the sport.
Musburger’s reference to the role of sex in football is a bit more of a stretch, but is not all that surprising for those that remember his fawning over Katherine Webb during the 2013 BCS Championship Game.
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