NFL Football
OK- here I go again. Another rant and this time I know that this will alienate almost everybody I know --even my own father and brother. So I am fully ready to be blasted. But this is my blog and as such I will move ahead.
I do not see what the fascination is with football in general and the NFL in particular. By nature I am competitive as in my career and other areas – but I do not understand the TIME many sports fans invest in watching games, keeping up with stats and endlessly talk about it. From what I see in many friends, it is a single-minded obsession.
I remember the 1987 Pistons and was tremendously excited about their streak of winning seasons. I watched every game of the semi-finals and of course, the finals. So in that respect I can get very excited about my home team or if there is an outstanding player that is just entertaining to watch (like Michael Jordan), I will tune in.
What I am referring to here is the time invested in the NFL’s regular season. Hours and hours of watching TV and Fantasy Football clubs – it’s crazy. I simply do not get it. I would rather do woodworking, play with my kids, swim, write, read, play music, hunt, fish… WHATEVER!
But that is our culture’s call. The NFL is the rallying cry around the water cooler. It’s second most popular conversation starter, after the weather.
I remember a class I took while in college, an introduction to cultural anthropology. I didn’t particularly enjoy the class or the professor but he did teach me two things which I remember all these years later. First, he taught me about the Namibian culture of southern Africa and secondly, about the intellectual futility of watching a group of men running around wooden floor for the sole purpose of getting a 12” ball of orange leather into a steel ring.
I mean think about it. How desperate and unfulfilled must one’s life be to obsess with watching an inflatable elliptical pig skin crossing an imaginary line on the ground.
People are dying in Somalia for crying out loud. At least go shovel the snow, mow the grass or do something useful for goodness sake!
Now I am not saying or implying that I do not have obsessions. On the contrary, my obsession right at this minute is writing a useless blog that no one reads. My personality demands that my obsessions move from one subject to another. Ten years ago I was obsessed with hi-fi gear, then I was obsessed with computers, then cameras, then slide scanning, then fishing, then something else. But they all had an end. It was time to move on.
The simple fact is that I just don’t get the obsession about the NFL. There have been many times that I had to question my masculinity with guys that were frothing over last night’s game. Politics, weather –please anything other than who beat who last night.
My contributions to such conversations usually fall along the lines of “man, Adrian Dantley was a great free-throw shooter, wasn’t he?” I get laughs, which is precisely how I deflect my ignorance.
The obsession with the NFL that I witness currently, concerns me in that it is all a break from reality – a total disconnect with real life. You can enter the fantasy world of football and forget your job, your problems, et al.
I’m sure you would say back to me – “that’s the point!” And to that I would have to admire you for being honest.
Maybe a better analogy would be to speak of my enjoyment of watching movies. I do enjoy good a good flick on the big screen downstairs as much as Siskel and Ebert – but I have no desire to look up the actors on the internet to get their bios, film credits, educational background – nor do I wish to join their fan clubs!
I get plugged in for the movie then unplug after it’s done. Isn’t that the way it should be done? Hmm- maybe I am missing something.
I also think there is a spiritual issue with obsessing. What is the difference between a subject of obsession and idolatry? You tell me.
I can see your hackles, but that’s the way I see it.
And what about this thing about watching every Lions game? How can anyone watch the Lions week in and week out and not get clinically depressed?
I don’t get it.
2 comments:
Those who are totally invested emotionally in Division I college football or basketball as well as those who are invested emotionally in the NFL or NBA simply have no life of their own.
Lacking any self-esteem from their own accomplishments (because they have none), they draw their self-esteem from the on-the-field/court accomplishments of the thugs who entertain the masses on Saturday of Sunday afternoon.
It's one thing to 'be true to your school.' It's quite another to be depressed for days or weeks on end when 'your team' loses a game. The most rabid of the fans, particularly in Division I college football or basketball, are the ones who never played sports or participated in anything else competitive. Sad though it may be, they simply have to live their lives through the lives of others.
To all of those: Get a life of your own.
Are you sure you're related to me??I stayed up till 12:30am (or later) to watch USC and Texas play in the Rose Bowl. HOWever, your point is well taken about those who eat, drink, and sleep "their team". Although we (that would be your father and I)appreciate a good athletic event on occasion, I must say that I'm glad he isn't one of those that must sit glued to his couch of potatoes while drinking beer and belching out profanities while the faucets drip and the shutters fall and other duties call. (I know. He doesn't drink and he doesn't swear, but I was just trying to make a point)
Hmmm. I really didn't know you felt so strongly about this. Would you and the family like to come over and watch the Super Bowl with us? You just might enjoy it. (And I'll make fresh salsa and throw in the chips for free) :-)
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