Don - the following comment is NOT directed at you, and I'm sure you were a star athlete. But in 70+ years I've figured out that most folks who look down their noses at the athletes were the last ones to get picked in Phys Ed, etc. It is easy to take a dismissive attitude at the things we cannot do. I cannot "carry a tune in a bucket" and although I have good friend who is a classical trained opera singer, I just don't get it. Personally, I can't think of anything that matters more than Ohio State Football. Go Bucks. What matters to you? Mahalo.
No, I was Not a star athlete in school, and had little interest in team sports. I was, however a pretty good swimmer, and joined that team, and got a few awards. I always like fixing things, and hopped my car up to run in the local drag races...if that qualifies for "sport". I was never really envious of those who possessed talents I did not have (such as singing), but rather tried to concentrate on skills that I felt might do me some good in the future. Towards that goal, I took the toughest courses the school had to offer, and went through intensive training in the USAF which led me and my family to a good lifestyle for the past 50+ years.
Insofar as football is concerned, I maintain that it is a gross waste of time for the vast majority of participants. According to the NFL Players Association, only 215 out of 100,000 high school students who devote their time to football ever make it to the NFL. Less than 9.000 of those 100,000 make it to college football...and the majority of those who play in college wind up with a degree that is hardly worth the paper it is written on. Then, after years of slamming their bodies into each other, they wind up spending the rest of their lives nursing constant pain and health problems. How many of your Ohio State "hero's" have gone onto fame and fortune??
I feel that football is our modern day version of the Roman Gladiators. Humans seem to enjoy watching grown men slamming into each other in the act of chasing a ball, with a secondary goal of inflicting injuries on their opponent so as to put them out of the game. They don't kill each other today, but the concussions, etc., wind up causing lifelong problems for many of the participants.
If I'm watching TV during the Super Bowl, I will probably flip to the game, during commercials, to see what the score is...and I will probably watch the Half Time show, as that is Usually the best part of the entire game.