Football, and Beer.

FOOTBALL! I like it, generally. I'm going to talk about that, and you're gonna sit there, and like it.

If you understand this reference we're best friends now.

You may wonder, just how excited do I get about it? Well, somewhat. I mostly follow one team, apparently so I can be pissed when they probably don't make it to the superbowl every year. If they actually do make it and manage to win or something crazy like that, the fact remains that none of my friends are fans of the same team, so I've got nobody to celebrate with. With this in mind, I also choose to show some regional pride and follow the Patriots as well so I can relate to fellow New England football fans a little, which is pretty much the best part about being into sports in the first place. The second best part of course, is rubbing it in the face of fans of other teams when yours wins, even though neither of you did anything.

Yeah reward with no effort!

I also enjoy football for the skill involved, and for the tension that results from one play potentially changing the whole game. But this type of appreciation comes from years of familiarity. This isn't what gets anyone into the game in the first place. I think most of the excitement I get from it comes from the following thought process: "Whoa, I arbitrarily picked this team years ago, and now they might actually win the superbowl! That's so lucky for me to have picked them!" 


And after years of sticking with the team through horrible seasons, these giddy feelings of excitement intensify. See if you can follow the math here: If you wait twice as long for your team to win, when they finally do, you're about twice as excited.

My theorem has won several awards.

Now, some people don't get football. For a long time I was one of them. It all seemed like a big pointless circus that just made people mad for the most part. Well, over the years my views have evolved, so now I view sports as a big pointless circus that makes people mad for the most part, plus beer. 


This is especially true with regard to the superbowl. Not many people watch the superbowl because of interest in the teams involved. I sure fucking don't! I watch it because chances are I know several other people that are watching it, and at least one of those several people will help me get drunk. This sounds silly, and it is. Football is partially just an excuse to hang out and share excitement, resentment, and most of all beer. And during my drunkenness at this latest superbowl party, I realized something else in one of those brief moments of clarity.

The reason I started liking sports evolved out of faking it! I genuinely didn't understand the appeal in my younger years, and made the conscious choice to not give a shit. However, after realizing that a lot of the people I knew were pretty into it, I just said "ah hell with it" and jumped on the bus. For awhile I still didn't care, but if you watch enough sports with enough people that are enthusiastic, it will wear off on you. You just need to make the choice. I did!