NFL: Why I Love the NFL

I love sports. No, I love everything about sports. The competitive fire, the passion brought to each and every game. Hearing the crowd get off their seats on a 3-2 count in the bottom of the ninth. The air sucked out of the arena when a big shot goes in the basket (come back, NBA). The speed and shock-power supplied by a slapshot goal in hockey. I love sports. I was thinking the other day though, why do I love football so much more than any other sport? 

I thought it could be the season length, that a teams entire season could be won or lost on a week to week basis. It’s nice to watch a baseball or basketball game every couple of nights, but when Sunday rolls around there’s only one thing I want to do. 

Maybe I love football because it’s the last true team game. In baseball, basketball, and hockey, one player can take control and lead his team to the championship (see James, Lebron in Cleveland). Football is like a fine tuned machine, all the parts need to be working together and in sync for the end product to be successful. An offensive lineman misses a block, the play can be blown. A cornerback doesn’t receive proper safety help, it’s a touchdown. 

Hell, maybe it’s the warm blooded man inside me that loves the hard hits and brutality that football brings. A lights-out hit on a clueless running back, a stiff arm to the face of a 280-pound linebacker. Seeing a quarterback make a block, ever. For all the things that football brings to me, it’s none of the above that makes me love it so much. It’s the parity of the game.

In baseball and basketball, we know at the start of the season that teams like the Yankees or Celtics will be in the hunt come playoff time. In baseball, the more money you spend the more games you’ll win. Basketball has become more about star-power than role players. With football, any team at any time can reel off a victory. 

Look at last week, for example. The mighty Baltimore Ravens traveled to Seattle to play a horrible Seahawks team. The Ravens were coming off a huge divisional victory against the Steelers on Sunday Night Football. Everyone and their mother thought that Baltimore would roll over the Seahawks and move on to the next game. What happened? Joe Flacco and Ray Rice got outplayed by Tarvaris Jackson and Marshawn Lynch. The Seahawks win, and now we question whether or not Baltimore is the best team in the AFC or not. 

Each and every year, and sometimes each and every week, a team that should not be winning does just that. This past summer the 49ers hired Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh to replace the fired Mike Singletary. The lockout prevented Harbaugh to even speak to any of his players before the first week in August. The 49ers were a bad team last year and looked to be even worse this year. Rookie head coach? A “bust” at quarterback? A running back who was looking for a new contract? The 49ers weren’t supposed to be good, and what happens? They’re 8-1 going into week 11 and stand in prime position to land a first round bye in the playoffs. That’s why I love the NFL. 

Last year, the Green Bay Packers were plagued by the injury bug. From tight end Jermichael Finley to pro bowl tackle Mark Tauscher, the Packers lost several key players for the season. They finished 10-6, barely making it into the playoffs. They weren’t supposed to beat the Eagles in Philadelphia. They sure as hell weren’t supposed to beat the 14-2 Atlanta Falcons or the 13-3 Chicago Bears on the road either. But they did. Aaron Rodgers emerged as a super bowl MVP and one of the best quarterback’s in the league. But it wasn’t supposed to happen, they weren’t supposed to be good. 

• 2001, the New England Patriots make it to the Super Bowl to face the mighty St. Louis Rams and the Greatest Show on Turf. New England had a former 6th-round draft pick at quarterback, they weren’t supposed to win. 

• The Arizona Cardinals went 9-7 in 2008, they were supposed to be blown out in the first round of the playoffs. They made it all the way to the Super Bowl and nearly won. 

• The 2010 Seattle Seahawks were never supposed to win a playoff game, especially not against the defending champion New Orleans Saints. They did. 

And who could forget the greatest example of parity in recent memory, the 2007 New York Giants. The Giants made it into the playoffs through the wild card. They beat the Buccaneers in Tampa. They beat the Cowboys in Dallas. They traveled to the Frozen Tundra and defeated Brett Favre in negative degree weather. If that wasn’t enough, they went on to face the 18-0 New England Patriots. The team some had dubbed the greatest of all time. No chance the Giants were going to win that game. Not against Randy Moss, Tom Brady, and Bill Belichick. David Tyree was never supposed to make the helmet catch, and Eli Manning was not supposed to elude four defenders in the backfield. But it all happened, the Giants won and the ’07 Patriots would forever be known as the team that went 18-1. 

Every year, something like this happens. There are no experts when it comes to predicting an NFL season. Often it doesn’t even matter if you were the best team in the regular season. Watching a team come together late in the season, fight to enter the playoffs, and continue to win against teams they’re supposed to lose to. That’s why I love the NFL, a place where anything can happen.