There is nothing more American than this picture
I am going to make my first post cover something I already love about America, American Football. Let me start by saying that I understand the game of football as the world plays it, or soccer to the rebellious American sports fan. I like the game, I even play on a casually-competitive soccer team. That being said…it isn’t American. I find it fitting that the way we describe “our” football is by labeling it American Football. I have come to believe that this is not only an indication of where the game originated, and is still mainly played. (Many would contend that our friends to the north are not actually playing the same game, I won’t go that far, but I don’t TiVo Edmonton Eskimo games either.) I believe the descriptor American identifies the core values of the sport as well, and this is why I love American Football. Let me run through the American aspects of our football that I love.
1. the tie – I realize that in the NFL a tie can occur, but it rarely does, and it seems that most people are fairly irate about it when it does. The idea of a tie is so ridiculous that some players (Donovan McKnabb) haven’t bothered to familiarize themselves with the rules of overtime. Here is the thing, there is nothing less American than a tie. This is a nation driven by winning. Winning what you may ask. It doesn’t matter, but someone must win. How will we know who should feel shame, how will we decide who is allowed to gloat? If we don’t have a winner and a loser then who will tweet the week following the game. Ties are European!
2. 6 points for a touchdown – When we are scoring in multiples of 3,6 and 7 the scores can pile up pretty quickly. Welcome to America. The land of 100,000,000 point pin ball scores could not begin to imagine devoting 3 hours to a 1-nil or Lord help us all a nil-nil draw. If I am going to sit down to watch a game I want to know that the St. Louis Rams are going to be embarrassed, but I’d like to see them score 17 points in the process.
3. the Raiders – In the great states of our great nation there still remains a bastion of hope for everyone. If you tell people that you have a “commitment to excellence” you too can own an NFL franchise, run it into the ground, and no one will say a word about it. Al Davis may be the finest example on American freedom. If you can find a way to make a pile of money, you can do whatever you want to with it. There are no limits (within reason.) Don’t injure anyone, harm any animals, kill people, employ children, or generally abuse your rights as a human and we will let you go crazy. It’s amazing. If we are honest probably 60% of the US population could run the Raiders better than Al Davis…but your not Al Davis, and this is America. Ineptitude doesn’t disqualify you from anything.
American Football, I love you. I will continue to fantasy play you, I will continue to watch the Lions on Thanksgiving (because I’m American) and I will continue to believe that this is the year that the chiefs won’t take an over-rated defensive lineman with the first pick. Because, as our president Barack Obama said “In the unlikely story that is America, there’s never been anything false about hope.”
