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So we're in the tail end of the NFL playoffs.

The conference championships are this weekend. And many of you

already know that. Of course you do, but a lot of you don't. It's a public radio crowd. You never

know. For those who don't follow football, for whatever reason, too much money in it, too violent,

you prefer soccer or something with less tackling and concussions, the sports writer Joe Posnanski

just wants to remind you, football in this country is, well, it's big. Just hear him out.

Football is the biggest thing in America. Not the biggest sport in America.

It's the biggest thing.

There's nothing even close to how much football dominates our lives.

93 of the top 100 rated television shows in 2023 were football games.

93 out of 100, and of the other seven, three were college football games.

It is everything to us.

And the craziest part is it's not everything to anybody else in the world.

We're the only country that cares.

So I wanted to get at the heart of what is it about this sport that captures our imaginations the way that it does?

And it's not one thing.

Is the violence a part of it?

Of course it is.

Is it because the sport is so perfectly made for television

in a way that no other sport is? Yes, I think that's a part of it. Is gambling a part of it? Sure.

...