Labor Day and the Rise of the Couch Potato

September 7, 2015

The Labor Day weekend marks the start of a wealth of sports for fans and the media machine. Television viewership goes way up, and beer sales implode, recliners and big screen TV purchases increase, antacid intake soars well past New Year's Day.

College football starts the whole parade off by pushing alumni, parents of players, students, gamblers, networks, and college towns into a frenzy of fanaticism and psychoanalysis. Something about college football drives average everyday folks into a person who wears bad color combinations and pledges their allegiance to a place where they are still paying off their student loan. College football can offer something the NFL cannot, nonprofessional athletes who compete for no money. Somebody gets rich off the sport, but not the players who risk their well-being for either a slim chance at a pro gig or the fun of being on a college football squad. One percent of the college players in America will make it to the NFL, so the other 99 will reminisce about their glory days.

The NFL cranks up in the second weekend and the start of fantasy football, endless radio talk show banter, and beginning new controversies such as wiretapping those headsets or tainted Gatorade. But it's the train wreck we cannot stop watching, and it gets into our homes more and more every year. I can't help but chuckle at the flag post people raise in their yard with their football team flags waving alongside Old Glory. I've seen cars and RV's transformed into football mascot mobiles and wonder what’s next, NFL beer. They partner up with Budweiser and slap the NFL logo on it, and fans would be draining can after can.

Serena Williams and her quest for immortality at the US Open to win a Grand Slam in one tennis season is lost in the shuffle of all the pigskin frenzy. Most sporting fans didn't see her attempt and this one-of-a-kind record, but then again, most people don't know that the US Open is held in September. If she achieves this monumental endeavor, she will be able to take away the press and attention from football for maybe one day.

Of course, we are entertained by the scramble for the playoffs in Major League Baseball. For the ten teams with a realistic chance, fans will be feverishly waiting and hanging on every pitch. Not really, but they will want the score every few innings while they get back to watching football. So, two-thirds of the league's fans are looking at next year's free agents and wondering who should be traded away, while one-third is gearing up for the fall classic and watching baseball in forty-degree weather.

Lastly, I couldn't help mentioning the World Cup of Rugby is happening in late September, and I will try to catch it if I can find which channel it may be on. I might need to find a pub and drink an ale while seeing the sport, which impresses me more each time I watch. If you noticed, as an American, we are being fed a small plate of sports on television. Since the heyday of the Wide World of Sports, I have not seen motorcycle ice racing, demolition derbies, weightlifting, or heard from Jackie Stewart. I think the time is ripe for a new version of this show and the second coming of Howard Cosell. Cheers, enjoy the month!