The NFL, with the best of intentions, will stop using military jargon to describe the game of football.
The NFL means well. Out of respect to military folks who are in actual combat, it seems reasonable to refrain from describing a game as if it were a true life-or-death struggle. I get that.
But football, as much as any sport, is a living metaphor for what war does: one group imposing it's will on another group through use of force. Listen to what how George Carlin describes it (in my favorite Carlin bit of all time):
As long as football is played the way it is, the comparison to war is natural and instructive. The only way to remove the connection is to change the game (no hitting, tackling, blocking, or defending, just make it a punt, pass, & kick competition) or to redefine what people think war is. War can't be redefined in reality but you might convince the public that it's nice, clean, neat, black & white, impersonal, tame and civilized.
It's not. And nothing in history suggests it ever will be.
[Thanks to Uncle Jimbo of Blackfive for the heads up.]
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