Football Vs Football Essay

From the time I could walk, my parents, my father specifically, had a football in my hands. I was always playing catch with him, my brothers, or my friends. When it would rain, I was often found in front of the TV watching the action. The action I am referring to was of course collegiate and professional football. The Gridiron as it's so often nicknamed is a huge part of American culture. As Kelsey Phariss so well put it “Football is essential to American culture because it makes us a family. It brings us together, it allows us to share in something greater than ourselves, it gives us a reason not to hate Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays, and it gives us the opportunity to fall in love with something spectacular” (Why). There are three major levels of football: high school, collegiate, and professional. All three levels manifest similarities that even the most dimwitted of jocks can point out. However, collegiate and professional football, the two that seem the most similar are actually drastically different.

Even though the two levels play the same sport with almost identical rules the athletes experience while playing could not be any more different. The

They come from every corner of the nation to watch their favorite team on Saturdays and Sundays. However colleges fan bases mostly include that of people who actually went to the school and studied there or perhaps played a sport there. Whereas professional football’s fanbase is mostly composed of people who live in the general area of the team, or grew up watching them. The reason for this is the loyalty that former students feel to their institution, and the sense of community that pro football fans feel they have with the team. There are not many times that a group of people can all agree on one thing, however hating their favorite professional football team’s rival is one of those