Comparing Football to War

Comparing Football to War

John McMurtry, in his essay Kill Em! Crush Em! Eat Em Raw! states that body shattering is the very point of football, as killing and maiming are of war. The main points the author makes are based on words such as for the kill and casualties. There cannot be an equal comparison between war and football because football is entertainment, but by definition, war, in its purest form, is survival. The three differences in football and war are the draft, the attack, and the defense.

War and football cannot be compared equally. In war, anyone can be drafted. It does not matter whether the person chosen is smart, brave, or uneducated. For a war, the army goes around and picks anyone they want. Then when the draft is through, those men who are chosen are trained to shoot a gun or taught how to hide themselves with camouflage. In football, for a man to be chosen by the draft, they need to show a certain amount of strength and knowledge of the game. A football player is chosen primarily based on his previous play experience or his outstanding skills in throwing a football farther than the last man. Football drafts consist of the "best of the best" while war drafts consist of anyone who can be trained to carry and shoot a gun.

Attacking the enemy in war is much different than in football. In war, rushing the enemy is easier said than done than in a game of football. In a game of football, a man cannot die while rushing the enemy, however while a man is facing the enemy attack in war, he can be killed in one shot or taken captive by the opposing force. Football is a game that always gives a team another chance to score a goal. If the quarterback fumbles the ball in play, he gets a chance to redeem himself in the next play. A second chance is denied to a soldier of war. The soldier has only one chance to drop the bomb or throw the grenade before either the other force is demolished or until the soldier is killed. In football, the team that looses a play will go on because there is always another game next week. In war, it is either do or die, because the game ends when there is a fumble.