Fundamentally a simple game: tossing around, running with, and fighting over, an air-inflated pigskin on a field of grass. Big men colliding and piling on each other at top speed. Two teams seeking to get into the opposing team's end zone. There are lots of designed plays, strategies, stats, probabilities. The simpicity of the game is stoked with football philosophies, complexly-designed systems, and scientific approaches.
Yes. A very weird game for sure. On the one hand, it all seems like over-amped silliness. On the other hand, a microsm of life, death and everything in between.
America's game. Top athletes, big paychecks, "the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat," joy, pain, winning & losing. And of course, it is all a very big business too. Every stadium filled with over-hyped, emotionally-over-wrought fans, plus millions of tv viewers lounging on their couches across the land.
Still, there are mysteries at the heart of the whole grand enterprise. I was thinking about those nebulous, hard to define, invisiblly-strange concepts that seem to be part of every play of every game.
Thinking of Momentum, Pocket Presence, Leadership, Football smarts, Anticipation, Confidence, Luck, Chaos, Gumption, Toughness, Discipline.
You know, those amazing, ephemeral & nebulous mysteries: Spirit, Vibe, Charisma, Energy.
Yes, indeed, a weird game. Weird, like life, you know, which is weird too.
