The NFL, Militarized Masculinity, and A Really Annoying Hoodie

There are many displays of patriotism that occur during a football game (which often border on nationalism and militarism), and I've always assumed they were the prerogative of the NFL and therefore funded by the league. I was shocked to learn that our military actually foots the bill for these demonstrations, such as when the flag is stretched across the field before games and during halftime, special events like flyovers, and most recently, all the desert brown “Salute to Service” hoodies worn by players on the sidelines of last Sunday’s games.

As a patriot, I was outraged upon learning this information; I’ve written to my legislators to express my disapproval of the practice, and I recommend that anyone who supports our troops do the same. I’m a big football fan and I love going to games, but we’ve got to be honest with ourselves — the NFL is frivolous compared to the military — there’s absolutely no reason for us to divert funds which could be used to improve facilities and increase pay for our service members to finance wasteful and unnecessary marketing ploys for an organization made up of millionaires. While this is obviously a case of mismanaged tax dollars, I believe it’s symptomatic of a deeper problem in our society.

Sport has always been closely associated with masculinity, and football — a very physical competition between men wherein success is dependent upon the team’s ability to work together using strength, agility, and strategy to accomplish a goal — can be seen as a manifestation of masculinity. 

Unfortunately, masculinity in America has recently been receiving a lot of criticism, because it’s become interwoven with a violent brand of militarism (see: Masculinity and Militarism). The NFL realizes this and they’re using it to their advantage: their marketing team is savvy enough to see that drawing on the militaristic aspects of sport and trumping them up through the aforementioned displays creates a spectacle capable of engaging millions of men for whom football fulfills a need to connect with a more deeply masculine side of their identity, further ensnaring them in the idea of a masculinity that is predicated on militarism, which in the current political climate, can be easily mistaken for nationalist aggression.

Perhaps I’m wrong, but in that case, I find it puzzling that sporting events (which, as mentioned previously, possess an inherent masculinity) are the only types of large public events where these overly patriotic displays occur. If they were truly about celebrating our country and reverence for those who serve, why would these displays not occur at other events that AREN’T inherently masculine, like fairs, concerts, or parades? The key here is that the NFL knows there is a financial benefit to taking advantage of the militarized perversion of masculinity that many have been hoodwinked into accepting.

I’m not arguing that it’s bad for men to engage with or celebrate their masculinity, nor am I arguing that patriotic displays have no place in sport. In fact, I think we should take more opportunities to elevate favorable manifestations of masculinity, as well as to participate in patriotic displays which serve as reminders that we're ALL Americans with a shared set of values. The two are not mutually exclusive: as an Eagle Scout, I feel qualified to say that Boy Scouting is a good example of a program that celebrates masculinity and incorporates mildly militaristic practices that instill a deep respect for country (and actually leads many young men to serve) without conflating the two or perverting either.

The bottom line is this: if the NFL wants to have these displays, they should have to pay for them. It’s not the tax payer’s responsibility to buy “salute to service” hoodies for the millionaire athletes on the sidelines of a football game, and if they’re going to capitalize on the sacrifices made by our troops, they should at least have the dignity not to take money from those same troops to finance their disrespectful and socially detrimental marketing ploys.