In Praise of the Fullback

Is it just me, or did society as a whole start going downhill when football teams quit using fullbacks? I miss the fullback position.

I bet the guy who played fullback on your high school football team is doing pretty well today. Fullbacks were always the kinds of guys who quietly go about their business. They’re the kind of guys who build and maintain civilization. Fullbacks always seemed to be competent, reliable, level-headed, unflappable, anti-fragile, thick-skinned, hard working. You knew exactly what you were getting with a fullback. Fullbacks never needed a lot of praise or thanks to keep going; they’d get the job done even if they didn’t get a lot of credit. They were the unsung heroes of the football team back then; their type is the unsung hero of civilization today.

(Many of these same things could be said about offensive linemen.)