Today, at my job, I spent a few minutes ranting over why I can't stand football. I absolutely cannot stand the sport. A couple of customers dropped their mouths. One guy asked me if I was socially deprived.

No. But this is the United States. God of football country. And it doesn't matter where you are, some city or university is rooting on their football team. But here is where I begin getting irritated.

Parents in many small towns who don't hold any kind of fortune push their sons playing football so they can get a college scholarship playing football. It's life and death. Many people bleed football. And that's okay. But for me, no matter where I go, or who I speak to, befriend or am related to, there is football. On TV. On XBOX. On PS2. In the news paper. On high school banners. There's football cheerleading. Footbal stadiums. NCAA football. Arena football. NFL football. And with all it accomodates, it has become the 'soccer' of the U.S.A., where in Europe, Mexico and South America, it's called... football.

I'd had it up to my neck with football when my wife and I saw 'Friday Night Lights.' The whole freakin' town shut down to watch football! And while it was a vital part of that community, and any state in this country, football to me is just a sport. A bunch of strategic plays on a 100 yard-long patch of grass, or turf for that matter. Why should I like an over-emphasized, over-discussed sport?

I'm not saying anything should change, but I am literally burned out on football. Unfortunately, there is no escape. Once football season is over, it isn't long before the news talks about recruiting and summer training.

I find myself a hockey fan. Yes, yes, NHL cancelled the rest of the season, however, you don't here about it everywhere you go. It is a wild, no-holds-barred sport. Not like football, where several running plays can sometimes keep both teams in one general area of the field for at least fifteen minutes.

Anytime I went to see an OSU football game with family, I'd watch about tem minutes worth of the game, then leave my seat to check out the scenery, a stadium full of hot girls. That's why I went. We'd all eat at Eskimo Joes, then the rest of the evening was looking at girls. Not football. Not ever.