Rush, like many, is addicted to football.
We have plenty of other national icons. When something like football commits suicide, that’s sad. But the world (and the country) goes on without it.
Football has sucked up too many tax dollars (stadiums) for the benefit of the few (owners, networks, politicians). The amount of corruption involved in football is staggering. Rush is willing to look the other way because it’s corruption that supports something he likes. I won’t miss it.
Aside from the political, economic and social environment, the game itself is in a “decadent” phase. That is, it, and the players, are hyperdeveloped.
They are so strong, so fast, so quick, that it changes the character of the game, compared to say, the seventies. It has become a technical exercise.
I do still watch it on occasion, but more from prurient interest than any sort of fan sentiment.
In fact, I happened to be watching when JJ Watts incurred his tibial plateau fracture. The play didn’t look like much - just an awkward plant of his left foot. But he’s so big! Hyperdeveloped.