Don't doubt the Americans love their sport

By JJ Devaney

Published in the Sligo Weekender on January 24, 2012

It’s a cold, cold night in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I like Green Bay. They play on real grass in Green Bay even though temperatures plummet to as low as -26 degrees in January. I like the way the steam rises from the collective breath of 70’000 people.

Right now my team, the New York Giants are leading last year’s Superbowl Champions the Green Bay Packers, 37-20 on what resembles frozen tundra. It’s close to 1am and its time for bed.

Next weekend’s NFC East Championship game in San Francisco will mean I don’t get to be bed until at least 3am due to the time difference but that’s been the norm since my return from the US. What was once a Sunday night institution has now become an early morning addiction. I am hooked.

I’ve always encountered a snobbish, almost sneering attitude to American sports in Ireland. It seems to be the view on this side of the pond that American Sports are just like many other pieces of American culture: brash, over hyped, over commercialized and with out the real depth of feeling that our ‘native’ sports evoke.

It stems from a belief that our American cousins just don’t care about their sport the way we do about ours. Its complete nonsense. The idea that their sport is somehow an extension of a ‘fast food’ style American culture is simply not the case. They care about their sport in America. Big time.

In my early days in the US I too fell into the same arrogant belief that US sport - and specifically the US sports fan - is much less committed than there European counterparts.

While watching one of baseball’s truly historic match ups – the New York Yankees v The Boston Red Sox- I jokingly suggested to my then girlfriend’s family that to make things interesting next time I would don the garb of a Red Sox fan.

Her father, a quiet sort of chap, briefly retired to the garden shed only to return with a garden shears and a terse but graphic depiction of what would happen should I return to his home dressed as a Red Sox fan.

Delve deeper into that rivalry and one will find stories and tales to rival any of Europe’s storied soccer teams. The Red Sox and Yankees have been ‘at it’ longer than Manchester United and Liverpool. And the scars run deep.

Baseball was the first major sporting event to return to a changed New York City in the days after 9-11. The New York Mets Mike Piazza hit a home run and Liza Minnelli sang ‘New York, New York’ at the 7^th inning stretch in Shea Stadium, Queens. ‘America’s Past time’ provided a cathartic moment that night in keeping with its long and fabled history.

That same Yankee ex-girlfriend left me with a love for the New York Football Giants as my team after our parting of the ways. God bless her.

It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Not only have they one of the most obsessive fan bases in American sport they are a team with a great history going back to the 1920’s when they were founded by the Irish American family the Maras.

The Giants v Philadelphia Eagles is a rivalry to match any derby on these Shores. The close proximity of the two cities has engendered a jealously and bitterness that is nothing short of delicious. Try telling those fans that they don’t care about their teams.

Its easy to disparage the NFL with its regular stoppages in play and its TV breaks for adverts during the play, but for me the game has everything. High drama, an athleticism that is both majestic and brutal and edge of the seat excitement.

I know there are many educated NFL fans in Ireland but for those of you who cast a cynical eye on all things American I urge you to stop and embrace your inner, beer drinking, tailgating, foam-hand wearing American sports fan and give it a go.

As Lisa Simpson famously said: “enjoy the excitement of the savage ballet that is pro-football”. Add it to your list of late night pursuits; you’ll be glad you did.