Alex Boone makes a GREAT point...

[pehawk]

I've always found it hypocritical that we as fans want these big men to inflict violence upon each other, for our amusement, but demand they be model citizens and fit our own morality.

"Hey, smash that guy into the turf, potentially paralyzing him...but wear a sweater and tie and DONT talk smack (etc for example)." "Act like an animal, please, but be a church mouse off the field, kay". The whole thing seems slightly hypocritical.

Well, Alex Boone nailed it in these quotes. Good for him...

But 49ers guard Alex Boone admitted he let his emotions get away from him when Cardinals nose tackle Alameda Ta’amu kicked him Sunday, while at the same time pointing to the duality of his job, saying “I shouldn’t have been in the rage that I was.”

“I think people forget that this is a physical sport,” Boone told Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com. “They’re asking us to be like animals out there and really try to grind and grind and grind. All of a sudden, somebody kicks you in the face. Am I supposed to be an animal now? Or am I supposed to be myself?

“It’s hard to sometimes draw the line. But that’s on me. I should know better. I’m smarter than that. I can’t continue to put the team in bad positions. Had we not scored, it could’ve really hurt us. That was my fault.”

When players and coaches tried to settle Boone down after the incident, he seemed to grow more angry, screaming “He kicked me in the f–ing face.”

Boone was called for a personal foul for his reaction, while Ta’amu was not penalized. The penalty wasn’t enforced because of offsetting fouls on other players on the same play. Whether fines are doled out remains to be seen.

Boone was chastised by coach Jim Harbaugh after the fact, and Harbaugh admitted the pattern of retaliation has to stop.

But while Boone said he “hugged it out” with Harbaugh, he still wonders how he’s going to handle the next one.

“You’re out there, and you’re trying to be sadistic and impose your will, and something like that happens and you kind of lose your mindset as to the way you are and what you’re doing,” he said. “I put my team in a bad position, and I hope to never do that again. I got to control myself.”

There seemed to be a clear lack of that Sunday, and how Boone handles it next time will be fascinating now that opponents know what he’s struggling with.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... nimal-now/

 

[Milehighhawk]

Sorry but to anyone who has been in actual combat, his statements are a joke. Calm amidst the chaos is paramount to success.

 

[Laloosh]

Sorry but to anyone who has been in actual combat, his statements are a joke. Calm amidst the chaos is paramount to success.

He's talking about football, not a fire fight.

I think your point about calm being important in that situation makes sense, but I'm fairly certain a lot of football players play with a lot of emotion. His comments seem pretty valid to me.

 

[Milehighhawk]

Sorry but to anyone who has been in actual combat, his statements are a joke. Calm amidst the chaos is paramount to success.

He's talking about football, not a fire fight.

I think your point about calm being important in that situation makes sense, but I'm fairly certain a lot of football players play with a lot of emotion. His comments seem pretty valid to me.

I guess to me he seems to be making an excuse for his lack of control based upon his environment and while the environment indeed is violent, it still isn't an excuse for losing focus and self-control. That is all I am saying and I think there are plenty of examples of players who played the game with controlled violence at an extremely high level. Look at Walter Jones, a man who also played on the offensive line at the highest of levels, yet amazingly I cannot remember many (if any?) times when he was called for these types of penalties and on top of that tried to excuse it as if it was out of his control at some level. Just sounds like whining about being in an environment you chose to be in.

 

[rlkats]

All I know is ANY person gets kicked in the face is going to act with emotion. We
are not in his shoes it's easy to call him a whiner when your not being kicked in the face.

 

[Pandion Haliaetus]

Dude, got kicked in the face.... it automatic resorts to bar rules no matter the profession or place.

Its the same as getting spit on.

Once someone else breaks the conduct of sportsmanship, I think a person has the right to defend himself.

When Trent Cole threw Okung to the ground, I wish Okung would of found Cole after the game and punched him in the balls.

 

[Popeyejones]

I guess to me he seems to be making an excuse for his lack of control based upon his environment and while the environment indeed is violent, it still isn't an excuse for losing focus and self-control.

Funny in that while you essentially repeat what he said, you're also saying he's making an excuse.

He took full ownership of what he did, but also talked about the context and why it has been difficult for him. It's not an either/or thing.

 

[Kixkahn]

It is an interesting point this guy makes, but put yourself in his shoes before you criticize what he says. We as fans do kinda expect them to be animals "out for blood" on the field, but then when they mess up off the field we freak out about how bad of a person and role model they are. The guy makes a good point.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

It is an interesting point this guy makes, but put yourself in his shoes before you criticize what he says. We as fans do kinda expect them to be animals "out for blood" on the field, but then when they mess up off the field we freak out about how bad of a person and role model they are. The guy makes a good point.

No, he doesn't. Football is not some primal, unfettered brawl, nor is it actually about assaulting another person directly like boxing is. It is an organized, structured competition with rules to protect players and expectations of sportsmanship and good conduct. There's no point there at all.

 

[5_Golden_Rings]

Sorry but to anyone who has been in actual combat, his statements are a joke. Calm amidst the chaos is paramount to success.

He's talking about football, not a fire fight.

