America’s new pastime

Anyone that knows me knows that I love the game of baseball. There isn’t another sport that will ever come and take away the love and passion I have for the game that this great country was built on. But even though I’m a huge baseball fan, I realize the shift in American culture and the overwhelming fact that football has supplanted itself as America’s sport.

There are many reasons for this, none of which makes football a great sport per say, but they are reasons for why many Americans these days love to watch it and be associated with it. The first thought that comes to my mind for why people love this sport so much is the same issue that comes to my mind when I think about the problems of our society today in general, and that is laziness.

Now this isn’t meant to bash the sport of football because I love to plop down on the couch or in the recliner and watch a full day of football myself, this is just the assessment I see and hear from fans around the country.

Football is a simple game. It’s easy for anyone to pick up or teach to a girlfriend you’re trying to impress or explain to your kid. The biggest decision on offense is whether to run or pass. The biggest decision on defense is whether to blitz or play zone. That makes it sound more simple than it actually is, but still, it’s not rocket science.

The most glorified position in all of sports is the quarterback position. They get paid ridiculous amounts of money to play catch and hand the ball off to running backs who just run fast and hard. Now some do it better than others so there is skill involved there. But 95 percent of America can throw a football. I would guess that not 50 percent of America can throw a curveball. And I would guess that 95 percent of Americans can catch a football, but I would guess that less than 30 percent of Americans can hit a curveball.

To compare the amount of skill it takes to play baseball compared to football isn’t even fair because I think even the most die-hard football fan would admit there is more skill involved in baseball. There is even more skill involved in hockey, and you could make cases for other sports too. That’s what frustrates me the most about America’s lack of recognition for something truly skillful and why I believe the sport is just so popular because it’s easy.

Fans don’t have the patience to sit around and wait for something exciting to happen in baseball or hockey. They want it now. But with commercials and replay football, to me, has become as slow if not slower than any other sport.  

Now that’s only part of why football has become America’s game. There is a whole other side to it and it also has nothing to do with the fact that football is a great sport. And the main reason football is more popular than baseball today is the build-up of the game. I think if you polled people and they honestly answered whether they loved the tailgating or the actual game more, there would be a pretty fair amount of people that said they loved the tailgating more than the actual game.

I’ve been to several tailgates in college where we spent all day tailgating and then when the game came on we may watch the beginning and the end of it, but in between people were more worried about what we were going to eat or do after the game. There were very few games we actually sat down and watched every play with intensity.

Football is played one day a week and people just sit at their desks all week in anticipation of this one game. They read every article that analyzes every aspect of the game. People check the injury reports daily to see who’s going to be starting and who will have to sit out. So the anticipation for the game becomes even more exciting than the actual games themselves.

Another reason football has become so popular in America is because of fantasy football. I’m not going to lie, I maybe sat down and watched one or two games all season (Mostly just stopping by to see if one of my players scored). But I was checking my phone constantly on Sundays to find out how my fantasy football team was doing. If I had sat down and actually watched some football I probably would have made the playoffs, but that’s another story.

I know several people and have several friends who could care less about the outcome of a game, they just care if Shonn Greene actually had more than five fantasy points for once. Fantasy sports have been great for all sports because it brings in interest from fans that normally wouldn’t care about the sport or players. And with football it’s even better because you have a whole week to get ready and set your lineups, instead of having to pay attention every day.

Like I said, I’m not trying to bash America or people that love football. It’s a great game. I love to watch it and I love everything that’s mentioned above about football. I participate in all of those activities on a weekly basis during the fall and winter months. I just don’t like the fact that Americans have become so lazy that they don’t appreciate the skill it takes to play baseball, hockey or even soccer.

The NFL and college football has done a great job promoting the sport of football and making it the wonderful sport that is today. They’ve capitalized on the opportunity to make football America’s sport. MLB traditionalist just haven’t kept up with the times to make the sport better for today’s society, and in all honesty I hope they don’t because I love it the way it is.

I know there are those few people out there that live and die with every play. But for me, and the majority of people that I see and hang around, it’s more about the fellowship with friends and the time spent together before, during and even after the game that makes it such a great sport.

You can follow Jake on Twitter at: @j8a1k0e