Timothy Sykes: 3 things the NFL teaches us

Perhaps more than any other sports league in the world, the NFL is the most violent. Despite our society’s condemnation of war, crime and violence, what we do for entertainment says otherwise. Our most popular TV shows, movies and sports are all soft-core versions of what we teach our children to be against and the NFL is the most popular of them all.

Sure, the NFL is popular since it creates champions and our nation loves its sports and champions, but football and its highest league in the land, the NFL, is pretty much as close you can get to simulating warfare. Unlike actual war there are no weapons used, but two opposing sides square off, intent on using their incredibly muscular bodies combined with detailed game plans to give it their all to defeat their opponent over the course of a game. And if they defeat enough opponents over the course of the season they are champions of the Super Bowl.

I can admit it, I get a thrill from these games, the best plays and best hits and yes it is fascinating to watch these mini-wars unfold weekly, and at the same time I do condemn actual war, crime and violence. It’s a paradox.

Despite the risk of serious injury that could happen at any point during their careers, football players spend their entire lives preparing and working their butts off for a chance to play in the NFL and ideally win the Super Bowl. Like any other sport, it’s a tremendous honor for an athlete to make it all the way to play on a professional level in front of tens of thousands of fans in the stands and millions of TV viewers at home and it’s inspirational for us fans to hear about their stories and challenges they’ve faced along the way.

Great football movies like “Rudy” and “Any Given Sunday” teach our youth and inspire us to work hard to make our dreams, whatever they are, come true.

We all need a break from our hard lives filled with so much stress due to school, work, family, friends, pets and every NFL season is eagerly awaited by fans. At the end of a long week, my family, friends and I can’t wait for the weekend during the Fall and Winter since it’s NFL season, a reassuring tradition we’ve come to know and love all our lives and now Monday night and Thursday night football provide us with a mid-week fix.

Gathering on couches, or if you’re lucky in stadiums all over the nation, there’s something refreshing and honorable about watching this exciting yet controversial sport year in year out. It brings friends and families together and every season is capped by what’s become the premier advertising event of the year, The Super Bowl.

Yes, the NFL can be brutal, but so too can life. The NFL is exciting and there are twists and turns in every game, season, and every battle. The NFL is popular because it resembles our lives and while it’s not perfect we should cherish it.

1.The US stock markets have recovered almost all their recent losses; long live the bull market!

2.Health insurance premiums will likely drop when we begin using new apps to monitor our health the way car insurance has dropped using similar technology

3.Winter is finally here and while it’s miserable and snowing in many parts of the country, I am loving my life in Miami Beach this time of year.

No new Ebola cases or deaths in the US means we might not actually have to panic…but it’s still out of control in Africa.

Both Orbital Sciences and Virgin Galactic have had their rockets explode in the past few days, we can’t be too careful when dealing with space exploration.