I have spent more Sundays than I can count watching the Cincinnati Bengals lose, but it feels like, as the season goes on, those losses always become easier to cope with.
The start of the football season is always cherished by fans everywhere, even if they follow a team that is perpetually bad. It provides mental clarity and is almost like an escape from the problems of daily life.
While my team might not always win, I feel that I get the most value from simply watching the game, and I believe this is due to the relaxation it brings me and the flow state I enter.
The main reason I love the football season so much is that it provides more of a break from life’s daily pressures than I realized.
I find myself making sure I get all of my tasks done early throughout the week so I can catch at least one of the games that are on between Thursday and Sunday. I usually end up watching more than that, but if I can at least watch one football game, preferably the Michigan State Spartans or Bengals, I am happy.
As much as I recognize how nice it is to kick back and just watch the game, with no other worries, I usually end up completing tasks on my laptop during timeouts and other commercial breaks. There is something comforting about having the game on in the background, knowing that once you are done with your work, you can put your full attention on it.
As a fan of a perpetually bad team, it’s hard to get caught up in a regular-season loss. Especially when there is so much football that starts at the beginning of August and lasts until February.
It’s not like we fans are limited to one time of the day or one team as well.
Across the NFL, there are 32 teams, and the NCAA has 136 FBS teams. That pretty much makes for a football game every day of the week. There are so many different time slots available that fans of the game pretty much get no break from football, which is never a bad thing.
This shows how many opportunities there are to enjoy. Every season, I feel like I learn so much more about the game just through watching it, even if it isn’t my favorite team.
I try to watch as many games as I can because when you see the best players compete at the highest level possible, you can never really know what to expect. There are always so many big moments that you could witness that you would otherwise miss because you expect it to be the same as always.
I have talked about it enough times in this paper, but during the 2021 Bengals playoff run, I never expected them to make the Super Bowl but kept watching those games just being glad my team got to keep going.
Another game I almost missed due to poor faith as a fan was the Michigan Wolverines taking on the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing during the 2021 season. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to watch the game because I was expecting the Spartans to lose, but I had some friends convince me to watch it in the North Hall study room with the rest of the hall.
I consider that to be one of the most electric football games I have ever experienced, not only because the team I was rooting for was winning, but because of how back and forth the game was. It was so intense and so close, but Kenneth Walker III got it done for Michigan State and put together some of the greatest moments I have seen on tape.
The best part about it all is that it is just a silly game. Even if the Bengals or the Spartans go another year missing the playoffs, the world keeps turning, and it is as simple as that. I try not to get too caught up in how the team does, but rather ensure I am making the most of my season. A great way to do this is to go out and enjoy the game with others.
Having all of these different teams, games, divisions and time slots to choose from makes it hard not to get together with friends. There is no doubt either that it brings out the extrovert in the most introverted people.
The evidence here is any heading into any local bar or restaurant during a gameday. Undoubtedly, you will find fans of teams playing and of the game alike cheering during the biggest moments.
I can speak from experience when I say that football is an escape.
Sure, watching your favorite team lose all the time sucks but it’s more than football. It’s about being able to get caught up in something that brings people together, brings out the competitive side of them and taking a moment to digest in something that isn’t work-related.