In which I ramble pointlessly about sports

I've always had a love-hate relationship with American football.  That sport that hardly anyone outside North America follows unless they're American, drawing ridicule from hardcore rugby fans and Association Football fans who can't figure out why it's called "football" when it's not even played with feet (hint: it's because the "ball" is a foot long), much less a ball.  And rugby fans think it's a wussy version of their sport, simply because the players actually wear padding.  Being a big fan of Association Football myself, it almost feels like the two sports have to mutually exclusive, as per the whole "football" vs. "soccer" nonsense (FYI, both are valid: "soccer" is a shortened form of "association football", and the term was coined in, yup, England).


In all honesty, I can appreciate the athletics and actual sport of American football.  It's an incredibly emotionally charged sport.  Things are always changing, always tense.  The constant stops and starts gives it the air of intensity, making it so easy to make movies of it.  Of course, this is also its major downside, as a fairly recent study showed that out of the 60 minutes a game is played, only an average of eleven minutes is spent with the ball in play.  Add that on to the time outs and the offense/defense switch, total time scheduled on TV tends to be about three hours --and then you get today's Packers-Lions game which lasted nearly four hours.  It's a mess, really.  As opposed to Association Football where the ball is in play the entire 90 minutes of regulation time, often going a little over for extra time.

But I have to say.  This season, it is incredible to watch the Green Bay Packers.  I grew up a Packers fan.  Living in Wisconsin, it's nearly impossible to not be a Packers fan, especially when you live 20 miles from Green Bay.  It's the biggest small town in the country, and every football season, that's all there is.  The Green Bay Packers.  I've been an off-and-on fan (similar to how I've been with Association Football, only probably worse) and hardly ever watched games until we moved down to South Carolina and we could watch Sunday Football.  I did watch the Super Bowl last year because the Packers were in it (and won beautifully), and this year...who knew what would happen.  Turns out everyone's looking at one of the greatest football teams in history.

And being the Association Football fan that I am, I have to draw a few comparisons.  This season's Green Bay Packers are nearly exactly like Pep Guardiola's FC Barcelona.  Tactically, both teams are perfect.  Their offenses are the best in their sport and their defense are a bit lacking (Barcelona's a bit less so; they've improved a lot since 2008), but they more than make up for it with their outstanding offenses.  Both teams play their sports the way they should be played.  They blow the competition out of the water and despite a few hiccups (Barcelona's draws and loss to Getafe; the Packers' loss to Kansas City), they are nearly undefeated.  And they both have some of the best players in their sport on their team.

Aaron Rodgers is obviously the Packers' Xavi Hernández.  I say Xavi because I think the quarterback position in American football is most closely mirrored to the midfielder position in Association Football. He's not scoring the points (usually), but is instrumental in making sure that points get on the board.  And yes, there are many instances where the player himself is scoring.  The Leo Messi of the Packers...I'm not sure.  I guess it could be argued that Rodgers is Messi and Xavi rolled into one.  And, arguably, Rodgers' classiness and humility is more on par to Messi's than Xavi's (Xavi tends to open his mouth without thinking).

What's definitely true is that watching the Packers makes me appreciate what goes on in American football all the more.  When you watch football the way the Packers play it, when you watch soccer the way FC Barcelona play it, you cannot help but enjoy the show.  Instead of grown men running around a field with the goal of getting an object into a net or into a ten-yard patch of grass and occasionally hitting each other while they're at it, you see a dance, a work of art.  This is what makes me love sports.  I just hope that when both teams don't play as well as they do right now anymore I can still appreciate them.  I have a feeling I'll go back to ignoring American football once that happens, watching Association Football instead --even if Barça isn't the same as the Barça we're seeing now...I hope-- but until then, I'll enjoy it while it lasts.