Super Bowl XLIX

We are attracted to anything in the US- from food to culture to sports. We love their basketball and it is the life long dream of local hoopsters to one day crack the NBA. Remember Johnny Abarrientos? And now, we have Kobe Paras.

According to the Harris poll made in 2014, the National Football League is the most popular, getting 35 percent vote from the fans. This is followed by Major League Baseball (14 percent), College football (11 percent), Auto racing (7 percent), the NBA (6 percent), the NHL (5 percent) and college basketball (3 percent). (I wonder how cycling fared with these sports).

It seems sacrilegious that the NBA is just the “6th” most popular sport in the US and I’m sure a lot of NBA fans would disagree, but poll is a poll.

So, my question is why is it that the NFL is not as popular as popular than the NBA? A lot reasons has cropped up in my mind.

One of them is that we’re temperamental, and with football a game of so much passion, fan involvement could spill over the fields. I think that as fans, we are too mercurial and not yet mentally mature to handle heckling and name calling in the stands. I watched a game between the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins back in 2008 in the Meadowlands and there was this Redskins fan in a Redskin jersey in the middle of a sea of blue Giants jerseys being heckled. Amazingly, the Redskin fan didn’t even blink, screaming back and frothing in the mouth to the hundreds Giants fans around him. I think that fan would have been lynched here.

Another reason is that, if our team loses, we always think that we’re cheated. The NFL has rules that not even New England Patriots coach, Bill Belicheck, the greatest coach still in the NFL today, is even aware off (google “Deflategate”). There are nuances in the rules that if the game was played here, and these rules enforced, would probably lead to riots. And if these rules are not understood by most, (NBA rules are elementary vs. the NFL), then it could lead to accusations of cheating. I remember when Karl Malone missed two free throws in a playoffs against the the Bulls, and every Bull hater said that the NBA ordered Malone to miss the shots to extend the series. Guess, what, the Jazz lost the series!

Surprisingly for me, its the college students here who are more into the NFL than any demographic probably because flag football is now a sport included during school intramurals.

However, football has still a long way to go to become mainstream here. The game has to played in the schools as it is, not flag football, to be understood and appreciated.  To give you an example, the NFL had a league in Europe, hoping that it could dent soccers popularity, but it fizzled out.

There are still plenty of reasons to throw around why football won’t make it here- short season (16 games in the NFL, shorter for college), the program is expensive, injuries- to name a few.

But for armchair fans like me, it won’t be a distraction. Today's game is the biggest game for me this year, well, except for Paquiao-May(be)weather, if it happens.

Super Bowl XXIX kicks off 730am, our time. The defending champion Seattle Seahawks vs. the three time champions New England Patriots. And nothing could be better!