More Than a Sport

 

It’s safe to say that the NFL, but more so football in general, has consumed a large amount of my life. Whether it be checking up on my favorite team, deciding who to put in my fantasy football line-up, or simply just watching games on a Sunday afternoon, there’s no getting around the fact that I love the game.

But why?

I never played. Nobody in my family ever played. Not even many of my friends played. But then I realized something. The game itself made me love it. Not my environment.

Watching football, you can witness all of the traits that we all desire to hold. Hard work, dedication, loyalty, sacrifice, ambition, teamwork, confidence, discipline, and the list goes on and on. Football can be directly correlated to life. The traits needed to perform well in football translate seamlessly into life, promoting qualities that can do nothing but help. While the measurement of success between life and football is not directly comparable, what it takes to get there is nothing short of identical.

Players that display these traits become our idols, whether we recognize it or not. We want to be succeed in what we do, just as they do in football. And while the superficial part of football, such as fantasy leagues and picking winners of games is what people associate their love for the game with, the core of why football appeals to people is because of what it represents.

And that is the reason I love football. Because in reality, football is more than just football.