I Could Only Write This During the Playoffs

Has American football surpassed baseball yet as our national pastime? Seems like it to me. The countryfolk around me seem to express that much greater enthusiasm about the pigskin sport (hereinafter "football"; may this not confuse my non-US audience) than they do about the diamond sport these days. And why shouldn't they? Football, with its warlike qualities, is much more relevant to the American psyche than the quaintness of making it "safe at home" on a nice summer day. And it seems to have a greater variety of winners from year to year as well. (I guess; I don't pay such close attention.) Baseball, meanwhile, has been pretty much plundered by big money; almost all the stadia bear some forgettable, corporate name, and it's generally the same teams in the playoffs every year now. I am sick to my stomach of the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals. Braves, too. If only the Birds and the Pinstripes just went away and gave someone else a chance, maybe I'd be interested in baseball again. Maybe that's true of other "fans" as well (beyond New York City and the shadow of the Arch). My Cubbies may be a lost cause, but that needn't be true of the whole sport.

On (American) Football

I know most of my fellow Americans would probably lynch me over this one, but here goes anyway: I am not a football fan. (That's American football, for you folks outside the U.S.) Football to me is a most depressing symbol of the long, cold aftermath of summer, and of Apathetic, Corporate America settled into an iron (gridiron?) groove. I suppose if I enjoyed the sport more, I may not see it this way, but, as it is, symbolism aside, I find it rather less than pleasant to watch. Perhaps it's something to do with the sport's eerie parallel to a war's battle scene, as memorably pointed out by the late George Carlin. Or maybe there's just nobody in football who's "lovable" enough for me to care, the way the Cubs are lovable in the baseball world. I just....don't dig football.

I do hope the Cubs make it as far as possible in the postseason. Maybe it'll elate me enough to get through the chills of autumn and winter.