I don’t particularly like football. I like strength, agility, speed, and throwing things, but I’ve never really been drawn to watching football. I’m a baseball guy. I sort of just have time for one sport, so there you go. If I had time for two, then it would be baseball and basketball with football maybe coming in third.
It’s not a simple dislike, either. I think it’s violent. Football harkens back to the idea of an ignorant, blood-thirsty Roman Empire that entertains itself with the destruction of others. I also believe there’s poetry in motion on the field and a lot of skill, but basically you want to demolish the guy with the ball. Add to that advertising, greed, and America’s obsession with it, and you lose me. Sometimes I think I’m not really drawn to it just because everyone else is.
All that being said, around this time of year as the Super Bowl approaches, I pull my head out of my “wishing it were time for spring training” bucket and start to look at who the contenders are. Low and behold, the 49ers are making a run for it again, and my ears perk up. I’m a San Francisco fan, so it’s easy for me to get interested on that level.
But sometimes I just want to put all my political ideas and conspiracy theories aside and just veg out and watch a damn game. It’s not something I do often, and the thought of eating a bunch of shitty food and forgetting about life for a while sounds pretty appealing. I love my life but I think there can be room to relax and enjoy a game just because it’s a game. You won’t catch me watching more than one or two football games a year—and God knows baseball ain’t perfect either—but I can make up the political points elsewhere.
Go Niners!