Throw the Football

First let me say that although I'm not much of a sport's fan, if the home team happens to make it to the final competition - of course I want to see them win.
That said, I wasn't a fan of the elementary school proclaiming it Patriot's Day twice, once before the AFC playoff and again this past Friday.
When I was a kid football was something to be endured while you waited for the clock to run out so your dad would stop watching so you could finally leave to get to where you were going. It wasn't, as far as I can remember, something we embraced in school.
It's ironic that we wring our hands over our children emulating major league sports stars as their heros and yet we encourage fandom at school.
But forget that for a moment and about how it might make some kids feel like losers, my own included, because they don't have any team-specific t-shirts, sweatshirts or hats to don on Patriot's Day and let's present the opportunity that's lost - that there could be a real learning component to super bowl build up. Instead of having it be about clothing and eye grease, it could be about history (Why do they call it football here in the United States when they call soccer football in England?), it could be about math (The length of a football field is 360 feet, the width is 160. Find the area.), it could be about science (Why is a football shaped that way?), it could be about ancient history (XLVI = 46), it could be about sociology (How come all the women in the ads are wearing bikinis while the men are fully clothed?). Okay forget that one. But the point is, they're already excited about the game, why not use that excitement to fuel some learning?

song: Throw the Football • musical: Wonderful Town