Commentary By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



Over the last couple of weeks, one word seems to be on the tongue of the majority of people in my path — football.

And since everyone is talking about football, I figured I would too.

Granted, I won’t be talking about football with the same idolatry and fascination that Danielle and Charles talk about football. I’ll be focusing more on my complete apathy toward the season.

In case you don’t know, dictionary.com defines apathy as “absence or suppression of passion, emotion, or excitement” or “lack of interest in or concern for things that others find moving or exciting.”

In other words, I don’t care.

A couple of weeks ago, I hosted a small group of friends at my abode for a pre-Labor Day celebration. While half my guests were cursing their chosen team on the television, I was more concerned about the two slabs of ribs I was preparing on the grill.

Don’t get me wrong, I think football is a great thing. There will be times this fall where I might even watch a quarter or three of an SEC game or even a pro football game.

Football is a uniter. It is also a divider. In the south, friendships can be made or lost over an allegiance to one team or another.

Much like the bloods and the crips, football fans are essentially a gang. They even have gang colors — crimson and white and blue and orange.

These gangs can be found huddled on living room couches and in sports bars on Saturdays, eating the gang food of choice (usually nachos and pizza) and drinking the gang beverage of choice (usually cokes or bottled beer).

When talking about their team, the most rabid of football fans will use the term “we” or “our.” This sounds funny to my mind, because these fans actually think they have something to do with the team itself.

“We sure looked bad out there today.”

“We’ll get ‘em next time.”

“Our running back got hurt, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

These matters shouldn’t really be of any concern to most football fans. The only people these issues truly affect are the players, coaches and staff of the team in question.

All “you” have to do is sit on the couch and watch the game, armchair quarterback.

True, I’m just nitpicking, but those are some things that have always bugged me about college football.

However, I’m a baseball fan. It’s the great American pastime. It’s a game of strategy, skill and hand-eye coordination.

In baseball, the managers match wits, the stadium food is better, there’s no boring half-time show and the fans are more colorful. In a street fight involving a Wrigley Field “bleacher bum” and the most crazed Alabama fan, the bleacher bum will win every time. He’ll probably fight dirty and use such weapons as a handful of dirt and a broken beer bottle.

Baseball fans and football fans will likely never see eye-to-eye on much, but maybe that’s the way it should be.

Diversity is one of the things that makes America great, and that applies doubly in the southeast.

So go on, enjoy your precious football game. When baseball season grinds to a halt next month, I might even watch a quarter or three with you.