I'm Giving Up Football - Probably

Twenty-five years ago today, my family and friends celebrated my bar mitzvah and I became a man.  The Jewish coming-of-age ritual is a special time for countless around the world.  For me, it was an awakening that I was no longer a naive boy but a responsible citizen.  We experience these awakenings throughout our lives, tearing us from the comforts we've created and forcing us to examine the choices we've made and the habits we've formed.  This past weekend while my wife and I were on vacation, I had an awakening that has shaken my love for America's most popular sport.

On the heels of spending most of the spring and summer defending my beloved New England Patriots, I was actually looking forward to simply enjoying a title defense.  I had spent too much time and energy on social media reading updates about the awfully-named Deflategate and sharing, commenting, and posting to the degree I probably lost a few Facebook friends.  I guess I was exhausted and starting to question my choices about how much time and energy I was wasting on something that was only entertainment.  That likely made me susceptible to a well-written article about a book simply titled, "Against Football," by Steve Almond.  Almond, a self-described Oakland Raiders fan, began wondering how he could continue to support a sport that promoted violence, greed, misogyny, homophobia, and racism.  And after reading his book, I'm starting to feel the same way.

This blog will examine my final season of following football and document as I start to divorce myself from a sport I enjoyed watching since the Patriots lose Super Bowl XX.  At the end of the season, I plan to be completely football free (I hope).  This blog is just for my own personal reflection - it is not meant to tell anyone else what to do.

Let the (final) season begin!