Go Red Birds

For the impatient: Pictures

I have written about professional sports, a few times before.

This past Halloween, I attended my first NFL game and I think I might further down the road to Football Nutsville than I care to admit. How does this start? First, you need to learn a thing or two about football. For me, it was one thing.

Apparently, wide receivers don't just run downfield on a whim. Everything is orchestrated, down to the second. Once I learned that a quarterback can tell his WR to run a "Corner route" (that is: run in a path that takes you to a corner of the field), instead of a "Post route" (that is: a route that takes towards the field goal post), I was hooked. Furthermore, QB's and WR's start a mental clock at the start of the play, and they each know when the ball should be thrown and when the ball should be caught.

The game of basketball has ebbs and flows. Any given play isn't necessarily going to make or break a game. Baseball has its intensity and while any pitch might make or break a game, it rarely does. Football, seems to be some kind of happy medium. Any play might deal a devastating crushing blow, or reverse the tide of the flow; and there's a pretty decent chance of that happening.

The Arizona Cardinals seems to participate in more than their fair share of ridiculous plays, and I think I find that endearing. They may not be a great football team, but they're fun to watch.

What I enjoy most about the NFL, is there always more to the game. More players, more positions, more formations, more factors, more choices, more chaos. It's new to me, at least.

From Cardinals Buccaneers