The New "American Pastime"

Ladies and gentlemen, it's that time of the year.  FOOTBALL is back!!!! High School, College, and Pro football games(that count) will begin this week.  America's Obsession with the NFL is at a an all time high.  Fantasy football leagues are popping up on computer screens more than zits on a 13 year olds face.  There are billion dollar football stadiums rising from the earth in Dallas (Cowboy Stadium), and San Francisco (Levi's Stadium).  The profits for NFL merchandising are astronomical. According to The Licensing Letter, a New York based trade publication, The NFL exceeded 3 billion dollars is merchandise sales last year.  That figure will most certainly grow in 2013.  NFL games air; Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, on 4 different networks throughout the season.  ESPN devotes more of their resources towards the NFL than any other sport. The NFL fans viewing experience is enhanced by the NFL Network and NFL Redzone.  The spectacle that is the Superbowl leads to epic parties, filled with more wings and dip that can possibly be consumed by mere mortals.  But I digress.  How and when did the NFL become "America's new Pastime?"  Some may point the the ugly Major League Baseball strike of 1994; which allowed the NFL to be the the center of the sports world.  Was it the diminishing interest in the original gladiator sport, Pro Boxing? I dint think you can't pinpoint the moment when the NFL became "America's new Pastime."  I liken it to falling in love with a beautiful woman.  You can't pinpoint the moment when you fell in love, you just know.  America is way past the lust phase when it comes to the NFL.  America didn't just get the NFL pregnant, we married it too.  So;

as we draw closer to opening weekend in the NFL, I just would like to say.  Go 9ers!!!!!