Robbing Darren to Pay Paul

As an American father I'm required by law to nap on the couch on Sundays. I was complying when something woke me up that I couldn't believe.

Oakland Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon was on the ground, writhing in pain, when New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan took a flying leap onto Gannon's chest! And Gannon was out-of-bounds at the time! Then Strahan kicked him -- and no flag!

Finally I realized it wasn't a live game on the TV. My 15-year-old son, Jake, was playing NFL Blitz 2003, a wildly popular video game with amazingly realistic graphics.

Now Gannon was being jumped on by five Giants. I winced.

"Jake," I scolded. "How can you do that?"

"You just press this little X button," he explained.

(Sigh.)

I picked up the game's box. It said this was an NFL approved and licensed product. The players are NFL stars, wear NFL uniforms and play in NFL stadiums. Jake said NFL Blitz 2003 is his favorite game, partly because you can spear Brian Griese, kick Jerry Rice in the jewels and body-slam Marshall Faulk. And without even pressing a button you can watch NFL players taunt one another, preen after a first down, and stand over a player writhing in pain and point. "It's so realistic," Jake said.

That's true. In fact, the biggest difference that I could see is that in a real game, when Denver Broncos safety Kenoy Kennedy lays out a guy over the middle, the NFL fines Kennedy $42,794. In NFL Blitz 2003 there's no flag, no fine, only more sales. Either way, the NFL gets the money!

When I explained to Jake that studies have shown that watching violence makes the viewer more violent, he said, "You mean like those?" and pointed to my shelf of videos. What, you don't have the three-volume set of The NFL's Greatest Decapitations?

Do you think it's hypocritical for the NFL to fine its players for violent hits, taunting and unnecessary roughness with one hand and cash in on the very same thing with the other? Dallas Cowboys safety Darren Woodson does. He was fined $75,000 last week for a helmet-to-helmet hit.

"Darren did bring that up with me, yes," says NFL discipline czar Gene Washington. "He said, 'You're fining me on one hand for something you promote with the other.' So, yes, from my side of things I'd like to see some consistency there."

Oops. Somebody's going to get a memo from Paul Tagliabue.

"It's marketing in 2002," says former New England Patriots receiver Darryl Stingley, who in 1978 was left a quadriplegic by a hit delivered by the Oakland Raiders' Jack (the Assassin) Tatum. "Guys I see playing today think they're in a video game. Everybody wants to make it onto a greatest-hits tape."

"It's like the celebrations," says Philadelphia Eagles safety Brian Dawkins, who last week got dinged $50,000 for a late hit. "They'll flag a guy for it, and then you'll see that same move in a video game the next year."

But the NFL doesn't fret about that. After team apparel, the league's second largest source of licensing income is video games like Blitz, in which players lay semiconscious after every hit and the announcers think it's hilarious. "That was criminal!" one of them says with glee.

"Oh, what the heck," says his virtual partner, "he seems to be enjoying it!"

A Green Bay Packer does a front flip, landing with a two-handed punch on Ricky Williams's gut. "I'm not a psychologist," says the announcer, "but this guy needs one! He's out of control!"

And it's not just Blitz. NFL 2K3, another NFL-licensed video game, wallows in the violence too. You can set the game so that no penalties are called for roughing the passer, roughing the kicker, clipping and chop-blocking. Maybe next year: Leg whip your opponent getting off the team bus!

And it's not just football. The ghouls at Midway, which brought you NFL Blitz 2003 and the soaked-in-blood Mortal Kombat, are now out with NHL Hitz, in which you can cream your opponent upside the head with your stick to win a face-off. Now that's family fun!

I turned back to the TV and watched some more. There was taunting and pummeling. There were late hits and cheap blindside shots and lots of other wholesale and unpenalized mayhem.

"Jake," I finally said. "This is too violent. Let's turn on the real game now."

"Uh, Dad," he said. "We are watching the real game."

Issue date: November 11, 2002

Don't miss The Life of Reilly (Total/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, $22.95) -- a best-of compilation of Rick Reilly's columns and features, with a foreword written by Charles Barkley, available online and at bookstores everywhere.

 

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