What's so Great about Football

Non-political blog alert! Today I thought I'd write on something different, in part to break up the monotony of my political blogs and also in part to get away from the health care debate, which, to be honest, has given me severe brain drain.

So let's get started.

Football, whether it's high school, college, pro, or just some friends on a field, is in my opinion America's past time. Baseball used to hold this title, but let's face it, unless you are at the game, baseball is a boring sport. It takes incredibly too long to watch it, and with seasons lasting 150+ it just doesn't hold the attention of most Americans in today's society.

Football, on the other hand, is a fast paced in your face sport and can be enjoyed by all.

My personal favorite is college football. To me, it's just a better game. Week in and week out you never know what's going to happen or who's going to win. Take this season so far. Florida St destroyed BYU, a top ten team, on their field one week, then loses to South Florida (a bottom rung team) at home the next. USC beats Ohio St (a top five team) one week, loses to Washington (who was winless last year) the next.

With college football, all the experts think they know exactly who is going to win the championship year in and year out, most of the time they are wrong. Florida is the overwhelming favorite to win it all this year, but history isn't on their side. The number one team at the beginning of the season is rarely the number 1 team at the end of the season. In the BCS System (which I absolutely hate, but it's what we have), there have been 11 National Champions, the record of the #1 team is 5-6. Odds are, Florida either won't win the championship or win it is a #2.

I'm not going to get into the issues with the BCS as they are well known but if you want to discuss it in the comments feel free and I may also discuss what would be a system everyone would be happy with. It's a simple solution, so of course it wouldn't work.

I am a lesser fan of the NFL, because to me it is so bland. Year in and out you can pretty much guarantee who is going to make the playoffs. There may be a couple of surprises every year but the main teams are well known. I do watch the NFL but not with the same passion as college football. I do not understand why FOX and CBS can't both show games at the same time for both sets of game. For weeks out of the season one or the other network doesn't show either the early or late game. I also would liked to see a better selection of games instead of regional games, because in my region, I frankly don't like either of the regional teams (I'm a Giants fan, so for the most part the only time I get to watch them is either Sunday or Monday night, or if they happen to be playing one of the regional teams).

I do have to congratulate the Detroit Lions for breaking their 19 game losing streak. I know there are people that would have loved to see that streak continue (for example: Washington Redskins fans), but I think most of us were at least partly rooting for the Lions to break that streak.

Even with high school football it can be very exciting if you have a local team that competes year in and year out. My high school alma mater used to be one of the bottom rung teams in the state until 2000, when they got a new coach. Since then they have only missed the playoffs once and the last three years they are the only team from their conference to make the semis (they are in a division with only two conferences).