Pink ribbon | The Recovering Legalist

Football

It’s called football, but it’s not soccer, which is football everywhere else. It’s a game in which boys and men (if you can distinguish the two), and now sometimes even females, put on helmets and plastic body armor in order to give coaches a job and colleges a way to make money.

Football is a game that is so associated with testosterone and adrenalin that even the girls who now play in the game are said to be growing beards. There is supposed to be nothing wimpy, wussy, or feminine about football.

However, due to the rise in popularity of promoting breast cancer awareness, the color pink has infiltrated the formerly masculine gridiron.

“Save the Ta Tas”

To be honest, I am sick of the sexualization of such a deadly disease. Each October the adds start appearing everywhere, seemingly promoting more breast awareness than cancer awareness. And even though I have family who have been hurt by this disease, I question the ultimate value of “ta tas” and “boobies” around every corner.

But just when some thought football was one of the last bastions of male chauvinism and immune from feminization, along came the publicists and promoters of pink ribbons. Now, every October, football players of every age, from elementary school to the NFL, wear more pink than a newly birthed piglet.

Legalism on Display

Now, just in case you are getting angry with me, as if I want women to get breast cancer, just chill and listen to what I have to say. What really irritates me is not the attempt to raise breast cancer awareness; it’s the attitude shown to those who don’t want to wear pink.

Not long ago I had to drive a middle school football team to a game. As these tough, smelly, sweaty football players were preparing to load the bus I started asking them, “Why are you wearing pink socks?” The reply was typically, “I don’t know, they just gave us this stuff to wear.” Literally, none of these boys had a clue why they were wearing pink. All they knew was that they were supposed to wear pink because that’s what they were told to do, just like the professionals whom they idolize.

Legalism: “Do what you’re told and you won’t get in trouble.” Legalism: “If you aren’t wearing pink, you must want women to get cancer.” Legalism: “I want the girls to like me, so I’ll wear these pink shoes and wrist bands.” Legalism: “I don’t know why I am wearing this, but if I don’t, people will get angry and look down on me.”

Grace: Playing the game without feeling you have to change the way you look in order to please someone else, then donating to breast cancer research because you want to.