Just how lucky are we? Seriously. Just one short century ago our ancestors' peers were screaming for the abolition of this violent, gruesome sport.
But then we got the NCAA, and George Halas, and Red Grange, and Knute Rockne...segregation, artificial turf, fancy electronic scoreboards...sexually charged cheerleaders and tout commentators making the game bigger than life itself...
Monday Night Football, the AFL-NFL merger, and multiyear billion dollar TV contracts (during which businesses pay upwards of 500,000 bucks a minute to advertise)...
High school football has risen to become just as competitive as it's collegiate and professional counterparts. The games are a societal sign of passage into manhood and oneness of community.
Controversy still abounds in our great sport, yet in towns all across the country, fans sleep on sidewalks for the chance to gain a ticket to see their beloved team play.
And there is a game they call the Super Bowl, labeled in Roman Numerals, a game which has brought together the most die-hard fans and the people who flip through the networks on Sundays cursing the game under their breath, since 1967.
Indeed, there is still a healthy dose of controversy a century later, however, a chilly Sunday early evening in January, and the communal solidarity that comes with it, is what really matters.
Hooray for football season.
Denver -3
Space.
But then we got the NCAA, and George Halas, and Red Grange, and Knute Rockne...segregation, artificial turf, fancy electronic scoreboards...sexually charged cheerleaders and tout commentators making the game bigger than life itself...
Monday Night Football, the AFL-NFL merger, and multiyear billion dollar TV contracts (during which businesses pay upwards of 500,000 bucks a minute to advertise)...
High school football has risen to become just as competitive as it's collegiate and professional counterparts. The games are a societal sign of passage into manhood and oneness of community.
Controversy still abounds in our great sport, yet in towns all across the country, fans sleep on sidewalks for the chance to gain a ticket to see their beloved team play.
And there is a game they call the Super Bowl, labeled in Roman Numerals, a game which has brought together the most die-hard fans and the people who flip through the networks on Sundays cursing the game under their breath, since 1967.
Indeed, there is still a healthy dose of controversy a century later, however, a chilly Sunday early evening in January, and the communal solidarity that comes with it, is what really matters.
Hooray for football season.
Denver -3
Space.
