Football

Is It More Than Just Another Sport?

My wife absolutely and implicitly hates Football season. Its not that she doesn't like sports. She enjoys basketball and hockey, but she knows that when football season starts I might as well be an FBI agent working under cover. All of the plans go out the window if said plans fall on a Monday, Thursday, Saturday, or Sunday (especially Sunday).
My favorite sport is basketball. As far as sports to play on all levels, its basketball. I get into basketball heavy, as do I for baseball and even hockey to a lesser degree. Football, however, is an entirely different story. Basketball, baseball, and hockey are sports. To me football is on a whole different plane of existence. Maybe it's the fact that there is only one game a week for each respective team, maybe it's the various strategic dynamics involved, whatever it is it's infectious to me.
All of the sports mentioned, have the one vs one as it benefits or hinders the respective teams. There is a definable difference between offense and defense. Most of those sports have groups of positions. All of these are true, but for some reason its different in football. Guards, forwards, and centers beget point guards/shooting guards, small forwards/power forwards, true centers/converted power forwards. Similarly, pitchers, infielders, outfielders beget starting pitchers/middle relief pitchers/closers, catchers/1Bmen/2Bmen & shortstops/3Bmen, left/center/right fielders and so on. In football you could say the same is true, but there are far more of them. QB's stand alone, running backs have Full and Halfbacks. WR's have wide outs, slot receivers, and possession receivers (which can be interchangeable). O-Line is very specific LT, RT, C, RG, RT, yet skilled lineman could conceivably play any of the five. Tackles are the most coveted though. D-Line is not so simplistic. A 4-3 DT is not the same as a 3-4 NT. A 3-4 DE could possibly play 4-3 DT but not 3-4 NT. A 4-3 DE is generally converted to a 3-4 OLB. Are you confused yet? In a 4-3, OLB and ILB are separated almost exclusively by athleticism and speed. In a 3-4 the OLB and ILB are fundamentally different players. Most teams have one shut down CB, if they are lucky there #2 is not that far off. If both are formidable at their position, then the FS ans SS could be interchangeable. If not then the FS and SS must be completely different players. That is only the surface of the breakdown. Troy Polamalu could play CB, SS, FS, or even OLB in a 4-3. Jorge Posada couldn't play 2B equally as well as catcher if he were asked. Steve Nash couldn't effectively play center if he were asked to match up against Chris Kaman if need be (he would have an edge in quickness but that's it).
There is something to be said for the infrequency of games as well. It may sound like a knock but in fact I think it is a great selling point. Even if you are an avid baseball fan, you would have to admit that missing 9 games or approximately 6% of the season is not going leave you feeling empty or incomplete. More over if you missed twice that much, even consecutively, you really haven't missed much. So, then why is it that if an NFL football fan misses even one game, or 1/16th of the season, he or she is unaccepting of this travesty? The answer is because each game really means that much to that person. Hypothetically speaking, say I follow all three teams from the same market (if you try even a little you can gauge which market I am using). The baseball team wins 90 games (which is normally a lock for the playoffs and is only a 0.555 winning pct) and misses the playoffs, I am upset for about 2-3 days and get over it reasonably soon. The basketball team wins 50 games and is 2 seed in their conference parlaying that into an NBA championship series appearance which they go on to lose 0-4 in a sweep, I am upset for about 6 weeks. The football team is in a rebuilding stage (that they have been in for 8+ years) and all of the national media has them pegged as a 5-11 team. I go into the season with expectations of 8-8 and possibly a delusional 9-7. Regardless of if its a 9-7 season or a 6-10 season, I will be moderately upset for at least 2-4 months. On the low end, they had a S#@ty season and on the high end, with a little luck how much more could they have won and is it improbable that they were inches away from being a playoff team? After the mourning period for my baseball and basketball teams, I really pay them NO mind until I here something about the off season/free agency period. With football, it really is a 365 day a year deal. Did the basketball team sign a high profile free agent to help get to the promised land? Did the baseball team acquire prospects or established talent with a right handed power hitter? But football, its insane, who are we going to draft? Will it be a horse for the holes on the line offense or defense? Will it be a franchise cornerstone QB, RB, or WR? Then as the season progresses, are we installing a new offensive system? Can player A convert to position B to move from 3rd to 2nd on the depth chart at different positions? Is it really so far fetched that all of the focus, luck and potential come together in one season and they realize greatness overnight forcing the national media to appear like stunned infants with their thumbs up their @$$e$? Now if you are exclusively die hard on any of the 4 major sports inversely more so than any other maybe this is conversely true for you and your desired sport. Chances are, unless you are an apologist for or a believer solely in a different sport, that is not true.
The beauty is in ratings and believe it or not fantasy football. Fantasy sports were made popular by baseball, however, there are people how are not even true football fans who play fantasy football. The Superbowl is the single most watched television event in the world! Some may argue that on a single "regular season" event, NASCAR has higher ratings. The proof is in the championship game/race. If the points championship in NASCAR comes down to the final race, that race alone will not do a better rating than the Superbowl. That's the only sporting event even close. All games played in the World Series over the last decade added together probably wouldn't add up to one Superbowl. If the Spurs played the Pistons in 10 straight NBA Finals it wouldn't rival the Superbowl.
Maybe its the strategy, the controlled violence, the pretty boys separated from the trench players, the awkwardly skewed scoring scale, the multitude of mini battles adding up to them vs us, the spectacle of it, the fact that each game seems to be figurative life and death for a football fan, every snap counts, its a game that is separated by inches, whatever it is there is just something more intense and majestic about football. Regardless what your favorite sport is. Whether the traditionalist fans want to admit it or not, baseball might have been our nations pastime for over 100 years, but its not anymore. Baseball's fault or not, the torch has been passed. Like an Olympic relay runner, the torch has been passed and football is gaining separation with every passing second.