Levi Meyer

 

For the next 21 Sundays, millions of Americans will wake up to worship. They will enter the sanctuary, sit down on the surprisingly comfortable pews and wait for the service to commence.

Once the service is in full swing, each member of the congregation will crack open an ice cold brewski and a bag of chips and watch the men draped in multi-color cloth pummel each other.

This isn’t a holy matter— this is football.

Well, I guess it depends on what you call holy.

The 2010-2011 NFL season has kicked off, and the smell of junk food and vast array of team colors will permeate dorm lounges across campus. Students and others around the area will settle into their comfy couches and spend hours staring at the television in proud support of their favorite teams and players. After all, who would want to miss a moment of forty-year-old grandpa Brett Favre in action? (Yes, he is actually a grandpa.)

But how much of football’s appeal actually has to do with the football itself? According to a Wall Street Journal study, the average three hour football broadcast has only 11 minutes of playing time. The rest of the broadcast is dedicated to instant replays, commercials, and camera shots of players before and after the action. In fact, an average of 67 minutes are spent watching players wandering about the field, huddling up, or standing on the sidelines. 

That means the $1000 forked over to buy an HD television will be used to watch players who aren’t even playing. But boy, will they look vivid and real.

I don’t know about most football fans, but I’d rather watch Chris Johnson run circles around opposing defenders for eleven minutes than watch Grandpa Favre suck wind on the sidelines for over an hour.

So why do Americans become so giddy about the gridiron?

It’s the same reason I’d be more excited to wade in the ocean than in a swimming pool. 

It’s all about the atmosphere.

There’s something comforting about gathering a large group of people to eat mediocre food and watch colossal athletes slap each other silly. It seems to transcend cultures somehow. It’s what we do with our parents, friends, girlfriends and even people we don’t care for. Football creates a sense of comfort and belonging that almost nothing else can.

Football also gives one a sense of nostalgia. Maybe hearing your roommate screaming at the television reminds you of how your dad would curse at John Elway during every timeout and throw miniature temper tantrums during commercial breaks. Or perhaps the sound of breaking bones brings you back to your high school football days. Football carries more than memories, it resurfaces feelings from days gone by. Like the pleasure of looking at old photos, football can bring back the warmth of the past.

Even with a marathon of a season to go, the 2010—2011 season will go by as fast as Chris Johnson can run. However, football fans will forget the majority of big hits and even bigger plays from the year. Like every other season, football diehards will remember the ups and downs shared with friends and family every Sunday.

As for Favre— keep playing, old man. As long you have knees and we have food and company, we’ll keep watching.