Football Woes

It’s almost November. My Purdue Boilermakers have a dismal 2-6 record. My Indianapolis Colts are 3-4. What’s going on with these teams?

The standards have been set by each team in recent years: Purdue goes to bowl games (including the Rose Bowl once), and the Colts go to the post-season (winning the Super Bowl once). I don’t know what to think when I have little to cheer about. True, the Colts are still early in their season, so I have hopes for them to turn around, but I like it when both teams are powering through their seasons.

Rather than speculate and analyze all the intricacies of these two programs, I thought I’d share why I like football, even during the bad seasons. There are one hundred yards of ground (not including the end zones) that is essentially a battlefield. Each team is trying to move towards their own goal, and the only way to do so is to go through the opposing team. It takes strategy and skill, and there are usually captains and heroes that lead the way.

It’s a physical game; men are knocking other men to the earth. I especially love the plays where it takes three or four guys just to pull one man to his knees, but not until that man has charged several yards forward. I don’t care which team that man is on; I feel like saluting him.

Then there are the passing plays. Receivers cut through to the open and catch the ball in amazing ways. Quarterbacks target men even if they’re surrounded, drilling the ball forward like a weapon.

In a lot of ways, I feel like I’m watching an ancient war. It’s powerful. It’s invigorating. That’s football to me.