I think your point about calm being important in that situation makes sense, but I'm fairly certain a lot of football players play with a lot of emotion. His comments seem pretty valid to me.

I guess to me he seems to be making an excuse for his lack of control based upon his environment and while the environment indeed is violent, it still isn't an excuse for losing focus and self-control. That is all I am saying and I think there are plenty of examples of players who played the game with controlled violence at an extremely high level. Look at Walter Jones, a man who also played on the offensive line at the highest of levels, yet amazingly I cannot remember many (if any?) times when he was called for these types of penalties and on top of that tried to excuse it as if it was out of his control at some level. Just sounds like whining about being in an environment you chose to be in.

For your example... a future Hall of Famer. :34853_doh:

Combat is a different beast. You're trying to survive. If you're talking about military combat, you're trained to be a machine, constantly depersonalized in order to make the unit function as smoothly as possible. Football is different (if you've never played organized football above the Pee Wee level, particularly defense or in the trenches, you really ought to step out of the debate right about now). In the football trenches, there is a psychological battle going on the whole time. Who is going to dominate whom? A kick in the face is crossing that line; he was trying to make Boone his bitch. You have to man-up in that situation, one way or another. But remember, Boone is relatively young, and not everyone can be as level headed as say, Russell Wilson.

 

[rlkats]

Dude if Wilson or any other QB Gets kicked in the face I don't give a damn what team he is on someone's getting their ass kicked. So cultured calm level headed ya right keep dreaming not everyone is able to do that. Half of the hawks D would explode if it happens to ol Russ sorry

 

[rlkats]

And they should be able to defend themselves period.

 

[pehawk]

It is an interesting point this guy makes, but put yourself in his shoes before you criticize what he says. We as fans do kinda expect them to be animals "out for blood" on the field, but then when they mess up off the field we freak out about how bad of a person and role model they are. The guy makes a good point.

No, he doesn't. Football is not some primal, unfettered brawl, nor is it actually about assaulting another person directly like boxing is. It is an organized, structured competition with rules to protect players and expectations of sportsmanship and good conduct. There's no point there at all.

It's also about risking paralysis and sustaining permanent brain damage. While you're comment was well-written and inspiring, its also fairly naïve. It glossed over the tackling part. Or, the trenches where men are subjecting themselves to the equivalent of a 35 MPH head-on wreck, every 45 seconds. You need the emotion and "warrior" to even overrule basic instincts to not put ourselves in harms way.

These guys shouldn't really be role models anyway. If any of our children took these risks outside of football, we'd be sending them to a therapist.

 

[Largent80]

Try being at the bottom of a dogpile during a fumble. A lot of gouging, biting and nut busting going on in there.

 

[pehawk]

I respect Montana as both a football and moral mind. I mean that.

I'm a tad disappointed he couldn't lay out more. But, I'm, selfish like that.

Kearly would be an interesting take as well.

 

[Smelly McUgly]

There are rules, definitely, but in my limited time playing organized football, the coaches emphasize being fired up and violent and there are times when you get punched in the sack when the refs aren't looking.

You are conditioned to hit hard and be violent already. Getting kicked in the face or punched in the sack would cause most people to go ballistic WITHOUT the "this is war" mindset drilled into them on gameday. With it, stuff like this happens.

I absolutely get what Montana is saying, but at the same time, the way players get conditioned to play on game day is naturally going to spill over at points, structured game or no structured game.

 

[Milehighhawk]

Sorry but to anyone who has been in actual combat, his statements are a joke. Calm amidst the chaos is paramount to success.

He's talking about football, not a fire fight.

I think your point about calm being important in that situation makes sense, but I'm fairly certain a lot of football players play with a lot of emotion. His comments seem pretty valid to me.

I guess to me he seems to be making an excuse for his lack of control based upon his environment and while the environment indeed is violent, it still isn't an excuse for losing focus and self-control. That is all I am saying and I think there are plenty of examples of players who played the game with controlled violence at an extremely high level. Look at Walter Jones, a man who also played on the offensive line at the highest of levels, yet amazingly I cannot remember many (if any?) times when he was called for these types of penalties and on top of that tried to excuse it as if it was out of his control at some level. Just sounds like whining about being in an environment you chose to be in.

For your example... a future Hall of Famer. :34853_doh:

Combat is a different beast. You're trying to survive. If you're talking about military combat, you're trained to be a machine, constantly depersonalized in order to make the unit function as smoothly as possible. Football is different (if you've never played organized football above the Pee Wee level, particularly defense or in the trenches, you really ought to step out of the debate right about now). In the football trenches, there is a psychological battle going on the whole time. Who is going to dominate whom? A kick in the face is crossing that line; he was trying to make Boone his bitch. You have to man-up in that situation, one way or another. But remember, Boone is relatively young, and not everyone can be as level headed as say, Russell Wilson.

Since you seem to demand qualifications in order to have an opinion 1: I have been in combat and 2: I have played above a peewee level.

To argue that football is somehow more psychologically demanding than combat is frankly ridiculous and I'll leave it at that. The guy just needs to mature, takes longer for some than others but I am sure opposing teams don't mind the penalty yardage.