Relative Something

• I don’t remember what my earliest memory could be.
• I don’t remember interacting with any of my grandparents.
• I don’t remember learning to read.
• I don’t remember how intensely I was exposed to second-hand smoke growing up.
• I don’t remember most of what I was taught about Electronic Technology in the 1980s.
• I don’t remember how many Minnesota Vikings NFL games I attended in my life.
• I do remember witnessing Drew Pearson pushing off Nate Wright in the 1975 playoff game.

I watched most of the Wildcard Weekend NFL games and was duly entertained. Two things stood out for me.

This sport is so violent, and the strain on players’ bodies is so intense, that injury is a huge factor contributing to which team advances and which team is eliminated. By this time in the season, teams have already lost star players to season-ending injuries before the first playoff game kicks off. During these now single-elimination battles, there were knee, Achilles, and concussion injuries that benched several key players.

Given that, it still comes down to athletes executing some mind-boggling feats requiring precision timing,  extreme reach, great leaping, powerful strength, sustained stamina, and incredible teamwork. Eleven players with immediate duties to dominate eleven opponents who are intent on doing the same back at them.

As much as I’ve grown to loathe the NFL as a business, I can’t seem to shake my fascination with the dramatic competition that happens live in front of stadiums full of incredibly passionate fans and involves such impressive athleticism combined with split-second decision-making.

In many ways, NFL football is a stupid sport, but at the same time, it offers plenty of excitement for interested viewers.

Despite having tried multiple times in my life, I just can’t get myself to quit it.

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