Football is back. And America loves football.
Ratings are up to record highs, attendance is strong, and some indefinable buzz has returned to conversations around the country.
America loves football.
But why?
Look, there are 1,000 reasons. I’ve got a theory that I’ve convinced myself of on what might be the single sneakiest, important reason. And I fully expect it to have you making the Larry David GIF face as you try to decide whether you think my theory is entirely stupid or maybe (just maybe) carrying some merit.
I think we love football - and maybe, more particularly, football season - because it gives meaning to time.
In a 24/7 culture - where smart phones mean your job (and it’s associated email and slack messages) goes wherever you do, breaking news never stops breaking, stocks are traded “after-hours” and entertainment options are always on demand - time sort of loses it’s meaning.
Back in the day, for instance, television stations would go “off the air” by playing the national anthem at midnight and then essentially going dark until the next day’s programming. If your home phone rang after 9pm, you pretty much assumed it was someone calling to inform you of an emergency or tragedy. And there was no such thing as “working from home” - work was left at work. Home was for, well, home stuff.
Today? Not so much. Entertainment never stops. Work never stops. Communication never stops.
We’ve lost the natural boundaries of space and time. Everything is just blended into everything else. Eating dinner with the family while texting a client and watching Netflix is not an abnormal family dinner situation.
So what does this have to do with football?
For a short season every year, football gives meaning back to time.
Friday nights are spent in high school stadiums with the hopes and dreams of kids and parents everywhere. It’s special because it comes to define a night of the week for a couple of months. Friday night means something again.
Saturdays are for tailgating and rivalries, grilling out and getting locked in. College football is special because it returns meaning to Saturday, making it more than the day to rake leaves or get the oil changed. Saturday night bonds us with others who care about the same schools and, as a result, Saturday means something again.
Sundays are reserved for tracking fantasy football, watching amazing feats of athleticism, and generally experiencing the transcendence of knowing that 20 Million other people are watching exactly what we are on Sunday afternoon. Sundays aren’t just about grabbing a few groceries or preparing for the grind of the week to come. Sunday means NFL and NFL tells us that Sunday means something again.
Baseball can’t do this. It’s summer. We’re on vacation. There are games every day. Baseball adds to the same-inization of days. Basketball? Mostly the same. It happens in the background of football until it bursts forth in the gluttonous portions of March Madness and the NBA playoffs. So much in such a compressed time. Every night. Basketball does nothing to undo the sameness of time.
But football? Football gives meaning back to time. And we’re desperate for this, so whether we love football or not, we collectively love football season. It is a gift of meaning in a world that continues to find ways to erode meaning at every turn.
Thankfully, it’s almost impossible for them to screw this up. They’d have to be so interminably greedy that they start playing games every night of the week. But that’ll never happen…
— KB
Great post! That's also true of Sunday mornings and church for Robyn and I, it brings us together once per week. But that said, September has been my favorite time of year since i can remember - my birthday, start of school, start of football season and the weather. I mark my time by autumn. Ron M