A Rhetorical Analysis Of Against Football By Steve Almond

In Steve Almond’s essay taken from his book Against Football, he discusses the negative side effects that come with playing football. He shares how such a violent sport like football can go from good fun to a terrible tragedy in seconds. Using an early memory of Patriots’ wide receiver Darryl Stingley getting leveled by Jack Tatum of the Oakland Raiders, Almond plants his opinion of the hard hitting sport into readers heads. Watching a traumatic hit on public television has the potential to permanently scar the mind of an eleven year old kid, and that certainly happened to Almond. He shares personal information about his life growing up with brothers, and how violence between them always seemed prevalent. He explains how he and his brothers “sought to humiliate and injure one another constantly.” It seems as though every child growing up with siblings gets in at least one fight a day, with the rare occasion of going a day without fighting. However, Almond’s case is disturbing because he shares that his siblings would show no comfort or love, only fury. Moreover, part of this fury was caused by growing up watching men in the …show more content…
Almond has a viable and just reason behind his opinion of not watching or supporting football on all levels: It is killing players. While writing in a comedic tone at parts, there is nothing funny of the voice that Almond brings across to the reader. He states prominent evidence, such as football players having shorter lives, and how NFL players and coaches have hidden brain damage in hopes of having better competition. He uses given evidence to persuade the reader that no matter how entertaining football is to millions of fans, there is a corrupt, unseen side to the sport that he is trying to uncover. Almond’s unique views seem to be the first steps towards a revolution of the sport led by people who see the unbearable truths of