By Brenda Black
Oh, for the love of football. I've
seen people weep over wins and losses. Heard of people losing
thousands of dollars on risky bets. Folks will sit and scream at a
42-inch screen or suffer through blizzards to cheer their teams.
What's the hold this sport wields over millions? Surely there's some
sensible reason.
Columnist Andy Rooney once asked, “How
could any normal, reasonably intelligent human being be sad or wildly
happy over the outcome of a football game between two professional
football teams?”
He concluded at the close of his 1986
syndicated article, “If I can be made happy by a victory by a team
of strangers because they wear blue uniforms instead of red and
represent New York instead of Washington, why should I bother to work
for real success?
“I have a heart, the poet Robert
Browning would have said, 'too soon made glad.'”
Is there nothing more lasting or
personally pertinent from which we can enjoy such delight? Are there
not more significant tragedies other than the loss of a game that
should grieve us so deeply?
Sure there are! Still, the game itself
is symbolic of such things in life and often helps us to stay
emotionally alert so we are practiced up for feeling.
On the field it looks like uninhibited
joy over simply crossing a little white chalk line. Such a feat will
make a man dance like a fool. Ever celebrated the birth of a child?
The victory dance looks similar for some daddies.
On the sidelines it looks like great
sorrow when grown men bow their heads and drop tears as well as
helmets as the clock ticks down to one more year without a title.
Ever stood in an airport telling the love of your life goodbye and
dreading the last call to board? Both the loss and the loneliness
feel like a kick in the gut.
You see, football is about feeling.
It's feeling hopeful when the season starts. Feeling confident in
players you've never met, but trust more than your own Grandma Betsy.
It's feeling shame and pride. The coaches, the team, the fans, the
critics – they're all a community where football fanatics feel they
fit.
“Upon further review,” it just
makes sense to get excited, depressed, thrilled, defeated, grateful,
broken, elated and deflated. As humans and football fans, we are made
to feel. Besides, football is a good excuse for a man to cry and
woman to rail and get away with it! Better in front of the big screen
than on the freeway.