Pose the question, “Why do you watch football,” to ten sports fans.
You’ll get at least ten different answers that make enough sense to believe them all.
The first ten:
10. Why do I watch football? That’s the question? You gotta be kidding me. I watch to see who wins and loses. That’s it. That’s all anyone watches for. If they say anything else they’re lying.
9. You’ve heard of money? Betting? Point spread? I watch for that action. Put some skin in the game, man.
8. I’m embarrassed to say, but it’s the uniforms. The game changed when the uniforms got better. The helmet designs, the fabrics, the colors. They’re beautiful and they stay so clean on turf.
7. I’m a sports fan, but also a fan of architecture. I love the stadiums. They’re incredible structures. Some of them will be the lasting artifacts of our era, like the Roman Coliseum.
6. No other sport combines speed and power like football. They players are at the peak of human evolution. They do things you’ll never see again.
5. One word: cheerleaders. If beautiful strong women are attracted to big sweaty guys then I’ve still got a chance.
4. The hits. Come on. Anyone saying it’s not the hits is lying. Even with new safeguards no other sport allows the same impact. Who doesn’t want to see that?
3. I watch the NFL to keep up with my favorite college players. There’s something about great college players getting better and better. Same with the fails. It’s hard to understand how guys who dominate at one level fade away at the next.
2. Don’t you want to see who can really play? How many guys take the career path of protecting themselves first on a play where they might get hurt? I like matching up the guts of the game with the public persona of the players. Some are just too fake.
1. Listen, when you add up the money these guys make you have to wonder why? What makes a guy worth millions and millions of dollars? Two Seattle Seahawks answered the question in the NFC Championship Game.
Richard Sherman could have taken his elbow and called it a day, but he stayed on the field.
Earl Thomas could have stayed in the locker room when his shoulder popped out. He didn’t.
In the same game we saw Aaron Rodgers with a torn calf hobble around and refuse to quit.
A week earlier we learned Peyton Manning’s been playing with a torn quad.
The pain and agony of playing with an injury also includes a good dose of fear. Every NFL player has the fear of injury. Every NFL player has learned to ignore their fear.
We watch football one game after the other with no ill effects. The players need a week to recover from their game. They know the sport is shortening their lives. They know what’s in the future after so many concussions.
And they keep playing.
For all the pomp and circumstance of sports celebrity, they keep playing until they can’t play anymore. Football is the only game where great rewards come with great penalties.
The players who live right in spite of the bright lights of fame deserve everything they get.
The team that wins the Super Bowl get everything the others get along with their names recorded in the NFL Hall of Fame.
That’s every reason to watch and then some.
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