Sports and the Military

The movie we watched in class today was very interesting to me. I agree with some points made about how sports and war have become very closely knit, however i differ from the video on one aspect and that is patriotism. I don't think the author drew a fine enough line between sports being centered around military-like emblems and sports showing patriotism. Prior to a baseball game they play the national anthem, and in professional and semi-professional venues they play God Bless America in the 7th inning. I dont think this is an attempt to make the game more military or war based, i think it is a good way to show patriotism and pride for your country. On the other hand, it is very difficult to fight the facts when you see an NFL player talking about how the game is "war" or that other players want to kill him so he has to kill them first. Sometimes maybe the GAME is taken too seriously. Players aren't going out on the field for their country the way soldiers are going to the frontlines for it, so why do we have to relate words like battle, war, attack, enemy, and the like with an NFL game. On a somewhat different topic, i was shocked to hear that NFL players live on average 20 years less than other people. That's crazy to me.