There will be 177 million Americans watching college and professional football this weekend. Cheering. Shouting. Celebrating. Sometimes even suffering!
For a few hours, millions of people who disagree about politics, religion, and almost everything else in life will find something wonderful in common.
I hope you have been able to read my new book, WHAT MAKES AMERICA AMERICA. One of my favorite chapters is – Football Makes America America. Here is the first third of that chapter…..
Football did not emerge quietly. It burst into American life with the sound of bodies colliding and crowds roaring. It arrived as the industrial age was remaking the nation — faster, harder, louder. The earliest college teams formed in the late 1800s, mixing the ruggedness of rugby with the structure of American ingenuity.
By the turn of the 20th century, college football had become a campus ritual. By mid-century, professional football had become a national habit. Today it is the country’s most popular spectator sport, not by accident but by identity. Football mirrors America because football was shaped by America.
It is a sport built on teamwork, territory, time, and courage. These are not merely athletic categories. They are American categories. The game’s evolution — from leather helmets to billion-dollar stadiums — tells a story about the nation’s own evolution. Fast. Fierce. Ambitious. Dramatic.
Why do Americans love football more than any other sport? Because football builds community in a way nothing else does. A football weekend is not merely a game — it is a gathering. Tailgate parties turn parking lots into pop-up villages. Fans share food, drinks, stories, and loyalties. College towns become pilgrimage sites on Saturdays. Professional stadiums become civic shrines on Sundays. People wear jerseys like family crests. The team becomes a symbol of identity, belonging, and hope.
Football is tribal, but in the best sense of the word. It is one of the few places where strangers instantly feel like friends. You may have nothing in common with the person standing next to you except the logo on your cap, but for the next three hours that is enough. The nation, divided over so much, finds unity in a shared cheer for a third-and-long conversion.
The season is short. Every game matters. This scarcity creates drama. Baseball has 162 games. Basketball has 82. Football has 12 or 17, depending on college or professional. Each one feels like a referendum on pride, identity, and destiny. Lose too many and the season is over. Win enough and the playoffs beckon. Fans lean forward because every down counts.
The game is built for adrenaline. It delivers violence and grace, strategy and improvisation. A linebacker in full pursuit is a force of nature. A quarterback scanning the field is a general reading the battlefield. A running back hitting the hole is a lesson in speed and courage. Every play is a collision between ambition and resistance. It is action wrapped in suspense.
MY FURTHER THOUGHTS ON FOOTBALL –
Football teaches us something deeper about life.
No quarterback wins alone. No running back succeeds without blockers. No championship happens without teamwork, sacrifice, trust, and perseverance. Isn’t that also how God intended us to live?
St. Paul reminds us that we are one body with many members, each possessing different gifts, but all needing one another.
Football reminds us that our differences need not divide us. They can make us stronger.
And Jesus taught us to love our neighbors, even those who don’t wear our team’s colors!
America needs to learn something from its favorite sport especially after last week’s election.
We don’t have to agree on everything to work together for something greater than ourselves.
The greatest victory in life isn’t defeating one another. It’s discovering how much we can accomplish together.
YOU will probably be watching some football this weekend. As you do, please reflect on what I am saying to you.
DEAR GOD, PLEASE TEACH ME TO SPEAK THE RIGHT WORD, AT THE RIGHT TIME, WITH THE RIGHT TONE, THAT I MAY LIVE IN PEACE WITH OTHERS!
Today I shared just a few paragraphs of my book — WHAT MAKES AMERICA AMERICA. I have 62 short Chapters of just about everything that makes America America, from Pets to the Statue of Liberty. Here is the link https://a.co/d/00Lyqe1C that will connect you with my Amazon page.
Click READ SAMPLE and you can read the first few Chapters of my book for FREE. Many of your family and friends, young and old, will enjoy it as a Christmas gift.
