Why (American) Football Sucks

Why American Football or Gridiron Football sucks

**Before I go on this epic rant, I want to say that American Football is not my favorite sport.**

As the Olympics are just around the corner and I told one of my friends that I cannot wait to watch rugby for the first time in over a hundred years.  Funny enough, my friend went to say "I wish they had (American) Football in the Olympics". I went on small rant and yest there is no doubt that shiny helmets, attractive cheerleaders and rambunctious crowd is exciting. Nonetheless, American Football just seems like a cumbersome and awkward sport.

From a functionality standpoint, American Football athlete must have a very specific function. Most of them specialized in either defense or offense and some players will never get to touch the ball in their entire careers. Yes Quarterbacks have amazing arms, Running backs amazing speed, and defensive linemen have impressive strength. The problem is that some of these athletes will spend their entire careers just focusing on one thing, it becomes monotonous.

Unlike everything else in nature, football is not free flowing. It is sport in which you have to stop every ten seconds to reset play, in the real world there are no breaks, timeouts or huddles. There is only one hour of playing time, but the games last on an average of three hours. Then you have all of those bulky pads they have to wear. Football has a culture of selfishness since it is a statistic obsessed sport. Players who play the main offensive positions like Quarterback, Running Back and Wide Receiver get most of the glory when in reality the true heroes are those at the offensive and defensive line.

Most American football players I have met, have been taught to hurt other players and that the more you hurt them the better it is. The worst part of it all is that is actually no sending off a player for unnecessary violent behavior. In similar sports like rugby, players are told to never run into contact and that extremely violent behavior results in a red card or suspension. Furthermore, sports like rugby teach athletes to respect one another similar to martial arts.

This is why I think American Football sucks, it is a sport for people who do not like to run. I have played American football with some friends and we spent more time deciding on plays than actually playing. That day I spent more time standing than running and by then of it all I was not even tired. One of the guys that was playing never even touch the ball once.

Why is it even called football? The players rarely kick the ball and most professional teams have a washed up soccer or rugby player kicking for them. Like I mentioned earlier American Footballers are highly specialized. Unlike other athletes in other sports, You can grab a Quarterback the only thing he may be able to do is throw the ball. Then you compare to a rugby player and he will be both defensive and offensive player as well as having a passing, running, tackling, and kicking skill.

So when we think of an Olympian, we think of human beings that are versatile specimens. These can do unbelievable things that can only be dreamed of. American Footballers, although talented, are not what I would call Olympic athletes. If you want to look at Olympic athletes watch sports like soccer, rugby, running, swimming, and volleyball among others. Watch and play real sports.

Stay Real.