From ancient times it has been common practice for those with a way seeking mind, or on the path to enlightenment, to drop worldly pursuits and become a “home leaver.” In this way, by living a simple life in a monastery, or alone in nature, one might be able to lessen the impact of the annoying cobwebs of every-day distractions and focus on the essential matter. The clatter and materialism of our current age certainly presents cobwebs. Perhaps in western culture, the time leading up to Christmas and New Years is the culmination, or crescendo, of this “external” noise or distraction which most of us take to be our ordinary lives. If you are a football fan, this is also the time of year when college and professional teams edge toward championship games, with the ubiquitous college bowl games providing a smorgasbord of “entertainment” for fans. If you are not a home leaver, how can you still pursue the Way, and live with football?
Football. Doesn’t seem like a mystical or Zen pursuit. Does it? This mystic has been following football for about ten years now, in particular the Oregon Ducks. How did it start? Simple (hah!). Both my daughters attended school at the University of Oregon, and over time it seemed like the thing to do. I could simply say that I am intoxicated watching football and that it is all a bad thing, but that would not be the whole story or accurate as a matter of fact.
Later, I will list some very negative things about football, but then I can list many negative things about our world, society and less than desirable behavior of many human beings. Rather than simply say, that one should not watch football (in excess) the point will be made that being a football fan is like anything else if one approaches the experience with mindfulness.
Football. It’s a lot of different things. Aside, from being an oddly shaped ball traditionally made of pigskin (now cowhide), the American game of football evolved from a combination of rugby and soccer, with the first football game played in 1869. I could get technical in describing the game but please just refer to the wiki for the description, Here. So, the game of football evolved from something else. It is transitory and impermanent. The players come and go. The coaches come and go. Teams wane and wax in superiority. Football is impermanent.
Further, football is a many splendid thing. It is very different thing being in the head and body of a running back (the guy carrying the football through giant opposing players) as he fights his way down the field, vs. being a green skinned and yellow haired fan in the bleachers yelling his or her heart out. OK, this mystic does not paint himself green, but my pulse accelerates and my blood pressure increases when watching critical plays. I watch most games on the TV, so here we have another aspect of football. What we watch is captured by a digital camera and is essentially a huge amount of data that is then manipulated further and sent digitally through space to satellites and eventually streamed to ones TV set. Our set itself “decodes” these signals which are then represented as tiny dots on the screen which in turn are then interpreted by our brains and through pre-established patterns we watch and experience “football.” Football is more than impermanent; it is also empty of a separate and unique identity and is just another aspect of “dharma” or phenomenon in flux. It’s also football.
I used to think that the quarterback, the guy passing or handing off the football, was the smartest guy on the team. Recently , along came the admission by a well-known pro football quarterback, who had just tested positive for COVID, that he had chosen not to be vaccinated and was indeed taking an anti-parasitic drug, not proven to be affective against COVID, as a preventative treatment. Needless to say, maybe football quarterbacks have different smarts. This leads to the odd behavior of football fans being true to certain teams and players. In the pros for example, if we don’t like the quarterback, whether he is vaccinated or not, included, we may dislike that team. It also goes for traditional rivalries between teams. In a way, football has many aspects of tribalism. Being a football fan is mostly a mental thing. While the player may be in top physical health and in a “Zen” mental zone of mindfulness, the fan’s physical and mental state can be all over the spectrum. I find that Zen and football are much more compatible when I can be aware of my mental/emotional states, bodily states and the game with as much detail as possible. The goal is to be detached from the outcome and simply experience the game. This is not an easy thing, and probably not optimal as a Zen practice, but nevertheless football is part of existence, like anything else and thus fair game as a tool to stay on the path that is no path.
I think the game, overall, provides a lot of enjoyment for many people. Additionally it is important economically. Probably the most negative aspect of the game is the potential for injury, including long term brain trauma. While the institutions have improved safety and new rules/better helmets/better protocols initiated, perhaps the game is still too violent and dangerous. It is up to the players, coaches, universities, professional team owners and most of all the fans, to unite for safety improvements and steer the direction of how football will be played in the future. Another negative aspects is the big money in college ball, whose arena essentially serves the function of a minor league or nursery for future professional players. One can argue that society at large is totally mislead and that the money generated from football revenue can be spent more on academics rather than coaches salary or equipment, including fancy uniforms. A item, that almost seems like a disease, is the necessity of a college team to feel like they need to win the national championship, at all costs. Schools now do cutthroat recruiting for the best high school players with the best teams, having the highest paid coaches, getting those players. Ultimately, certain schools and leagues become dominant and the game, overall, fades in “integrity” as winning becomes everything and losing teams get their coaches fired.
So, sometimes I feel that I am standing at the entrance to the dragon’s lair. But there are moments when that ball is magically spiraling toward the end zone and the receiver makes a beautiful one-handed catch and manages to keep both feet in the end zone — that moment is special. The moment of victory is special as is the moment and agony of defeat . It is just a moment. The pure enjoyment of football, friends, food and talk on a crisp fall day is all part of what existence has to offer. It’s when we go into the Demon Cave on Black Mountain (the delusion of the world which we are trying to escape from– for further perspective see dharma talk by Judith Ragir: Here) that football can become painful. After all, the game fans enjoy is their own experience and by making it something more than it really is, and projecting our conceived selves into the fray, we can become lost and unhappy. Be happy for your team, win or lose. It all changes and appears very complicated but in the end is simple — otherwise if you put your desire for winning or disappointment in loosing on a pedestal, back to the Demon Cave you go. Football is not football. That is why we call it football.
Little Known Mystic 