king. I now live in Alabama where it is said that there are three

religions, Baptist, Methodist and football. That’s a joke in case

you missed it. There are more than three religions in Alabama, but

football has become so popular that it rivals all the churches

combined for attendance, and football’s TV audience probably puts

it over the top as far as worship is concerned. I write that

tongue-in-cheek, if you can do such a thing, but there is some

truth in it. The demand for football has grown to the point that it

is available most days of the week. I said most, and therein is the

problem. We have a new weekend, but football fans do not look

college and professional football games were available Thursday

through Monday with several each day. I watch a lot of them, but I

haven’t gotten as bad as some who have multiple sets and

split-screens to watch them all. During the football weekend, I

starve for the sport and suffer

Wednesday. Monday night is now the end of the football week and the

beginning of the terrible, dreaded weekend and football withdrawal.

It is almost more than we can endure until Thursday when the

look forward to fall weekends when we would have Friday night high

school games, Saturday college games and Sunday pro games, and very

few were broadcast. We had to go to the games to see them. Growing

up in Fort Worth, we had many Friday night games to choose from,

several colleges within driving distance for Saturday, and Dad

would take us to Dallas on Sunday to see the Cowboys, or the Texans

going on a package deal to Dallas on Saturday, see a Texans game,

eat dinner, spend the night in a motel, have breakfast Sunday

morning, go to the Cowboys game, all for $35 dollars apiece! You

can’t park at Cowboys stadium for that today, much less get a

ticket to the game. I can’t even imagine the concession

camera angles, coupled with the high prices of even college games,

why go? I can see the game from the comfort of my living room, eat

and drink what I want, when I want, and at a fraction of the

concession prices. I go to the bathroom and don’t have to stand in

line, and all this in air conditioned comfort. An added bonus is

that I don’t have to put up with obnoxious, misbehaving miscreants

whined and moaned when ABC came up with the idea of having a pro

game on Monday Night. “What a joke,” they said, “nobody will watch,

that’s bowling night!” Well, bowling night has shifted and America

has changed. The sport has grown so that Thursday is now another

football night for both college and

the guy in the cartoons, “Honey, see you in February!” I love

football. The season is so compact, compared to my first love,

baseball, which is spread over 162 games, that the intensity is

dramatic. I love it. That’s why I hate the new weekend, Tuesday and

read, talk to my family, go to a movie, the symphony, what? Not

much compares to five days of non-stop football. I guess I’ll do

what thousands do. I’ll read about next week’s games, listen to

sports talk shows, or go to the barbershop to talk football. Come

on Thursday … the beginning of a new football week. No one says

whose human-interest columns offer a unique perspective. He may be