Football is king of American sports

With football season in full tilt and baseball coming to a close, I thought about how it has become our new national pastime. As soon as preseason football starts, I forget about baseball and can’t wait for the regular season to begin.

You may have noticed that football is everywhere. For a long time baseball was America’s game, but not anymore and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

How exactly did football take over as our favorite? To answer this question, let’s take a look at what happened to baseball.

First and most obvious is the issue of steroids. Over the last 20 years, steroids have severely damaged nearly everyone’s opinion of baseball.

It is inevitable to think of a player during this time period without wondering if he used some kind of performing enhancing drug. The great home run race of 1998, which at the time seemed magical, is now nothing but a punch line.

The fact that football is a weekly event and not every night like baseball is another reason it has taken over. Sadly, the anticipation of regular season football games trumps the anticipation of some baseball playoff games. Pundits constantly debate over shortening the baseball season and lengthening the football season, enough said.

The game itself has taken over our collective hearts. Everything about it appeases to the American psyche of the 21st century; large, fast men in heavy padding walloping each other for 60 minutes while we watch, chug beer and scrutinize their every move.

If it weren’t for the ridiculous amount of commercial breaks football would be drastically faster than baseball. The use of instant replay in football makes Major League Baseball look stubborn and archaic for barely using instant replay to get disputed calls right.

However, there are storm clouds on the horizon for the National Football League.  A potential lockout in the 2011 season would hurt the popularity of the game. Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League have all gone through player stoppages in the past 30 years, and although baseball and basketball seem to be back, hockey is still hurting. The popularity of these leagues took a major beating after their strikes, and football wouldn't want to take a blow to its popularity.

At the end of the day, football reigns as the king of sports in America. The quality of players is arguably the highest it has ever been and will only continue to improve. The last three Super Bowls have gotten better each year. As long as football can keep its nose clean, it will keep the throne for years to come.