Source: psychologytoday.com | Repost Duerson Fund 1/16/2023 –
Football’s defenders draw from several realms—social, physical, and psychological—to build a strong case for the sport.
From high school to the NFL, football brings people together.
Football strengthens community, bucking the American pursuit of loneliness as technology privatizes experience. In small towns in the Midwest and South, restaurants and movie theaters close as patrons turn out in force for Friday night games. On Saturday afternoons, enthusiastic alumnae deepen their identities as Spartans, Wolverines, Warhawks, and Razorbacks. And pro football helps entire regions understand their connection on Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays.
Football also inspires shared fidelity across cultural and political divides. When fans root for their team, they root together. There is nothing quite like the feeling of belonging as a hundred thousand voices cheer in unison. Fans may share little else and still bask in the civic pride that follows a winning season.
Football Trains Teamwork
In this violent and risky game, teams depend upon tight teamwork. Weakness at a single position will mark the distance between victory and defeat and vitality and injury.