This purpose of this post is to afford me some time to rant about things I've been wanting to say for quite sometime. Sometimes a girl just has to get some things out in the air and sometimes others should deal with it because I do feel that the message is important. If I have to deal with another season of Nebraska football, it's only fair that I can express my feelings about it. If you don't want to read or listen to that opinion, just remember that you have the choice not to listen or read; I do not have the luxury of choice to avoid football because it's everywhere and always in my face.
Here we are again... the dreaded football season and in Nebraska, its impact is felt at every turn. The life long fans of Huskers never seem to give up, even though it's been 20 years since Nebraska could be considered a good team, fans here never fail to show their allegiance to such a failed team. I guess you can rank me among the few folks (maybe 3 or 4 of us here), that do not "get it." Frankly, I'm glad I do not.
While I can find great value in children participating in sports -- learning the value of teamwork, adapting to others, discovering individual strengths and weaknesses, supporting others, accepting support from others, gaining friendships, working among people who you may dislike, and learning the usefulness of competition, I simply cannot relate to the absurdity of enveloping a life around following a sport, unless of course it is your job to do so.
Is there any harm in watching a game occasionally while going out with your family or friends? No, of course not and these general situations are not what I am referring to. I am speaking more about those that are quite frankly obsessed with the sport, any sport. It seems that so many people are utterly fascinated by watching games and filling their time with conversations lasting hours about football. Who are they playing? Who are the players? What did they do last year? What plays will they do? What plays should they have done? Why was that call made? Complaint after complaint concerning what the refs are doing or what the coaches are doing? None of these conversations are productive in any way. In fact, the times I have been unfortunate enough to observe and listen to these types of verbal banter, it usually turns into a complaint fest that seems to deteriorate into what could be considered juvenile gossip about people they do not even know.
Even worse our media is saturated with football. In Nebraska, all you hear about is the Huskers and who they are playing next and complaints surrounding the previous games. It's endless and quite frankly annoying. I've turned into an anti-Husker person myself. I will typically find out who's playing Nebraska (since it's almost impossible to avoid hearing about in some way), and declare my support for the opposing team. This causes such an emotional reaction from others that I cannot help but laugh at these people; I have actually managed to anger some, which is truly absurd. It is about the only way I've been able to find amusement during football season.
Our country is facing so many different issues right now. I can barely keep up with all of these topics yet, some people actually feel content focusing their time on following football? Not to mention the amount of beer and other alcoholic beverages that are consumed by these fans. It seems so pointless to me and ultimately it is part of what is harming our culture in general. We need more people to be aware of what is going on in the world and what is happening to this country. Instead we have people obsessed with a game and consuming copious amounts of alcohol. No. I'm sorry. I cannot understand the obsession.
Another problem with football that nobody seems to want to address, especially concerning professional football is the issue of who these players are. Many of them appear to be violent and involved in illegal activities -- whether it be drug use, gangs, rape, organized animal abuse, and even murder. It's hard not to believe that the majority of them are not on drugs or using some new chemical designed to produce improvement in their performance. In short, they are turned into nothing but animals and given an absurd amount of money that none of them could possibly earn if they were to actually use what brain they have. Yet, these are the people whom parents watch practically everyday inside of their homes and even encourage their own children to turn into. Apparently making your child aware of political and financial issues is just too boring, it's so much better to teach them about football. Truly, I feel as if I'm living in the Twilight Zone.
No. I do not understand the obsession with football and I never will. I would much rather see people doing something productive. If you have time to watch a mindless sport, you have time to go volunteer at the local soup kitchen, time to read, study, learn, anything that could help improve your mind and body rather than being a silly, full-time spectator of some failed team -- especially when it comes to the Cornhuskers. While I do enjoy Nebraska to some degree, I hate this state's football obsession.
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