The NFL: Winning?

Hello internet world! Griffin here with my first blog. As many of you may know, following the end of last year's football season, the NFL was in what many called a "lockout". What this essentially means is that the players and the owners had to come up with a new collective bargaining agreement for the upcoming season. However, this year the owners wanted to take a much larger portion of money from the revenue pool. The amount they initially asked for would cut the players' share by 18%, and the Players Association quickly refused this offer. As the first game of the NFL is tonight, Saints vs. Packers, the lockout ended, and the owners came to an agreement with the players in which the owners receive 52% of all revenue. After reading through the logistics of the lockout agreement, I began to think of how important sports, more specifically football, is to American society.

http://www.buffalosportsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/nfl_lockout-224x300.png

There were far worse things going on in the world, and within our own country during the 2011 football lockout, but that was a topic that was repeatedly brought up over other important topics. It may be just that I'm in high school and a fantasy football fanatic, but the amount of debate this lockout received made it seem like a real American issue. It got me thinking of why this sport is so important to our country? To me the reason isn't that its fun to watch or that it is something to watch during the winter. I think that football means so much to Americans because our country loves competitiveness and coming out on top. Winning is such a simple concept, but winning can either make a day great, or not winning can ruin a day. To the roots of American history, our country has always strived to be the best. Whether it was the space race with the Soviet Union during the Cold War or Sunday Night Football, Americans always want to win. Until looking into the importance and obsession of the lockout, I hadn't noticed the obsession with being first, but winning and competition are two hidden, but important values amongst all Americans.