Football, one of America’s favorite pastimes, can be a fun sport to watch. As a high school student, I do enjoy going to a Friday night home game with my friends. It’s a nice way to have fun, relax, and show school spirit. Even watching football on TV can be interesting when there is a good match up. Football brings a certain atmosphere that is filled with food at parties, friends to watch it with, and the game itself.
Football is not bad and not the problem. The amount of praise and time the United States gives the sport is. There are several other worthwhile sports to watch that also play during the fall such as baseball, NASCAR, and many more.
There are five days throughout the week dedicated to football; Friday night high school football, Saturday college football, Sunday NFL, Monday NFL, and Thursday NFL games. With this schedule there are only two days throughout the week when there isn’t a day dedicated to football, which seems a little redundant.
According to an article written by Jeffrey M. Jones published on Gallup News, football is the most popular sport in the United States and has been for more than 50 years. The article also stated that baseball and basketball are the next most popular sports watched by Americans but not nearly as popular as football.
The regular season for baseball ends in early October, followed by postseason games that lead to the World Series which can go into November. Baseball plays during various days of the week, making it easy to watch in a viewer’s free time. Baseball is popular, but not to the degree that football is.
There are several positive qualities about baseball that make it another sport worth watching and a good alternative to football. The sport still has a competitive aspect where two teams work to get more points than the other. Additionally, baseball has moments of fast pace action, suspense, technical skills, and complexity in ruling.
I feel that baseball is more focused in the sense that, at least while batting, it is easier to follow what is happening and where the ball is than during a typical football play. To me, baseball is a perfect mix of suspense and action that you would want in a football game yet a little easier to follow at times.
One of my personal favorite fall sports that is also less popular is NASCAR. NASCAR stands for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing which was first established in 1948 on the beaches of Daytona, Florida. If you’ve seen the Disney Pixar “Cars” movies then you understand the concept of stock car racing; cars drive in a circle and the first car to finish a certain amount of laps first wins. For example, the Daytona 500 is a race where drivers must complete 200 laps which equate to 500 miles.
It seems simple, but there is more to NASCAR than what is on the surface. There is strategy involved in timing pit stops, moving past other cars, navigating crashes, and there are even strategies to increase speed by driving inches from the wall on certain tracks at high speeds utilizing properties of physics and aerodynamics. There is a lot of science involved with racing on a track, designing safer cars, and ultimately developing ways to go faster.
NASCAR is also a great sport to watch because most races only happen on Sundays and the races are a few hours long. I like to do my homework while watching NASCAR because it’s good background noise and I’m able to keep up with what is happening by listening and looking up occasionally.
Baseball and NASCAR are not the only fall sports that are just as interesting as football, there are many others. The hyper focus on football is almost reflective of our nature to avoid change. People get into a rut and only watch one sport because it’s what they know and it’s easier to stick with it.
I think that people should try to branch out and try something new. Watch football, but then also find time to turn on a NASCAR race or baseball game. Finding a new sport, can introduce you to new people, new perspectives, and maybe even your next favorite pastime.
