Sunday Morning Distraction

“Monday Night Football” is one thing, but Sunday Morning Football is quite another. It will be the first time ever that I have watched a football game on a Sunday morning.  The Baltimore Ravens are in London.  They are playing the Jaguars at 2:30 p.m. London time, which translates to 9:30 a.m. here in Maryland.  Sports bars are opening their doors early in Baltimore and other places to give Ravens fans the opportunity to gather and watch the game on the big screen.  

I’ve never been a big sports fan.  I never participated in sports during high school or college days.  I never watched a Super Bowl game until my youngest son insisted, some 30 years ago, that we have a Super Bowl party like all the rest of his friends.   Since then I have watched the Super Bowl annually (and some times the World Series), but seldom any of the games preceding those annual events.  In the last several years, however, under the influence of my children, grandchildren, and friends, I have taken on watching football games, especially those of the Baltimore Ravens.  Last Sunday, for example, I watched the Ravens game from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and then watched the Bronco’s defeat the Dallas Cowboys.  That amounted to almost seven to eight hours of sitting on my duff (though I do get up and move about during commercials and half-time, and often I have a book in hand while watching the games).  

This new development in my lifestyle is a conundrum (a confusing and difficult problem).  You see, I think football is a distraction, like the gladiator games held in ancient Rome’s colosseum were a distraction.  Those ancient games were merciless and played to the death.  Those games were held to keep people from dealing with the real issues of their time, just as modern sports keep us distracted from the real issues of our time.  People get hurt playing football, seriously hurt, and here I am watching the spectacle and enjoying it!  I’ve always been a critic of those “crazy fans” who are willing to sit in the rain, snow, sleet, and cold and watch people get hurt in the great colosseums we have built, often with tax-payer money that could have been used to renew our inner cities.  I’ve also been critical about the high salaries paid to those who play professional sports and the money spent to promote such distractions.  Yet, here I am about to watch the Ravens play the Jaguars in London at 9:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning!   I guess Hamlet was right—or perhaps I should say, Shakespeare had it right.

Grandson Nick and his Mom