Football
As you probably know, the Super Bowl happened this past Sunday, ending in an exciting fashion as the Philadelphia Eagles captured their first title against the defending New England Patriots. As expected, I nearly lost my voice as I screamed triumphantly about the vanquishing of the evil Patriots. As a Falcons and Colts fan, I hate the Pats with unmatched vigor, and every time I see Tom Brady’s cocky mug lose, I well up with schadenfreude.
I’m a huge football fan. I have the ability to get way too emotionally invested in any NFL game, and become completely overwhelmed with anxiety if it’s close. How can you not? You have all of these players accomplishing their dreams to play football on the highest level - representing millions of people in cities across the country. Sure, the sport itself is barbaric and the extremely dangerous, but there are moments when the sport looks more like art than a gladiator fight. The sheer joy of people and teams in moments and victory is so wholesome as well, and something anyone can appreciate (assuming the joy doesn’t come from Patriots or Saints fans).
I first started understanding football around 2003, when my brother introduced me to the video game Madden 03, where I learned the basics of the sport by having Marshall Faulk run through walls of other teammates. Despite never playing a snap of football (other than on the playground or in my backyard), I would dream of catching a game-winning deep throw to win a Super Bowl. As I’ve grown older, my love for the sport has only grown, especially since the Falcons have had greater success in recent years - making it both more exciting to watch and infinitely more stressful.
For many people who get to know me, it’s the strangest thing that this nerdy, pseudo-intellectual art-obsessed brown boy is such a huge sports fan. When you go to a Tech school (even with a D1 sports program), it’s a standard to not care about sports in favor of other pursuits. But football is so complex! There’s so much data that can go into it, so many schemes, personal stories, and complex narratives that surround the sport. For every 3 hours of football broadcast, there are millions of articles of analysis that break down each every aspect of the sport, giving even more great content about something I love.
More than anything else, football is an escape - a moment where I feel like a part of something so much larger than myself, where I feel like my shouts at the television screen or where I sit in the room are the difference between victory and defeat. One of my fondest memories is going to the NFC Divisional Game against the Seahawks in 2013, where I was just a drop in a sea of red, high fiving strangers and shouting our hearts out for our beloved Falcons as they took down Seattle.
With the end of this season, there’s a 6 month pause before football returns, so until then I’ll need a new escape.
Drops of the Week
where I *drop* recommendations of cool things this week
Album
blkswn by Smino - underrated album from last year that is filled with soul.
Longread
“Unpacking Forty Years of Fandom for a Losing Team” by Kevin Sampsell - relevant longread that’s basically a longer version of my newsletter this week (and covering many more years). I relate to many of his anecdotes and opinions.
Interactive Music Video
“3 Dreams of Black” - super cool interactive music video.
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:~)
Love,
Nikhil