Unless you are a Fantasy Football player, or maybe a bettor,
the NFL pre-season probably doesn’t generate much excitement. Even as a die-hard
Patriots fan, I can never muster the energy to even watch a few downs of a
pre-season game. There’s just no point to it. The coaches are looking for
things that we can’t be sure of, so why bother watching?
Because of all that, when I made up my mind to take on this
challenge, the Sox were the pretty much the only game in town. The emergence of
the Patriots has certainly brought a new level of seriousness to The
Off-Season, and I’ve been thinking about football a lot over the last two
weeks.
The NFL is arguably the most successful sports league in
history. This is largely due to the fact that the NFL was built on television.
Most every other league was built on the rules of the game they play, but the
NFL was designed to be paired with television and sold to the fans. NFL Films
is a side business that leans on the all-encompassing documentation of the
league to create pioneering sports documentary films. Just knowing there are
pro teams playing football on TV on Sundays makes it tough for me to focus on
other things. It just feels right to watch.
I never really realized how reliant the NFL was on TV until the Patriots were being tempted by a new stadium in Hartford, CT in the late 90's. Sports radio was wailing away about the possible loss, and I was right there with them. I thought it would be a tragedy. I was talking about it with someone when my friend Brian walked by. "What do you care where they play?" he asked. "How many games a year do you go to?"
I was stunned. The answer was one or two, tops. It really made very little difference to me where they played. I was going to watch anyway. The Patriots, to me, and to the vast majority of fans, exist on TV only. Think about the fact that the NFL is the only league that plays it's championships on a neutral site! How weird is that?
Interestingly, during this same time period, I have been able to connect with a steward of
the history of the game, rooted right here in Boston. Rooted, in fact, right
outside my office. As it happens, the first organized football team was created
by kids from the Dixwell School, located in Boylston Alley, the current location
of Emerson College, where I work. Seriously! Here’s an article all about it.
I’m excited to have met Mr. McGrath and even more excited to
be taking over the position of Team President when he is ready to relinquish
it. I don’t think it will violate the rules of the Off-Season to be paying
attention to things that happened 150 years ago. I hope to have the chance to repair the monument and continue to promote the important place Boston has not just in the current world of football, but in it's genesis as well.
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