Why Not Football?

Maybe you got caught up in the final night of the Olympics from Vancouver (even with the silliness of the closing ceremonies) watching the U.S. and Canada fight it out for the hockey gold medal, and it was kind of easy to get emotionally involved. Our national pride took a hit with the overtime loss to Canada, but the news isn't really that bad. Hey, we won the overall medal count, and after all, hockey is to Canada what football is to Americans.

In that spirit I submit a modest proposal, one which when I've suggested before has people look at me as if I'm nuts, a look I'm used to. With the world becoming a "global village" more and more, I think athletically us Americans should leave our stamp on it every four years. So I'm suggesting adding a sport which the IOC or USOC has never even touched: Football.

With exhibition and regular season games being played in Britain, Japan and Australia and a developmental league which once thrived in Europe (and produced a Super Bowl winning quarterback in Kurt Warner), the sport is far more international than it's given credit for. It's about time that we see competition in an international arena.

I know what many of you might be thinking: The U.S. is the only "real" football nation, and we'd wipe the floor with anybody who'd even step on the field with us. Foreign athletes could be seriously injured, or even worse by Americans. Well, yeah.

But it can become an Olympic sport by taking baby steps. For the first Olympiad (or two), it could be flag football, allowing other nations to get their feet wet in the sport. Then once these countries have developed enough capable athletes to play full contact football, it could be played by North American rules, maybe with some Pro Bowl modifications (e.g., no blitzes) thrown in for increased offense.

That doesn't sound unreasonable, does it? Lets see those Canucks beat us then!