Our National Pastime

The best sports weekend of the year is upon us. It is time for the divisional playoffs of the National Football League, and a true national, and increasingly international, league it is. Football long ago passed baseball as our nation's pastime, and it just continues to blow all other competitors out of the water. It has been said that baseball is who we were, namely that it represents a time when our society was much more pastoral and rural, where time was measured in broad strokes, innings rather than two minute warnings, and when the nation was much more regional than it is today. But football is who we are and who we want to become. It is urban and modern, it is fast-paced, aggressive, violent. It is, pro football at least, truly national. Go to any city or for that matter small town in America and you are likely to find fans of the Cowboys, Steelers, Raiders, Packers, and now the Patriots and Colts. Sure, the majority may root for the home team, but football fandom knows no regional boundaries. The games are broadcast nationally not locally, which represents our nation today, with the internet and cable TV, we are much more linked with each other than ever before.

Football players are our modern day warriors, our Achilles and Hector, and coaches are the modern day Caesars. Tony Dungy led his troops across the Rubicon and into the pantheon of greatness, and it's not hard to imagine Bill Bellichik as Alexander, minus the sexuality of course, building his empire and capturing all comers in his path to greatness. And who among us hasn't had our own coaching version of Nero, fiddling helplessly while our team crashed and burned its way to a 4-12 season. We ascribe to them hero status, we admire their toughness, skill, and mentality. We admire the leadership qualities of the coaches and quarterbacks, if Brett Favre led you into battle, would you complain about feeling a little under the weather, or beg off because of a sore knee?

Some argue that the current fascination with the NFL comes down to two things, quasi-legalized gambling on the internet and actual legalized gambling in Vegas, and fantasy football. While these two factors have led to increased interest and fanaticism toward the sport, there are many, myself included, who neither gamble nor play fantasy games. Yet come 1:00 eastern time on Sundays from September through February we are riveted, glued to our TV sets, all else in life put on hold while we watch our modern day gladiators do battle and vie for eternal glory. And unlike other, more localized sports such as baseball, basketball, and even college football, we will watch and become immersed even when our favorite teams are not involved in the action. My own team, the Oakland Raiders, have not had so much as a whiff of grapeshot in the last few years, but that doesn't stop me from adopting other contending teams to root on while awaiting the (hopefully) inevitable return to glory of the silver and black.

Yes, pro football has truly become our national pastime, in the true sense of the phrase. It is national and we spend a heck of alot of time watching the games, then watching the highlights of the games, listening to the analysts break down what happened and preparing and predicting what is to come in the next weekend's round of games. We discuss it with friends and family in conversations, phone calls, emails, and text messages. We make predictions and look for clues as to what might happen on any given Sunday like generals preparing for battle. Because after all, what is a greater sign of intelligence than to be able to go 4-0 on divisional playoff weekend, or to win your office pick-em game.

So as yet another weekend is planned around the big games, let's enjoy the pageant that is the NFL playoffs. The reason this is the best weekend is because there are only quality teams left in the tournament, the pretenders having been disposed of in last weekend's wild card round. There are four games on, from Saturday afternoon until just before supper on Sunday, we can lose ourselves in the matchups, battles, and big plays that will set up the biggest single day in sports, Conference Championship Sunday. Oh, and by the way, to demonstrate just how intelligent I am, I expect to see the Colts and Patriots doing battle alongside the Packers and Giants next Sunday for the right to go to the Super Bowl. Enjoy the games sports fans, and wives, you can take solace in the fact that after this weekend, there are only three games left in the season, and the garages and yards and pools of America will finally be tended to. Just not quite yet.