I don’t claim to be many things, but I can confidently assert that I am an NFL football fan. During the football season, if there is a game on, chances are I will be watching it. I’m not the type of fanatic who studies statistics and memorizes player biographies, but I find comfort in having the glow of a football game flickering in the background, even if I’m preoccupied with something else at the time.
Certain games, I will adjust my schedule to watch, and I am the kind of person who will tape the game if necessary, turn off my phone to avoid any updates, and catch up as soon as I can.
For some football fans, believe it or not, the Super Bowl season can be a difficult time of the year. Some see all the hoopla surrounding the big game, and it’s almost like a devout Christian witnessing the secularization of Christmas. In one sense, sure, it’s nice that people are celebrating, but are they celebrating for the right reasons? Do they remember what this day is really all about?
The poet Charles Bukowsi, whose escapades with the bottle have been widely documented, used to refer to New Year’s Eve as a night for “amateur drunks.” I can see where all of this comes from. Committed followers of anything will always cast a wary eye when an outsider wants to join. They will question their devotion, and whether or not they have paid their dues. Hardcore NFL followers sometimes resent the “amateur football fans” that watch the game for the commercials, and those who count down the seconds until halftime. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
I can proudly say that I am no longer among that particular sect of followers. I say come one, come all. Go ahead and make the Super Bowl the first game you watch all season. Feel free to talk about the quarterbacks like you’ve been following them since their high school days, even if you first heard their names in the pregame show. Go ahead and make your bets. Eat your snacks. Enjoy.
Take this year’s game, for example – the Patriots versus the Seahawks. A game that saw two great coaches use unique formations to get the matchups they wanted in the passing game. A match that highlighted two great defences, and schemes that made Brady and Wilson work for every yard they gained – a tied game at halftime, then a 10-point Seahawks lead, then the Patriots chipping into, and eventually surpassing, the deficit. A last gasp by the Seahawks, a crazy, bobbled catch, and then an interception on the goal line when everybody thought the Seahawks would run the football.
What a game. It was just the way to cap-off what turned out to be a wild NFL season, including a Seahawks win in the NFC Championship that will probably go down as one of the best football games in NFL history.
In the weeks to come, many will take shots at the NFL for the off-field antics that marred this year of football. Some think that these despicable acts – like the rash of domestic violence cases and the alleged deflating of footballs during the AFC final – are evidence that the league is in trouble. I would argue that, under the right leadership, the on-field product that played out this year should prove the exact opposite. No one is above the sport. If this year has proven anything, it’s that one player’s bad judgment is often another player’s opportunity to step in and contribute.
A zero-tolerance policy would do nothing to diminish the quality of football being played on Sundays. The Super Bowl was won and lost by late draft picks and cast-off role-players, evidenced most prominently by the quarterbacks of both teams – one of which a first-ballot Hall of Famer, the other on a steady path to getting there – and stamped by the performances of unknown wide receivers and defensive backs.
As many fans as the league lost this year, hopefully a hard-fought game like Sunday’s will win some of them back. What the league needs is a strong leader who is not afraid to dole out the proper punishment when these role models break the rules – because at the end of the day, no matter what, there will always be someone else who is ready to lace up the cleats and play.
